/ 15 August 2004

SA camp leave Hestrie stranded at airport

Hestrie Cloete, South Africa’s golden girl at the Athens Olympics, had to bus into the athlete’s Olympic Village when she was left stranded at the airport in a culmination of communication problems in the SA Olympic camp.

Athletics management apparently arrived at the airport with Olympic transport on Thursday, but failed to make contact with the favourite for Olympic gold in the high jump because of the stringent security checks at the airport.

Sources inside the SA camp revealed that Cloete was furious because she had heard that she was being picked up. She then had to catch a bus to the athlete’s Village.

By Saturday, however, Cloete was relaxed after deciding to miss out on the Opening Ceremony on Saturday night.

”I’m relaxed and enjoying this atmopshere,” said Cloete who began her final preparation for Olympic action on August 26. ”I’ve been a given a room to myself and I feel great. I’m healthy, fit and happy.”

The bungle with Cloete came on the same day on Thursday as the embarrassing mix up with Michael Johnson when a handful of athletes pitched up for a workshop with the world 400m record-holder and former Olympic champion.

A visibly upset Johnson left the international mixed zone when the meeting was cancelled after about 15 athletes arrived an hour late after they were fetched from their rooms.

South Africa’s Chef de Mission Hajera Kajee issued a statement later explaining that the message about the workshop, in which Johnson was to address athletes on mental preparation during the Games, had not been communicated properly to the managers of the various sports.

Athletes, however, made it clear that only a handful of them were interested in listening to Johnson, who did not impress coaches when he ran workshops for elite athletes and coaches in SA in January. – Sapa