ATHLETICS South Africa (ASA) are hoping to name the Commonwealth Games team in Australia next year as soon as possible.
Forget about the idea of revisiting the strict qualifying standards for major events though.
The daunting qualifying criteria are making things difficult for athletes as they are told to double their efforts.
President Aleck Skhosana has defended the athletics federation’s tough qualifying criteria ahead of the Gold Coast Games in April.
Skhosana reflected on a hugely successful year for the sport.
Planning for next year has already started and the federation wants to pull all the stops at the Commonwealth Games.
A haul of six medals at the IAAF World Championships in London, England, was by far Mzansi’s best achievement on the world stage.
But are they setting the bar of qualifying standards too high?
Some argue that these qualifying standards are just too high because they leave athletes with potential in the cold.
But Skhosana does not think so. He said: “There is what we call a pull and push strategy. If we can keep our times and qualifying times as low as it used to be, we won’t be able to achieve anything at all.
“Look at what we did with the youth and the seniors. When we started the athletes were told they won’t be able to run sub 10 seconds. but look at what is happening now. They are doing it for fun.
“There’s a pull and a push strategy. We’re pulling them to come as close as possible.
“At the end of the day it is ASA that selects the team based on the criteria that is there and we have done that over the years to ensure our teams are there to represent us with distinction.
“The criteria are tough, but athletes have no choice but to work hard to meet these standards or risk being left out of the team.”
Those who have not made the qualifying standards will have their chance when the season starts early March – with the new Grand Prix three leg series taking place in Joburg, Pretoria and Paarl next year.
Skhosana added: “It’s up to athletes to qualify for the event. We want to speed up the process of announcing the team as soon as possible to give athletes enough time to prepare for the Games.”
