This weekend saw the SA National Champs take place in Potchefstroom, and unless you were paying attention it probably passed you by.

That’s because it was nowhere to be found on TV – but more on that later.

Many of our premier athletes were in attendance, and some of their performances were nothing short of superb.

We’ll start with golden boy Wayde van Niekerk, who ran both the 200m and 100m final, although it was in the former that he fared best.

Here’s his gold medal run:

Then there were the superhuman efforts of long jumper Luvo Manyonga, who shot to fame when he won silver in the Rio Olympics last year.

His is quite the story, given that he was a tik addict a few years back (HERE). His jump here is the biggest of 2017, as well as a new African record:

Next up is the 100 metre final, which saw Akani Simbine pip Wayde to the gold with a time of 9,95 seconds.

You’ll want to head to the 2:30 mark to watch the race:

It was another stellar performance by golden girl Caster Semenya, who claimed the 400m / 800m double.

Ace javelin star Sunette Viljoen, who did battle with Fikile Mbalula on Twitter last year (HERE), also claimed another gold with a throw of 63,49 metres, her 12th national title.

So why wasn’t this shown on TV? The excellent Antoinette Muller for the Daily Maverick below:

Those in the know say that South African athletics is in its heyday. Looking at the field for the national athletics championships from this past weekend, they might be right. Five Olympic medallists, including a world record-holder, is pretty impressive…

But unless you live on the internet – and have access to enough data – you’re unlikely to have seen much of it. In fact, if you went nosing around to find the results on Sunday, you wouldn’t even have found them on Athletics South Africa’s (ASA) website.

Such is the contempt the sport’s governing body has for its elite athletes and its most high-profile event of the year. Yes, that’s right, an incredible athlete breaks a record – at an event sanctioned by his federation – and there is no news about it on official channels. If this was North Korea trying to cover up the team’s failings at a World Cup, you might understand, but this is a country with esteemed athletic talent that should be celebrated and given endless exposure to attract sponsors…

Those on the ground in Potchefstroom also noted how little hype there was about the event. No posters on lamp posts, no attempt to woo people to watch, just the athletes tweeting about a hashtag which they had engineered themselves. Even Usain Bolt gave the event a punt on social media…

The bungled broadcast of the biggest local annual athletics event is not just a disservice to the people ASA proclaims to care about, it’s an insult. That it cannot realise the value – community and commercial – of its athletes highlights how grossly inept this administration is.

Great sporting culture is fostered through visibility and accessibility. The athletes have done their part. What’s ASA’s excuse this time?

Another day, another example of gross ineptitude on the part of those in charge.

To the athletes a hearty congrats, to the officials a giant ‘TSEK’.

[source:dailymaverick]