Schoeman slams gov, Sascoc

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Vox Populi Vox Dei

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What a disgrace this government is for not funding an Olympic medallist :mad:

London - Four-time Olympian Roland Schoeman celebrated a personal victory after he finished sixth in the final of the men's 50m freestyle at the London Olympics, despite having no financial support from South Africa, he said.
Schoeman, one of South Africa's most decorated swimmers, launched an attack against the government and the SA Olympic body for their lack of support.

"I would have loved to have been faster," Schoeman said.

"But not to have been funded at all for the last year-and-a-half by the South African government, not by Sascoc (SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee), not by anybody.

"To come and be placed sixth in the world after everybody had written me off. I'll take that."

As one of the country's most successful Olympians, he won the bronze medal in the 50m freestyle, a silver in the 100m freestyle, and the gold medal with the 4x100m freestyle relay team at the Athens Games in 2004. However, he said his result could have been more favourable had he received the same amount of support as London Olympic medallists, Chad le Clos and Cameron van der Burgh.

The 20-year-old Le Clos won a gold medal in the 200m butterfly and a silver in the 100m butterfly, while Van der Burgh clinched gold in the 100m breaststroke.

"A medal would have been tip-top if I had received the R50 000 odd Cameron has been receiving a month, same as Chad, where could I have been?" he said.

"I've gone like I said unfunded, I've had no massages, I've been living off my savings and I'll take it at this point."

The 32-year-old Schoeman said he did not know what his long term plans were and he would focus on the upcoming SA short course championships.

"We have SA short course championships in a couple of weeks so I am excited for that," he said.

"I'll go do a bit of racing there and hopefully get some funding heading into the world cups and do some world cups and hopefully get some money."

He said he was satisfied with his progress over the last year and would continue his training in the United States.

"I was 22.40 at the world champs last year and I am 21.8 here," Schoeman said.

"The States just works for me, South Africa has worked well for Cameron and Chad."

Schoeman said he had tried to base his training in South Africa with little progress and he was happy with his program in Arizona.

"I tried to come back to South Africa in 2008 and it was just a huge steady decline from there," he said.

"I love the mentality there (United States), I love the way my training is catered for.

"That's what works and I have to stick with it.
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Sport 24
 
phoneJunky said:
What is the government's excuse? Was he not fulfilling something?
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I'm suspecting it has got something to do with him training in the US? Both Chad and Cameron train in SA AFAIK. However it does say he returned to SA in 2008 and things went downhill from there. Mysterious.
 
Sour grapes perhaps...

Why didn't he stay in SA and assist with development and train here as well ?
 
Yeah...

And they still choon with a south african accent.

Roland is Americanised and should STFU
 
Schoeman -- and the OP -- is profoundly wrong. Why should athletes, especially professional ones, be carried by the taxpayer?
 
he chose to stay in the USA from day one. now he wants to gripe about it. sorry it doesn't work the way he wants to choose. if chad and cameron can be patriotic to their country they will reap the rewards.
 
WTF? He buggers off out of the country by his choice, after being offered assistance should he stay on locally, then bitches because the South African government won't fund his American lifestyle.

Fsck you Roland. Leave your SA citizenship at the door and go pick up a green card. Whiny little, self-absorbed bitch...
 
Arthur said:
Schoeman -- and the OP -- is profoundly wrong. Why should athletes, especially professional ones, be carried by the taxpayer?
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Nope you are wrong. One of Sascoc's duty is to help athletes perform and provide assistance in their training as well as the youth development academies. Sascoc should be helping out our athletes where they can, especially since the majority of Olympic sports aren't sustainable paying professions. One of SASCOC's 3 main objectives is team preparation and part of that is helping fund athletes so that they can be ready for big events. How much and for how long is debatable but the assistance should be there.

I don't know what the full story of Schoeman is but as a general comment, SASCOC should be helping out the athletes where they can. I'm sure most of us can also agree, SASCOC using its budget to help our athletes would be a million times better use then using it for their individual needs.
 
South African sports are FULL of politics. He, unlike the other 2, did not bow to them and of course, they did not offer any support. Remember the fiasco they had in Athens? WTF
 
intel8080 said:
South African sports are FULL of politics. He, unlike the other 2, did not bow to them and of course, they did not offer any support. Remember the fiasco they had in Athens? WTF
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And you know all of this how?
I reiterate If it was such an issue you would have heard Cam and Chad complain. Even Ryk Neethling thanked SASCOC for the support they gave Cameron
 
Perhaps it had to do with the fact that he is 32 and well past his prime. He should enjoy his life in the states and stop moaning about the fact that he is not getting any money from the SA taxpayers.
Same as in football, once you move into your 30's its almost all over. Sorry Roland, but thank you for your contributions over the years.
 
I actually completely agree with Schoeman. Sounds like he's bitching, but not sure how else he could say it. So many of our athletes have been shafted by sascoc. There should be a whole bunch more support / funding for those that have a chance at winning medals in these big events. R50 000 pm seems a little steep, but the basics should be taken care of. How do you expect medals as a country when you don't support your athletes... especially those that have proven themselves.
 
He's been bitching ever since the 2004 Olympics. Wah wah wah. Neethling took the opportunity and appeared in commercials and stuff. You've got to make the most of your talents - can't just expect everything on a plate.
 
intel8080 said:
South African sports are FULL of politics. He, unlike the other 2, did not bow to them and of course, they did not offer any support. Remember the fiasco they had in Athens? WTF
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How do you know this? Please post a couple of sources for this.

To me it seems to be the combination of his age, him being based in the States and the fact that he wasn't really part of the South African setup. Would be interesting to see how Sascoc respond and if they actually give us a straight answer or a round-about on.
 
He still tries his heart out for SA, should not matter a fsck where he trains. And what did someone say, he deserves to be shafted coz he didn't stay here and help 'uplift'? Crock of shyte man. Sascoc, as usual and gov, as usual, in the wrong here and all you lot that say he's whining and whatnot, jump off a cliff, you're wrong. Apologists make me sick.
 
Eskimos said:
Nope you are wrong. One of Sascoc's duty is to help athletes perform and provide assistance in their training as well as the youth development academies. Sascoc should be helping out our athletes where they can, especially since the majority of Olympic sports aren't sustainable paying professions. One of SASCOC's 3 main objectives is team preparation and part of that is helping fund athletes so that they can be ready for big events. How much and for how long is debatable but the assistance should be there.

I don't know what the full story of Schoeman is but as a general comment, SASCOC should be helping out the athletes where they can. I'm sure most of us can also agree, SASCOC using its budget to help our athletes would be a million times better use then using it for their individual needs.
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You're not reading correctly. Nowhere do I say SASCOC, you, or anyone else can't donate money to support athletes. Of course they can.

What I and many others object to is doing so from the public purse.
 
He is 32, and living in the states. Why should 600k/year be taken out of our economy and dumped into the american economy. The money should be used for local youngsters training locally with their careers ahead of them.

Put it this way. If Roland got the money, perhaps Chad wouldn't have?
 
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