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I'm not keeping my mouth shut anymore! Part 2 – the update |
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3 March 2010
As of this morning things seems to be looking up and an understanding seems to have been reached with regard to the Shameen classic debacle. Shameen called me this morning to blow off some steam. We had it out with each other and it seems that there is a lot of political bullshit going around, which inevitably resulted in his silence toward me. If this had been properly communicated to me we could have resolved it very easily with a simple phone call.
According to Shameen, shortly after the IFBB Samson's Classic in KZN last year, Mervyn Hannie and Sydney Booysen returned home to Cape Town and reported that the reason they didn't qualify in the top six at that show (even though a few weeks earlier they were crowned IFBB SA champions) was because I said to them that the IFBB was pissed off that they entered Shameen's Night of Champions show the week prior. What they should have divulged when they returned home, instead of crying like sore losers is the fact that I came up to them both and told them that they were both out of contest condition. As much as Mervyn's mother wanted to kill me for saying it, it's how I felt!
The truth is that they didn't deserve to get a place in the top six. The standard of conditioning at the IFBB Samson's Classic was brilliant and anyone that didn't bring their A-game got punished – pure and simple. The judging panel at the Samson's Classic was also completely different from that of IFBB SA's and I can tell you right now that not one of the judges from that evening knew or cared what shows they had won before stepping on to stage that night to be judged. The IFBB President, Gavin Conlon even pulled them aside and told them outright that if they went to the IFBB World Championships looking like they did at the Samson's Classic, they would be horrified with their placings, and in fact shouldn't even bother getting on the plane if they intended to compete as they were. So on numerous occasions, both Mervyn and Sydney were told that their condition was off, but why they had to go back to Cape Town with a politically motivated agenda, making the statements they did is beyond me. Sometimes, as athletes you need to swallow your pride and admit that you didn't prepare properly, plain and simple. Rather have the balls to admit your condition was off than start a campaign of bullshit.
I have no interest in who competes for who and where they compete. Why should I care? If I didn't like a federation and I felt it was bad for the sport then wouldn't I simply choose to rather ignore the federation I disagree with and promote only those I believed strongly in? It is also not my job to dictate how the sport should be run in South Africa. It's my job to take the good, enhance it and try and defeat the negative aspects of our sport so that, at the end of the day the best interests of the sport are kept at heart.
Shameen and I went on to discuss a few more issues and we both vented our frustrations. We agreed on some things and agreed to disagree on others, but all in all we concluded that the best way forward is to continue to support one another and that's what we intend to do. After all, the best interests of bodybuilding in South Africa is what counts, nothing else... |
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Comments
You are doing what needs to be done for SA BB
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