Akani Simbine pours out athletes' financial and preparation struggles ahead of Paris 2024
21st March 2024
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With less than three months to the 2024 Olympic Games, South African leading medal hopeful and sprint king Akani Simbine is worried that the Operation Excellence (OPEX) programme has not been fully assisting them yet.
Speaking to SABC Sport on the sidelines of the JP Morgan Corporate Challenge last week, Simbine who is gearing up for the European athletic season to prepare for the Olympics says OPEX delays affect their preparations.
Simbine says OPEX was handled perfectly last year, but they are yet to hear about this year’s plan from the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC).
''This year we don't know where OPEX is at, of course we should know by now, but it's waiting for SASCOC to announce and make the funds available,'' said Simbine.
Through the OPEX funding, athletes prepare for major sporting events, including the world championships and Olympic Games.
This is something Simbine has been exposed to since 2014 leading to the 2016 Olympics in Brazil and the 2020 Tokyo Games. Simbine says with the funding still not confirmed, he’s forced to dig deep into his savings to prepare for the preparations in Europe.
''Now it's literally trying to raise funds so that my coach and physio can travel with me. Because at this point it is like me trying to make sure that I tick all the boxes so that my team can travel with me, making our own plans outside the federation,'' added Simbine.
Simbine, who was amongst the top contenders for the podium finish at last year’s World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary but was unfortunately disqualified for the semifinals after he had false started, says the ideal way is for the athletes to be prepared well in advance on how OPEX is going to be implemented.
''I think a lot of athletes have a lot of financial stress, you just don't know how you are going to travel and who will cover your traveling costs, for you and your team - which is something I have tried to change over the years,'' he concluded.
Next month, Simbine together with his coach and physiotherapist, a team that is a must for an athlete like him competing with some of the best athletes in the world will be starting their preparations in Europe.
He says most athletes find themselves having to stress about money during this period.
Simbine makes a strong point that team sporting codes like cricket, football, and rugby have full technical teams and they always move around them during preparation time for major events. But unfortunately for them as athletes, he says this is not the case and this is something they have been fighting for, for a very long time.
Simbine, who needs not less than R300 000 to prepare for a major championship says Athletics South Africa (ASA) has done their best in the past to prepare them for big events but also feels that they can still do better, especially in the challenging economic times of the Euro to Rand exchange rate.
