Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 120, July 2019 | Page 53

TRACK & FIELD
the meet promoter has in their budget. Other times,
athletes find themselves spending hours waiting at
airports, because to fly at the ideal time is simply too
expensive. So they sit at an airport and contemplate
that snack that costs 20 Euros. In current Rands, that
equates to over R300 – and that isn’t even a big meal,
so athletes will often sit at the airport and buy a plate
of fries... and then share it!
SPONSORSHIP AND SUPPORT
So this begs the question whether sponsors can
help the athletes out. Well, unless an athlete has
an international apparel sponsorship deal, then the
chances of cash coming into their pocket along
with product are very slim. South African apparel
companies do not have ready cash available to fund
athletes’ travel and accommodation costs, so that
avenue is not one an athlete can rely on.
SA athletes like Olympian Justine Palframan often need to ask for donations to make trips to Europe
possible, in order to qualify for Olympic, Commonwealth or World Champs meets.
to get to a top level meet – of which there are currently
only four outside of the National Championships – is
at most five hours. Invited athletes are usually flown
from home to the event. It can get a bit trickier when
athletes compete at Nationals, as some provincial
teams opt to bus their athletes in, meaning longer and
less comfortable travel time, but by and large, travel
in SA is relatively easy. Also, athletes do not need to
adapt to different types of food, and their R10 in SA
goes a long way, compared to 10 Euro in Europe,
because there is no exchange rate to worry about.
Now let’s look at how it works in Europe. When
competing internationally, athletes are faced by
constant challenges, such as getting there, finding
a place to stay, and language barriers. Contrary to
popular belief, English is not spoken very much in
Europe, especially not in the smaller towns where
most of the athletes will be competing. Do the athletes
have a manager or agent? How much do they need to
pay him/her? Access to events? Access to a physio?.
That is merely a part of what awaits the athlete when
contemplating international competition.
you travel, take as much as you can in terms of food
and snacks from your home country. That’s because
the small creature comforts athletes are so used to
here, are not available in Europe, or are extremely
expensive.
Speaking of expenses, a plane ticket to Europe is
anything between R7000 and R10,000, and you
haven’t even looked at visas yet. Remember, the
athlete has to pay for all or most of this themselves,
unless they are in the class of Akani Simbine, Wayde
van Niekerk, Caster Semenya, Luvo Manyonga or
Ruswahl Samaai. The rest have to fork out the money
to get to and stay in Europe themselves, with at best
only small or part contributions from meet organisers.
Travel in Europe itself is also not that simple. Unless
you are a Usain Bolt, you can find yourself sitting on
a bus for more than 10 hours, because that is what
What about Athletics South Africa, can the national
federation help our athletes? Here ASA has a number
of questions to ask itself. How much spare cash
does the federation have after sending teams to
international competitions? What amount should it be
investing in the next generation of athletes? Should it
rather be looking at preparing athletes for the rigours
of international travel, as their resources are limited? It
is not merely a case of, “Here are some athletes who
show promise, let’s send them to Europe,” because
the funds available to the federation are also limited,
and affected by the exchange rate.
The bottom line is that making it on the international
athletics circuit is brutally hard, and only the very
best athletes make it through not only talent, but also
perseverance, hard work, being at the right place at
the right time, and also having someone give them an
opportunity, which they need to grab with both hands.
And this is not unique to South African athletes, it is a
worldwide struggle for athletes from all countries. One
glance at the list of the world’s 100 richest athletes
across all sports and you’ll see that not one track and
field or road athlete makes that list. Money is tight,
and the sport is suffering, so there are many more
athletes that have a rags story than a riches story.
Once you start unpacking all of this, you will find that
it is incredibly difficult to ‘make it’ in Europe, and that’s
before you even add yet another element that adds
to the challenge: Pressure to perform. If you perform
well, you get invited to the next tier of meets, with
hopefully better prize money. If you don’t, then you are
‘chasing your tail’ to perform well enough just to get
into the next meet at your current level, and then you
run the risk picking up an injury due to trying too hard,
or over-racing when tired. Then you will be paying for
physio treatment in Euros! Another source of pressure
to perform comes for athletes who are looking to
qualify for global competitions, i.e. Olympics, World
Championships etc. It is a vicious circle.
EVEN BASICS COST BIG
An athlete wants a simple thing such as a cup of
coffee... Oh wait, in Rands that cappuccino now
costs you close to R200, if not more! So you forgo the
pleasure of that daily cup. And food in Europe is very
different. One of the most commonly shared pieces of
advice for athletes, from fellow athletes, is that when
Akani Simbine’s performances
have seen him climb the ranks
to become a sought-after
invited athlete at major meets
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