Swimming South Africa is breaking with the easier Olympic qualifying standards that the majority of local federations fought to obtain four years ago, opting to make them stiffer, especially for its weaker aquatic disciplines.
The body’s poolside swimmers have the potential to deliver the bulk of Team SA’s medals at Paris 2024, and their pathway into the squad won’t be severely affected.
They must achieve Olympic qualifying times at the national trials in April next year, although SSA says it may allow the criteria used during the official qualifying window of March 1, 2023 to June 23, 2024.
But hopefuls in open-water swimming, water polo and artistic swimming could struggle to book the spots they had at the Tokyo 2020 showpiece.
It’ll all come down to how they perform at the world championships in Doha in February next year.
“The executive of Swimming South Africa with the consultation of the HP [High Performance] committee looked at an equitable qualification standard among the aquatics codes that will give all athletes the chance of qualifying for the Paris Olympics, but will raise the standard to keep abreast of the world standard to ensure we don’t compromise future generations by [be]coming non-competitive,” high performance manager Dean Price wrote in a circular to technical and selection convenors.
Hopefuls in open-water swimming, water polo and artistic swimming could struggle to book the spots they had at the Tokyo 2020 showpiece
While SSA’s intentions might be good, its desire to lift standards comes with no financial support. Some affected athletes have had to cough up hundreds of thousands of rands on preparations, while still trying to negotiate training hours and earning a living.
It’s also a major departure from the selection revolt engineered by national federations at the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) in 2019.
Fed-up after Sascoc had reneged on selection agreements for the African Games, because of a lack of money, the sports bodies voted to do away with the umbrella body’s stiff Olympic qualifying standards.
They also passed a second resolution forcing Sascoc to allow federations the chance to raise money for their athletes before pulling plugs on trips.
Until then Sascoc had disregarded almost all continental qualification pathways on the basis that they were too easy.
That is why South Africa’s team to Tokyo 2020 was the largest in history.
SSA’s qualifying standard document still allows continental qualifying, but lifts minimum requirements for its different codes.
The water polo teams will have to finish 12th, which is a tough ask considering the women’s outfit delivered exactly that — a best-ever result — at the last global competition in Fukuoka in July.
The men ended 16th.
The artistic swimmers also shone in Japan, where Laura Strugnell, a Tokyo veteran, and her new partner Jess Hayes-Hill ended 28th in the duet free routine. Skye MacDonald was 22nd in the women’s solo free, but that is a non-Olympic event.
Whichever duet wins selection at trials next month will have to finish 20th in Qatar, a massive jump up in standard.
The open-water swimmers must also finish inside the top 20, which could be a tough ask considering the highest finish in the 10km was 40th.
Diving is the only discipline seemingly assured of qualification, with the criteria allowing results from Fukuoka where veteran Julia Vincent ended 10th in the 3m springboard. Like water polo, divers also need to finish 12th.
Insiders told the Sunday Times an earlier draft of the document had allowed water polo results from Fukuoka, which would have secured the women’s team, but this had been altered.
A senior Sascoc member has said federations were entitled to alter their qualifying criteria.
“Sascoc’s high performance commission ask for the national federations’ selection documents, signed off by their boards, athletes’ commissions and coaches’ commissions, to ensure that consultation took place within the national federation around the selection process and policy.”
SSA’s latest criteria have not yet been discussed by its athletes’ commission, chair Chad Ho said.
Attempts to get comment from Price were unsuccessful.
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