Olympic silver medallist Sunette Viljoen has speared South African Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) in a Twitter rant, saying: “If there’s 1 organisation that needs urgent investigation, it is Sascoc. Start with R70 million donation by the Lottery 2 weeks before Rio.”
The javelin thrower’s rant sparked more allegations of lack of support from Sascoc.
But Sascoc boss Tubby Reddy told eNCA.com that the committee had worked hard for all the athletes and spent close to R1 million on Viljoen alone.
“She can lie if she wants to lie. I have proof that Sascoc has spent close to R1 million on Sunette, who is an unbelievable athlete,” said Reddy.
But Viljoen, who did not attend the Team SA celebrations at OR Tambo International Airport on Tuesday, said on Twitter that she was not speaking about herself but instead for the hundreds of other talented athletes who never get a cent of support.
“I am always the only athlete speaking out and that does not help our cause. I cannot fight alone any more,” Viljoen added.
Olympic hurdler LJ van Zyl went public with his support for Viljoen, saying he had to sell his mobile phone to cover costs in preparation for the Rio Games.:
He tweeted: “I had to sell my @samsung gift phone just to help cover some costs for my Rio prep. So don’t feel alone.”