Swim bouncers for cricket boss

2008-09-08 22:36

Adnaan Mohamed

Cape Town - Controversial cricket boss Norman Arendse must help to sort out South Africa's swimming problems.

Swimming South Africa (SSA) has asked the chairperson of Cricket South Africa, an advocate by profession, to investigate what went wrong at this year's Beijing Olympic Games.

Members of the Olympic swimming team have brought certain allegations against national swimming coach Dirk Lange and SSA's performance manager Rushdee Warley.

There were fireworks in South African cricket earlier this year when it was claimed that Arendse had interfered with the team selection.

The greatest controversy revolved around the omission of all-rounder Jacques Kallis from the Proteas squad for last year's Twenty20 World cup tournament, where Arendse apparently decided to veto Kallis's original selection.

"We have decided to appoint an independent person to investigate all the allegations and accusations by the swimmers against certain members of the team management," SSA CEO Shaun Adriaanse told Die Burger on Monday.

"At the end of the process we want to know exactly what the truth is so that we can make the right decisions.

"The process should be completed by the end of September," Adriaanse explained.

Respected former national swimmer

South African swimmers could not bag even a single medal at this year's games.

There have been various rumours that swimmers were unhappy about Lange and Warley's coaching and management style at the Games. Experienced swimmers like Ryk Neethling and Roland Schoeman, who are based in America, apparently also do not see eye to eye with Lange and Warley.

Swimmers were also upset about money they were promised before the Games, but which they never received.

SSA president Jayce Naidoo said the controlling body has come to an agreement with the swimmers that a respected former national swimmer will look after the interests of swimmers in the future.

"It will be an experienced person who is trusted and respected by the swimmers.

"It is important that the swimmers themselves should decide who the person will be. There are a few candidates, like Penny Heyns and Marianne Kriel. However, we have decided that no one who participated in this year's Games will be considered for the role," said Naidoo.

This means that one of South Africa's most experienced swimmers, Ryk Neethling, will not be eligible.

- Die Burger