By chance I had Leonard Chuene, president of the ASA, keep me company on a long drive to Rustenberg on Wednesday. He was on 702 Talk Radio and it’s the first time I’ve actually heard him speak on this issue.
It was sadly very entertaining.
He postured, got defensive, kept calling Caster a “little girl”, a “child” (something I found a bit patronising) and swerved answers on the critical issues:
— Why did the ASA not test Caster beforehand?
Well … you know how it is! She was at school! You know! We can’t test the millions of athletes who run round tracks! was the gist of his response.
— Why is this a race issue?
Well … the white media in this country! Everyone’s against her! And Australia! It’s a white country!
— Why is the ASA blaming the IAAF?
How could they DO this! They didn’t follow procedure! There’s a process! They’re supposed to request us to test!
— But the IAAF says they laid a request a long time ago?
You know how it is! We’re working with these young people! And you know … our culture!
etc etc
The Scots have a great word for this.
Blethering.
Because that’s what he did — not a single concrete answer. Not a single acknowledgement of the real issues. No accountability, no standing up to the podium and saying, yes, we could have handled this better. No depth to answers, and sadly, still no understanding of what’s happened and how the ASA should have engaged on this.
Which means that there is no learning from this awful experience. Which should be, that people with an understanding, knowledge and interest in their world, should be the people in responsible positions like president of ASA.
I find it difficult that someone so blatantly ignorant of the athletics stage can be heading up sport in our country. But worse, I find is Chuene’s complete inability to learn and understand the athletics arena.
As this dooms ASA to growth in its protective bubble where it can do no wrong and will continue to slap itself on the back.
And this has a massive impact on the waves of young athletes coming through the ranks, as well as our credibility at competing on the world stage.
NOTE: The full interview should be available at www.ewn.co.za. The quotes above are not direct but rather my interpretation of the interview.
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