HERMAN GIBBS
Luxolo Adams’ Olympic dream could be shattered, unless Sports Minister Gayton McKenzie comes to his rescue.
McKenzie has weighed in on TeamSA’s cruel decision to drop Adams from the Olympic team competing in Paris next month. Adams was initially named to represent the country.
A devastated Adams took to social media to make public the decision to drop him. His statement read in part: “I want to address the recent development about my removal from the South African Olympic team.
“This decision has been incredibly disheartening, especially considering the journey I have undertaken and the mental and physical challenges I have faced. I qualified for the Olympics on August 23 (last year).”
There has been a huge outcry on social media and McKenzie has asked Athletics South Africa (ASA) for clarification.
Said McKenzie: “We are attending to this matter. The department has contacted the presidents of the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) and ASA. We await their responses.”
Adams was informed via WhatsApp that he would be withdrawn from the team. He has decided to take legal action.
“I am currently seeking urgent legal intervention to prevent ASA from removing me from the team, which I qualified for and for them to be transparent and consistent in their processes and selection criteria.
“The matter is now with my legal team, and I shall not be making further comments at this stage,” his statement continued.
Apart from the sports minister’s efforts, Adams may taken comfort from a case in 2012 when, after legal action, Sascoc was forced to include an athlete in the SA team for the London Olympics.
However, that would mean that Adams, one of the country’s finest 200m sprinters, would have to approach the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Switzerland.
At the heart of the matter is ASA’s decision to find a place for Wayde van Niekerk, who has qualified for the 400m and the 200m. However, ASA has decided that he will run the 200m and not the 400m.
To date, five South African sprinters have attained 200m qualifying times for Paris. However, countries may not have more than three athletes in an event. Shaun Maswanganyi and Benji Richardson are the country’s leading 200m sprinters and they will be joined by Van Niekerk.
This year, Adams has been battling with injury and declined several invitations to compete. He has always assured ASA that he was recovering and receiving specialist treatment without proving that he was in peak condition.
Earlier this month, Adams participated in a 200m event in Italy and clocked a pedestrian 21.50sec. He was due to compete three days later in Hungary but failed to do so.
When looking at all the latest information relevant to the 200m it looks like ASA made the right decision, but they had already included Adams in the team. To add insult to injury, Adams was one of the athlete models at the TeamSA kit launch in May.