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Hestrie pickup just a mix-up
Athens - It was all just a big misunderstanding and she was probably "just dead tired when I let a few words slip".
This was South Africa's world high-jump champion, Hestrie Cloete's reaction on Sunday afternoon to a report that the management of the South African Olympic team neglected to fetch her from the airport last Thursday afternoon.
According to a report in the Sunday Times, Cloete remarked upon her arrival at the athletes' village: "Ek is nou de moer in" (I am very upset).
"Wilfred (Daniels, the athletics team's manager) was at the airport to fetch me, but could not find me. We missed each other somewhere between the luggage room and the bus.
"It wasn't the end of the world as the organisers immediately organised for me to go by bus to the place we had to report for accreditation and then onto the athletes' village.
"I started travelling at 05:00 that morning already, and only arrived at the athletes' village at 20:00 that evening. I must have been dead tired when I let a few words slip.
"It was really just a misunderstanding," Cloete said. Daniels apparently struggled to get to Cloete due to the strict security measures.
She and her coach, Martin Marx, travelled from Switzerland to Greece.
"I'm doing well and enjoying my practices. I also enjoy the heat," said Cloete, who won a silver medal at the previous Olympics.
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