Gayton McKenzie: Superfan budget funding Luxolo Adams’ Paris trip

The 200m sprinter had been axed from the Games squad by Athletics South Africa over his apparent failure to prove his fitness, despite confirming his qualification in August last year. 

The disgruntled Adams threatened legal action against the athletics body and SASCOC, though McKenzie says he has reallocated monies previously meant for South African ‘superfans’ to deliver on his pledge.

"Well, they had a budget for superfans in my department, so I then took some of that money and I brought Luxolo Adams to the Olympics," said McKenzie.

"I don't have jurisdiction of who should be in [Team South Africa], but I'm not going to break the spirit of a young man that's a motivation and inspiration to many young people in his village.

"So he will be here, and those are the types of people we should be bringing here – people that qualified for the Olympics, but for some reason – which is still to be fully explained to me – is not part of the team, but he has qualified, so he will be here on my instruction."

Pressed for comment, president of the SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee, Barry Hendricks, clarified their position in Adams' misfortune of missing out on the Paris Games.

"It's sad when an athlete is injured in the build-up of, what in his case is, his dream. But we rely on our federations, in this case its Athletics South Africa, to deliver the best possible team," said Hendricks.

"And they advised us what position they would take, so we have been part of the loop, and the minister [Gayton McKenzie] has been part of the loop all along,

"And as I said, it's always sad, but we have to listen to our national federations and deliver the best possible squad [for the Olympic Games]."

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