Ask Yourself Why … by NORRIE WILLIAMSON
ASK YOURSELF WHY …
Ask Yourself Why … by NORRIE WILLIAMSON
Championship Challenges
Having returned from the recent World Athletics Championships in Budapest with no medals , Team South Africa has not won a medal at the World Champs since London 2017 , and this disappointing statistic is a clear sign that it ’ s time for change in the sport in this country .
Although little coverage is given to track and field outside of the World Championships and Olympics , public expectation of South African athletics is always high during these global events . That is undoubtedly thanks to the great showing by our athletes at the 2016 Olympics and 2017 World Champs , as well as large medal hauls at the African Championships and Games in between the global meets , but this continental domination does not translate automatically into medals at the world level .
The public demands accountability , and alternates between blaming the athletes , or the national federation , Athletics South Africa ( ASA ). Granted , the social media ‘ voices ’ have already moved on to the next ‘ important issue ’ after a very disappointing 2023 World Champs , but now is a good time for change in the sport , in the hope of improvement for ‘ next time .’ Unfortunately , I believe this postcompetition blame-game is set to happen again , until such time that the real cause is acknowledged , and plans set to address the situation .
Looking at the History
Since the mid-1990s and South Africa ’ s return to international sport , the country has won a number of World Champs medals , but those have come from talented , in-form individual athletes such as Hestrie Cloete , Jacques Freitag , Marius Corbett , LJ van Zyl and Johan Cronje , or more recently Wayde van Niekerk , Caster Semenya and Luvo Manyonga , instead of thanks to a well-designed , progressive athlete development structure . Occasional signs of squad production have been seen , most recently with our jumpers and sprinters , but they have had limited sustainability , as they lacked a sound , formal support system from a national level .
Given South Africa ’ s obsession with marathon running , our inability to place highly over the classic 42km event is remarkable , with the exceptions of Josiah Thugwane ’ s Olympic gold in 1996 and Stephen Mokoka ’ s fifth place at the 2019 World Champs . The loss of a formal team competition in the World Champs Marathon has also stolen the opportunity that saw us win the team bronze at the 2013 World Champs in Paris . Meanwhile , the financial rewards and contractual benefits of the Comrades and Two Oceans ultra-marathons back home in SA have resulted in the potential marathon talent being drawn away by these non-standard distances .
The Art of Performance
Elite performance is a progression . No-one is born ready for peak performance , it starts at a base level , and improves through training and honing skills . There are many challenges and lessons along that road , and the greater the performance , the more factors that need to be augmented . Progression to the top is therefore truly a hard-fought business , requiring still more work , and it is for this reason that athletes are forced to go full-time to be successful . That ’ s also why athletics has been a professional industry for a quarter of a century .
There is no more competitive a ‘ job ’ than competing in a World Championship final . No other industry offers this sort of competition , which means the structure that supports the industry must be a lean , efficient , pro-active and progressive machine . However , the lack of ‘ production lines ’ in South Africa to introduce the necessary skills to young athletes , progress them to top club level , and then provide specialisation , resources and support into elite levels , means that there remains little opportunity to avoid a continuation of this hit-and-miss road that has seen us bring home no medals once again this year .
Challenge of Change
The true challenge of change begins with the structure of South African athletics , which is still based on amateur-era structures . This was last seriously tweaked in 1993 , and then it was more to give credence to the local political changes of the time than to global sporting changes . It is frequently said that the administration and support is there first and foremost to benefit the athletes , be they recreational , club or elite level , but the evolutions in technology and professionalism have all but been ignored as we have maintained the same structure in the sport , to the point that in 2023 , not only is it is no longer fit-for-purpose , but it is also hampering the sport .
The taste of success is all about medals at global level
It took Seb Coe and his team two years to turn things around at World Athletics
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