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Swimming SA in deep water after illegitimately sinking duo’s bid for Olympic qualification

Swimming SA in deep water after illegitimately sinking duo’s bid for Olympic qualification
Laura Strugnell and Jess Hayes-Hill compete at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan. (Photo: Anton Geyser / Gallo Images)
Keanan Hemmonsbey
By Keanan Hemmonsbey
22 Sep 2024
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Jessica Hayes-Hill and Laura Strugnell were sent home from the World Championships – unlawfully – and subsequently missed out on the opportunity for qualifying for the Olympic Games.

Artistic swimming pair Jessica Hayes-Hill and Laura Strugnell have won their appeal against Swimming South Africa (SSA) after being sanctioned, withdrawn and sent home from the World Championships in Doha earlier this year.

The competition in Doha doubled up as a Paris 2024 Olympic qualifying event, for which – following the extensive preparation they put in – the pair were on track to qualify. Hayes-Hill and Strugnell are now suing SSA for a total of R7.2-million for losses incurred since that intervention at the start of February.

Hayes-Hill and Strugnell were set to participate as a duet in artistic swimming at the 2024 World Championships starting on 2 February. A top 20 showing in Doha would have secured a spot for South Africa at the Paris Olympic Games.

However, the day before, on 1 February, the pair were called to a disciplinary hearing by the three-member artistic swimming management team present in Doha, which included two coaches (Wendy Buitendag and Kelly Sloley) and one team manager (Yolanda Dlamini), employed by SSA.

Read more: Swimming SA executive committee stalwarts running for new terms apparently in violation of own constitution

The team management charged the pair with “deceitful actioning of training protocol without management approval”, according to documents from the Gauteng Division of the High Court in Johannesburg. The documents, of which Daily Maverick has a copy, indicate that the obscure, non-descriptive charge has still not been expanded on.

“No further information was provided in the Disciplinary Meeting Notice; in particular the Disciplinary Meeting Notice did not disclose any alleged material facts in support of the Charge,” according to the documents.

Both Hayes-Hill and Strugnell, therefore, were unaware of why they were called into the disciplinary hearing, meaning that they could not prepare a defence.

Nonetheless, Hayes-Hill and Strugnell attended the hearing, but experienced that the process was “fundamentally unfair” given that they were only given two hours’ notice, no reason was provided for the hearing, they wanted legal representation, they could not understand why the hearing could not wait until all the parties were in South Africa after the championships, and that the hearing interfered with their preparation for their artistic swimming event the following day.

Despite their pleas for a postponement, one member of the management team demanded that the hearing “must” take place on the same day as the alleged offences.

Nonetheless, the artistic swimming management team “agreed to a short adjournment as they stated they would need to take advice and would revert”.

Revoked


Swimming SA Laura Strugnell and Jess Hayes-Hill compete at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan. (Photo: Anton Geyser / Gallo Images)



With the start of the World Championships on 2 February, Hayes-Hill and Strugnell were informed by the artistic swimming management team that they would be withdrawn from all events, their accreditation would be stripped and they would be sent home on the first flight the next day (3 February).

According to the court documents, neither Hayes-Hill nor Strugnell was present when this decision was made by the three members of the management team, which goes against SSA’s disciplinary protocols.

Read more: Swimming South Africa ducks and dives on questions about its governance structures

To date, no reason has been given for their sanctions.

“It is clear from the evidence that has been presented, that the disciplinary meeting was not procedurally and substantively fair and that the sanctions that were imposed were imposed incorrectly,” the court documents read.

“The respondents (artistic swimming management team) failed to comply with the SSA disciplinary protocol in every material respect.”

The court found that the two-hour notice period for the hearing was not sufficient, the reason for the disciplinary hearing was too vague for  Hayes-Hill and Strugnell to prepare adequately and that their request for legal representation and for the meeting to be adjourned until all the parties were back in South Africa was not unreasonable.

The artistic swimming management, therefore, contravened Hayes-Hill and Strugnell’s rights to a fair disciplinary hearing.

Hayes-Hill and Strugnell’s appeal was upheld and their sanctions set aside. SSA did not follow the correct procedures and in turn sunk the Olympic dreams of the athletes.

Finances


In the interim, the Olympic Games have come and gone. But Hayes-Hill and Strugnell, who uprooted their lives in an attempt to qualify for the Games, have decided to sue SSA for the potential earnings they lost while being sanctioned.

According to the athletes, they had secured a sponsorship valued at nearly R1-million in order to train for and attempt to obtain a top 20 qualification at the World Championships.

The pair also argue that their prohibition from participating at the World Championships and subsequently at the Olympic Games has hindered their chances of obtaining similar sponsorship opportunities.

Read more: Swimming SA dashes water polo players’ Paris Olympics dreams despite teams qualifying

They approximate that their costs for the next four-year Olympic cycle is R1.3-million per annum.

 Hayes-Hill and Strugnell are also requesting R1-million (R500,000 each) for “the emotional distress, mental anguish and the reputational damage suffered” by the two of them, among other costs.

In total, the total amount they are requesting from SSA is R7.2-million.

SSA chief executive officer Shaun Adriaanse had not replied to Daily Maverick’s request for comment by the time of publishing. DM

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