- By Kirsten Curtis
The SA cycling team headed to the Olympics was announced yesterday. While it is a team well deserving of their selection, two names in particular have surfaced on the social networks questioning why they were excluded.
South Africa only qualified one road cyclist in the men’s event, so selection was always going to be tough. Daryl Impey’s performances of late have no doubt earned him the spot in the Olympic team but it is disappointing that the SA Champ, Robbie Hunter won’t be in London. Of course, great pity we only qualified one rider in the first place. Imagine if we could have had Impey leading out Hunter? Hunter was quick to congratulate Impey on his selection, tweeting “Happy for @darylimpey going to the London Olympics for South Africa..”
The other name glaringly obvious by omission is that of Cherise Taylor who was in the running to represent SA in the ladies road race. Ranked 98 on the UCI world rankings, she is the second highest ranked South African (behind Ashleigh Moolman Pasio, currently ranked 23) with the next being Jo van de Winkel at 138. The third of the women selected was Robyn de Groot who is currently ranked 323.
The final qualifying race for the ladies to get a third spot at the Games was the Tour de Free State which Taylor had to miss due to her wedding to Burry Stander taking place that same weekend. Could this be the reason for her omission from the team? A report in Die Burger yesterday suggests as much.
Cherise tweeted soon after the announcement was made: “Sad that the requirements that were set out to qualify for olympics meant nothing in the end. I hate politics!”
Bicycling has attempted to get hold of the Cycling South Africa Road Director for comment on the team selection without success to date.
What are your thoughts? Should Hunter and Stander have been included in the team? Anyone else you feel should have been headed to London? Comment below.
All sports in South Africa are riddled with politics just like BEE it’s not about the best person for the job. When will SA be truly democratic… This is why our soccer team cannot score a goal, why we don’t bring home any gold medals in the olympics, why it’s almost impossible to make a living in the sporting world except for a very small minority. This country has a long way to go before it will blossim and will not get there with the current leadership…
Absolutely disgraceful! Cherise is currently the best rider in africa to date.shocking.corupt country!
When will ppl realise that rankings dont mean that much in road cycling. Its a team sport and a good domestique seldom has many UCI points
Spoke to the team’s manager, Bryan Austin who gave me a few personal opinions on the team selection. Busy typing it up and will then post as a new blog post.
Based on the route and profile of the ladies, Cherise would be favourite to get a result even more so that Ashleigh (and I’m a huge fan) but alas politics prevailed once again it seems…..
As for the men, the best rider by far was selected.
Cherise Stander should have been included. Shocking that she isnt.
Ashleigh deserves her place for sure as she has performed well overseas of late.
People can say what they like if you have to choose a rider to get a medal(not gold) against the likes of Mark Cavendish only one name will come close. His name is Robbie Hunter.
Although Impey deserves a place you take the course and favourites into consideration Hunter is your only bet as it will be a Sprint finish.
Read an interview with the team manager, Barry Austin on his opinion on the team selection http://bit.ly/JRiWXc
Cherise belongs on that team and shd be there, if she was we wd stand a good chance of bringing a medal home. As for the men they stuffed up agn, instead of sending the south african champ and tour de france stage winner, robert hunter, who also came in the top 5 a few times in this giro, they are sending impey, who is good but lacks hunters experience. Seems to me south africa is handicapping itself prior to the games. All our riders are good, hats off to all of them, but take your blinkers off and send the ppl who not only deserve it but stand the best chance of putting SA on the map!!! Its cyclings reputation at stake here!!!!
Solank sport beheer word deur bestuursliggame wat om ander redes as om die sport se belange op die hart te dra sal ons aanhoudend sulke snaakse onverklaarbare besluite teekom. Solank as enige sport deur onbekende agendas (politiekery, geld) beinvloed word sal daar geen logiese besluite geneem word nie. Dit is ‘n jammer dag dat fietsry op die vlak beinvloed word. Dit het nie net op profesionele vlak ‘n uitwerking nie maar ook op almal wat deelneem op sosiale vlak. Die mense waarna ons gewone ryers opsien en weet hulle is meer as goed genoeg word nie gekies vir die Olimpiese spele nie . Kom ons hoop dat gesonde verstand in die volgende paar dae sal seevier en dat die onlogiese besluite omgekeer kan word indien moontlik.