Cycling South Africa's Commonwealth Games crisis

Cycling South Africa's [CSA] board will meet next Friday in Cape Town to discuss a series of incidents which has put the participation of the national track team at the Commonwealth Games in March in Melbourne in serious jeopardy. The dispute centres on the participation of two riders, Rupert Rheeder and Nolan Hoffman, who ride for South African pro team Exel, owned by CSA board member Eugene Ruiters. Ruiters, who is responsible for development and transformation, has told Allan Wolhuter, national coach for the Commonwealth Games, that these two riders won't be released for the Games in Melbourne during March.

"In doing this, these two riders will be denied the opportunity to represent their country," said Wolhuter. "And if that is the case, we don't even have to send a track team to Melbourne," he added. This raises a bigger issue within South Africa's cycling administration - the conflict of interest present in this case and how it affects the national team's performance. Gottie Hansen, president of CSA, said early last week he is 'fed-up' with the whole issue. "Eugene [Ruiters] has been part of the development and transformation committee and over the past year he has not come up with one suggestion how to address the issue," he said.

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