Roland Schoeman Exploring Options in Saga with Swimming South Africa

By John Lohn

DURBAN, South Africa, April 18. SPRINT star Roland Schoeman is in South Africa attempting to resolve the problems he's been presented by Swimming South Africa. Last week, after not competing at the South African National Championships, Schoeman was left off the nation's Olympic Preparation Squad. The same sanction was handed out to Lyndon Ferns and Darian Townsend.

Never mind that Schoeman is one of the world's premier sprinters, Swimming South Africa didn't care. It wanted Schoeman, Ferns and Townsend to attend Nationals, but the trio couldn't afford the trip, which was not funded by SSA. Schoeman, in fact, had to pay for his trip to Melbourne for the World Championships, where he defended his title in the 50 butterfly. As for Ferns and Townsend, they were attending classes at the University of Arizona and couldn't afford to miss additional class time.

By leaving off three members of the 400 free relay that won the gold medal at the Athens Olympics, Swimming South Africa made it clear that it was making life highly difficult for the men who have opted to train in Arizona. Certainly, SSA has shown that it is not entirely concerned with the efforts of its swimmers, but harbors a jealousy that its top swimmers do not train in their homeland.

Due to their exclusion from the Olympic Preparation Squad, Schoeman, Ferns and Townsend will not be able to participate in the FINA World Cup Series later this year and, therefore, will not have the chance to secure prize money. More, Schoeman will be ineligible to receive regular stipends that have funded his training over the years.

Schoeman is in South Africa, planning which path he can travel to rectify the situation. According to the Cape Argus Newspaper, Schoeman is meeting with a legal team to see if the decision by SSA violated any protocol. Schoeman's trip has been funded by an outside source.

The decision of Swimming South Africa would be akin to USA Swimming shunning one of its top swimmers from the National Team because it is unhappy with the club at which the athlete trains. Perhaps SSA would be better suited if it cared about its athletes and the results produced rather than be guided by jealousy.

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