'I have not accepted anything' - Adams runs 21.31 and will continue with legal action after ASA Olympic snub

After initially including him then removing his name from the Olympic team because of a lack of fitness, Athletics South Africa (ASA) came under fire from 200m sprinter Luxolo Adams who believes that he is being treated unfairly. Last week, the Athletics community learnt the decision that Adams had been dropped, paving the way for 400m world record holder Wayde Van Niekerk to withdraw from his main event and focus on the half lap race in Paris.

Quoted by Charles Baloyi of the SABC and Wesley Botton of The Citizen in the wake of the furore which has seen Adams threaten legal action for his sudden removal despite achieving the automatic Olympic qualification standard last year, ASA High Performance Manager Hezekiel Sepeng says they informed both Adams and his coach Gerrie Posthumus of their decision after it became clear that his recovery from injury was slow. Speaking exclusively to #TheTopRunner’s Thathe Msimango this week, the 27-year-old Eastern Cape born athlete insists that ASA never communicated with him before taking the decision. 

ASA initially named Adams in the Olympic team after he secured automatic qualification at the 2023 Athletics World Championships. Photo Credit: ASA Media.

"I'm disheartened because I put in everything to be in the team and I qualified on merit. ASA was not fair and this decision is unjust because there is no recording of the meeting as they claimed. I didn't agree to be removed from the team. In the engagement we had I stated that I will speak with my team and get back to them. But when I contacted Hezekiel Sepeng regarding the way forward he decided not to answer my call," explained the man who reached the 2022 World Championship final.

But ASA are sticking to their guns and argue that although he may have qualified for #Paris2024 on merit, injury has left him unfit - an assertion which was supported by another luke warm 21.31 performance in Switzerland last night (16 July). Adams who was also included in the SASCOC Olympic kit launch earlier this year, missed both the ASA Senior Track and Field Championships in April and the African Championships in May with his only other race in 2024 having been a 21:50 in a Meeting in Brescia, Italy a few weeks ago.

Adams with coach Gerrie Posthumus. Photo Credit: Supplied.

The man who won the 2022 Paris Diamond League in a personal best 19.82 to become the second fastest SA 200m athlete of all time, says being left out of the Olympics has also affected his family badly which is why he intends to seek legal recourse. 

"My Grandmother is ill and she’s not taking this well because they have been following me since primary school. Now imagine the impact this has on her health. My mother is also not taking it well also because I have always talked about how good ASA is but now it all changed. I’ve worked for four years to go to the Olympics and I have not accepted anything because there’s no reason except ASA claiming that I'm injured which is not true. I'll challenge the decision via court because the selection criteria used was not fair," he said.