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Johannesburg - Arnaud Malherbe, acting head of the Athletics South Africa (ASA) athletes' commission, lashed out at the federation on Monday after the national team dropped to third on the medals table at the African Athletics Championships in Nairobi, Kenya which ended on Sunday.
"I am nothing less than disgusted," Malherbe said. "For the first time in a decade, South Africa are not the African champions. The current administration at ASA have truly turned us into a third rate country."
Malherbe has been at loggerheads with ASA assistant administrator Richard Stander over the changes in selection criteria this season, which Stander believes will improve the nation's standing at international championships.
Stander said in April all athletes would have to reach the qualifying standards in their events during a six-week window period stretching through July if they were to compete at global and continental championships. His argument was that athletes who qualified in South Africa's summer would not perform well later in the year.
Malherbe was joined by administrators, officials, athletes and coaches in voicing their disapproval of the new criteria, which they believe unnecessarily forces athletes to peak three times in a season.
The national selectors omitted a number of medal contenders from the final team for the African Championships and Malherbe has demanded reasons why they were not included.
Having placed top of the table at every continental championships since 2002, South Africa led from day one in Nairobi but were overtaken and eventually well beaten by hosts Kenya and Nigeria on the final day.
The team earned six gold, seven silver and six bronze medals. In Addis Ababa in 2008 they had secured 12 gold, two silver and eight bronze medals, easily beating Nigeria who placed second.
Malherbe, the South African record holder in the men's 400m sprint, said the athletes who competed in Nairobi had performed "admirably" but had been let down by the selectors who left medal contenders at home, including nine athletes who are ranked among the top five in their events in Africa.
He said he felt the federation had given away as many as 13 medals.
"As it turns out, we are not a third rate country after all," Malherbe said, "we just have third rate selectors and administrators."
Stander refused to comment but said SAPA could talk to over 300 coaches who were gathering at a symposium in Bloemfontein this week to find out why the team had not retained their No 1 status on the continent.
