No money for top swimmers

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Johannesburg - If they want to swim for Uganda, then they must go, said Swimming South Africa (SSA) president Gideon Sam.

He was speaking on Wednesday at a press conference called to respond to statements made by South Africa's multiple swimming medallist Roland Schoeman that he would have to leave South Africa if he could not make a living out of swimming.

Sam said SSA was very disappointed by what he described as "baseless allegations" made by Schoeman and another top swimmer, Ryk Neethling about SSA's lack of financial support for its elite swimmers.

"We are not one of the major sports like cricket, rugby or soccer," said Sam. "Our funding comes from Telkom, the Department of Sport and Recreation and the Lotto.

"Our responsibilities are not only to our elite swimmers - we also have to develop the sport, and we have to stretch our finances to cover all aspects.

"We don't have contracts to bind our swimmers," he said. "We don't have the financial muscle for that, but we do our best to support them. But if they think they can make a better living elsewhere, they are free to go.

"If they want to swim for Uganda, they must go there, and we will have no problem signing their transfer papers."

He said that they had no problem signing the transfer documents when Sarah Poewe decided she would be better off swimming in Germany.

"And if she had won a medal, we would have been cheering for her as one of our products."

Sam said South Africa couldn't compare with what was offered by the American universities, but was making arrangements with South African universities to develop swimming.

"We have an arrangement with Pretoria University, where we have 12 swimmers on scholarships. Now other universities also want to come on board.

"With the money we spend financing swimmers in the United States, we could hire two top overseas coaches and start development centres," he said.

'Can't work with mavericks'

"We could have one in the north and one in the south. And if it takes us 10 years to develop top swimmers, so be it."

"We can't work with mavericks," said Sam. "We can't just focus on the elite swimmers - we also have to worry about development and transformation, as well as bringing the up and coming future stars through."

However, Sam made it clear that SSA would be at the airport to welcome the team on its return from Athens, and also that SSA would hold talks with the swimmers to try to iron out their differences.

Meanwhile, SSA CEO Dave Norman said no disciplinary action would be taken against the swimmers for not wearing their Speedo-sponsored kit at the Olympics.

"Swimwear is regarded as technical equipment," said Norman, "and the athletes are entitled to wear what they think suits their needs best."