Swimmers in Olympic probe

2008-08-31 22:40

Johannesburg - As many of South Africa's top swimmers as possible will be involved in an Olympic Games debriefing to be held in Germiston from September 4 to 7.

This was decided at the annual meeting of Swimming South Africa. It was resolved that as many Olympic swimmers as possible will be involved in the debriefing session on the performance of the SA team at the Beijing Olympics.

The meeting noted that while the team had not brought home the Olympic medals which many had hoped they would, they had nevertheless done superbly well.

The president of SSA, Jace Naidoo, said: "The swimmers set no fewer than 22 African records. If this had been the African Games, the country would have been over the moon. Realistically we need to understand that we are in a phase of consolidation and growth."

General team spirit

Naidoo acknowledged that there had been issues raised in the public domain, some of which involved personal complaints by individual swimmers, and others which involved the structures and planning, as well as the general team spirit.

These and other issues will be dealt with at the debriefing.

Once the debrief has been held, consideration will be given by the executive of Swimming SA to the appointment of an independent person or persons (from outside SSA circles) to investigate the serious claims that have surfaced in the media of late.

- SAPA