Nowhere to run for IAAF
Mqondisi Dube | Friday August 11, 2017 14:39
The World Championships in London were never about Isaac Makwala. The former 400m champion was just an insignificant component in a complex system. But in a whirlwind 48 hours, all that changed and in explicit fashion, the system unravelled.
It was not by design, similar to the dysfunctions of the functionalist theory in the study of communication.
In fact the IAAF had hatched their usually carefully woven plan to project the World Championships as a solid brand, whose reputation could only soar.
The red carpet had been immaculately rolled out for Usain Bolt’s swan song. Athletics’ pin up boy was stepping down and was expected to exit in stunning fashion. And he did. Instead roles were reversed and it was the Jamaican who was stunned as former drug cheat, Justin Gatlin, beat him to the line to send the London Olympic crowd into a deathly silence.
Gatlin crossed his finger over his lips, hiding a burning desire to burst out in laughter right in Bolt’s face.
The fan and IAAF favourite had been beaten. The whole plot had gone horrifically wrong and IAAF’s hypodermic needle model had crumbled.
Even before Bolt’s defeat, IAAF was already perusing the numerous athletes on the London Olympic track for a replacement.
In the past, Carl Lewis, Michael Johnson, Mario Jones and lately, Bolt have been the preferred brands to keep athletics attractive to both sponsors and fans.
The IAAF’s eyes were presumed to have landed on Wayde van Niekerk, the South African who smashed Michael Johnson’s record during last year’s Olympics in Rio, Brazil.
There are still questions if van Niekerk carries sufficient gravitas to fill Bolt’s big spikes.
He is not yet a dominant figure in the 200m although he has bossed the 400m. But IAAF probably sees van Niekerk’s star further rising, and making him athletics’ selling point.
And this is where Makwala unexpectedly came in, according to conspiracy theorists.
Makwala appeared to be winding down his career when he produced his usual dour performances in international competitions when he was hardly noticeable at the Rio Olympics.
But a rejuvenated Makwala arrived in London in effervescent form. He was fresh from a stunning 200m/400m double in Madrid and looked in belligerent form in the heats at the World Championships.
van Niekerk and IAAF were quacking in their boots and they had every reason to be jittery.
A relatively unknown Makwala, at a ripe age of 30, was about to steal the thunder from an emerging van Niekerk, and with athletics reeling from Bolt’s shock loss in the 100m, this was hardly what the ideal World Championships IAAF had envisaged.
It would appear, a plan was hatched to stop Makwala from further spoiling the IAAF party, following in the footsteps of Gatlin.
IAAF medical team claimed Makwala needed to be quarantined just moments before the gun went off for the 200m heats, citing food poisoining. Makwala was devastated, while thousands of miles away from London, a nation was livid.
But instead of dropping their heads, his fans home and across the globe, rallied behind the athlete and laid bare their anger, much to IAAF’s hidden chagrin.
IAAF found itself in an unfamiliar corner, on the back foot. Makwala attempted to make his way to the 400m finals race, but security details shoved away his dreams. He was shattered, but the lobbying behind closed doors soared.
“We will not leave IAAF easily. We cannot tolerate such a behaviour from an organisation like IAAF,” thundered Minister of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development, Thapelo Olopeng on Wednesday.
Former 400m world record holder, Michael Johnson joined the growing chorus, accusing IAAF of pursuing commercial interests.
IAAF was rocked. It did not anticipate such a backlash. Cornered, the IAAF officials offered an olive branch, via granting Makwala permission to run the 200m heat. It was scant consolation, with Makwala and Olopeng insisting the ultimate prize would be to allow the athlete to run the 400m final.
Makwala was allowed to drive down the stadium track alone at blistering pace with a partisan crowd urging him on. The ‘sickly’ Makwala responded with a quick run of 20.20secs, to beat the set 20.53secs to qualify for the semi-final. He applied the cherry on top with press-ups at the end of the race, probably an emphatic and unambiguous message about his health.
Makwala then further shaved 0.06secs in the semi-final to qualify for last night’s final.
Poetic justice had been delivered and IAAF was left brutally exposed and embarrassed, with nowhere to run. In the end, IAAF’s decision to bar Makwala had worked perfectly in reaffirming newly held views that there are some sacred cows in athletics, who have to be protected at all costs, while mere ‘mortals’ are exposed to harsh treatment.
“There is something fishy they do not want to tell us,” said Makwala. “It is not that I was sick, there is something more to it.
“How can they just look at you and see you are sick? If they had tested me I would not have that problem, but they just assumed.
“Usain Bolt is out now so the IAAF wants someone to be the face of athletics.”
“The British would never have allowed it if I was Mo Farah or Wayne Rooney,” Makwala told BBC Sport.