Thursday, December 15, 2005
Discussions: Breaking News: Aussie 'Staaldraad' shocker....
In scenes that are being compared on CNN World News to the Springboks Kamp Staaldraad, we are learning that elite Australian swimmers have been put through a boot camp that included shock tactics and the 'execution' of fellow swimmers!! A clearly embarrassed Australian Swimming official was forced to concede duting an interview on CNN that when he first heard of the camp his first thought had also been on the Kamp Staaldraad that South Africa's elite rugby players had been subjected to. One hopes and trusts that the SA media will pick this story up and run and run with it!
The www.heraldsun.news.com.au reports:
Terror tactics for our swimming stars
13dec05
SOME of Australia's top gold medal hopes are enduring terror tactics in a military-style boot camp to toughen them up for the Commonwealth Games.
Training terror
As these exclusive pictures show, an imitation 9mm pistol was pointed at the head of swimmers while an "enemy" trainer pulled the trigger of a starting gun in his other hand. The "victims" of the mock execution then slumped to the ground.
Swimmers as young as 16, including world champion 50m butterfly star Danni Miatke and fellow Australian team members Shayne Reese and Sarah Katsoulis, were drafted into the extreme training in parkland in Bulleen.
A Royal Australian Navy physical trainer oversaw the torturous training regime.
Many of the 15 athletes who took part were reduced to tears.
The www.timesonline.co.uk reports:
Australia in shock over boot camp 'execution'
By Craig Lord
AUSTRALIAN sportsmen are renowned for their ruthless pursuit of victory, but the latest boot-camp tactic for hardening up the country’s swimmers, which involved a mock execution, has provoked outrage.
A squad of swimmers in Melbourne, including Danni Miatke, the world champion over 50 metres butterfly, and Shayne Reese and Sarah Katsoulis, her international team-mates, were put through a two-hour military-style exercise that culminated in an "enemy" trainer pointing an imitation 9mm pistol at the heads of two kneeling participants.
A starting pistol with live caps in his other hand behind his back, Nathan Schrag, a trainer with the Royal Australian Navy, who devised and led the exercise, pulled the triggers simultaneously for dramatic effect and the male "victims", one of them a Sri Lankan swimmer, slumped to the ground.
Others in the squad, some as young as 16, were then made to remove the "bodies" of Arun Karunaratne and Mark Pettifer on stretchers. Although the swimmers knew that Schrag’s pistol was a toy, the noise of the firing caps took some by surprise.
In their belief that the exercise would make rivals of their charges quake before Australia’s Commonwealth Games trials next month, Schrag and Rohan Taylor, the coach to the Carey Aquatic team, had invited a local reporter and photographer to record the moment. However, images of a Sri Lankan swimmer being "shot" did not go down well, particularly at a time when race riots are raging through the Sydney suburb of Cronulla.
A statement from Swimming Australia, the governing body, said that the federation was "shocked" and found the photographs of the mock execution "offensive and extremely insensitive". Glenn Tasker, the chief executive, said: "These images are nothing short of appalling, insulting, embarrassing, and are unequivocally unacceptable. Tough training regimes are part of our sport, but there is a line you don’t cross."
The exercise, which took place in the grounds of a local grammar school, involved swimmers in camouflage gear crawling on their stomachs through scrub carrying metal pipes that were substitutes for guns. When discovered by "the enemy", they were forced to endure nine-minute "punishment sessions", a gruelling exercise regime of sit-ups, press-ups and other drills that reduced many to tears.
Miatke, 18, was among those. "It was exhausting," she said, "just horrible. Sort of fun, but horrible."
At first, Taylor saw no wrong. "They spend 20 to 30 hours a week in the pool and that can get a bit boring. This was on dry land and it was a real challenge," he said. "I tell you what, they absolutely loved it. The kids just ate it up. They thought it was the best thing." Yesterday, though, he acknowledged that he had made a "significant error in judgment".
Schrag, who is scheduled to leave the navy next month, said that the exercise was normal in the military. "It puts them under a lot of duress and starts to make them distressed, physically and mentally," he said. "We had a couple of tears, which was good because it pushed people beyond where they would normally go. You find out who handles pressure."
Alan Thompson, the man at the helm of the Australia swimming team, is to raise the matter at a conference of national coaches and with swimming teachers "to reinforce the responsibilities they have to proper conduct of training programmes and to uphold the image and reputation of the sport".
Thompson said that there was still a place for gruelling, military-style camps for young swimmers, although those in charge needed "to ensure emotional barriers are appropriate as well".
Schrag has been invited to take another camp before Christmas, but the "more extreme aspects" of the programme will be removed.
TRAINING REGIMES FROM HELL
RUGBY UNION: At “Camp Steel Wire” before the 2003 World Cup, South Africa players were forced to strip and pump up rugby balls in a freezing lake and were kept there at gunpoint. Abandoned in the bush at night, they were woken every 15 minutes by gunfire.
CHINA: The regime that now prevails in many Olympic sports ahead of Beijing 2008 has drawn accusations of abuse.
Athletics: Ma’s Army of distance runners, named after Ma Jungren, the coach, ran 65km a day six days a week. Doping, not “turtle blood soup”, was their fuel.
Swimming: Zhou Ming’s charges trained 120km a week in water at altitude. He was banned for life in 1998 after some tested positive for drugs.
Diving: Before Fu Mingxia became the youngest world champion, at 12, she sat on a chair with legs outstretched and feet up on another chair as a 14st coach sat on her knees to “improve flexibility”.
EAST GERMANY: Between 1970 and 1989, about 10,000 athletes were given anabolic steroids under State Plan 14.25. Many developed serious medical conditions later in life.
Comments:
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Gotcha ya bastards!!!!!
Hope you suffer for this!!!!
Keo where are you to 'reveal all' in a book!
Eish it goes from bad to worse for Australian sports.
Oh yes
wpw yearns for cruise ship lovin' with the cabin boys
Hope you suffer for this!!!!
Keo where are you to 'reveal all' in a book!
Eish it goes from bad to worse for Australian sports.
Oh yes
wpw yearns for cruise ship lovin' with the cabin boys
OO,
The CNN anchor specifically asked, "After the humiliation of the South Africans, how on earth could Australian swimming do this"?
The Aussie swimming guy said he agreed, couldn't explain it, said that swimming coaches are so focussed, so insular that they don't 'always follow other sporting codes'.....
LOL
The CNN anchor specifically asked, "After the humiliation of the South Africans, how on earth could Australian swimming do this"?
The Aussie swimming guy said he agreed, couldn't explain it, said that swimming coaches are so focussed, so insular that they don't 'always follow other sporting codes'.....
LOL
Eish
At least there were no 16 year olds or girls on the Bok team at Staaldraad, although considering some of the girlish whining afterwards some of them should have gone and asked for the chop.
Staaldraad was no worse than what we went through in the old SADF....
Okay, except for the naked in a mud pool thing....
At least there were no 16 year olds or girls on the Bok team at Staaldraad, although considering some of the girlish whining afterwards some of them should have gone and asked for the chop.
Staaldraad was no worse than what we went through in the old SADF....
Okay, except for the naked in a mud pool thing....
davidS
i'm gonna get you for that one... lol
i am over the moon, these aussies can suffer for a change. there sport is really in crisis. it's only their cricket team who are not doing too badly... if we beat them(which i seriously doubt) they will be even worse off...
i'm gonna get you for that one... lol
i am over the moon, these aussies can suffer for a change. there sport is really in crisis. it's only their cricket team who are not doing too badly... if we beat them(which i seriously doubt) they will be even worse off...
hmmmm,
davids, considering or even just imagening naked girls pumping rugby balls in cold water.........
okay no
lets not got there.
davids, considering or even just imagening naked girls pumping rugby balls in cold water.........
okay no
lets not got there.
DavidS,
Staaldraad was a puppy's picnic compared to what we went through in the force...may the wors be with you
Staaldraad was a puppy's picnic compared to what we went through in the force...may the wors be with you
Hmmm.
Glad nie 'n goeie sportjaar vir die Kettingslepers nie.
Donner
Waar is jy? Ons moet 'n Windhoekie gaan drink en gesels oor hulle borgskap vir iets op hierdie site.
Die geselsery kan dalk 'n rukkie duur :-)
# posted by
: December 14, 2005 12:44 PM
Glad nie 'n goeie sportjaar vir die Kettingslepers nie.
Donner
Waar is jy? Ons moet 'n Windhoekie gaan drink en gesels oor hulle borgskap vir iets op hierdie site.
Die geselsery kan dalk 'n rukkie duur :-)
# posted by
: December 14, 2005 12:44 PM
Afternoon guys
Good news about the Aussies. Pricks.
Bad news is I think I am banned from keo. Some blacklist thing comes up every time I try to post my Season's Greetings.
Why is all this happening to me?
Why? Why? Why?
Phew!
Good news about the Aussies. Pricks.
Bad news is I think I am banned from keo. Some blacklist thing comes up every time I try to post my Season's Greetings.
Why is all this happening to me?
Why? Why? Why?
Phew!
Ras
I wanted to add that this is a brilliant piece of browsing by you.
# posted by : December 14, 2005 12:47 PM
I wanted to add that this is a brilliant piece of browsing by you.
# posted by
: December 14, 2005 12:47 PM
Kandas
SUMUS SEMPER IN EXCRETUM
(Dit beteken iets soos: Alles is k*k, net die diepte wissel.)
Ek voel ook vandag so as dit jou laat beter voel :-)
# posted by : December 14, 2005 12:51 PM
SUMUS SEMPER IN EXCRETUM
(Dit beteken iets soos: Alles is k*k, net die diepte wissel.)
Ek voel ook vandag so as dit jou laat beter voel :-)
# posted by
: December 14, 2005 12:51 PM
PA
I knew there's something wrong with you....lol
That desert air's doing something to your head....
If you get caught with a 16 year old girl pumping rugby balls in a mud pool you can book a cell at Diepkloof and you know what they do to okes who mess around with little girls in prison....
Rasp
Like I said, exscept for the naked in a mudpool thingie Die Mag was much worse. At least the trainers didn't get a sadistic pleasure out of making okes vomit blood!!!!
Kandas
Typekey always does that when you time out. I think the comments section is closed again though...
Is Mr. McKeevr joining us for Brannasnacht tomorrow or is he coming in this afternoon?
I knew there's something wrong with you....lol
That desert air's doing something to your head....
If you get caught with a 16 year old girl pumping rugby balls in a mud pool you can book a cell at Diepkloof and you know what they do to okes who mess around with little girls in prison....
Rasp
Like I said, exscept for the naked in a mudpool thingie Die Mag was much worse. At least the trainers didn't get a sadistic pleasure out of making okes vomit blood!!!!
Kandas
Typekey always does that when you time out. I think the comments section is closed again though...
Is Mr. McKeevr joining us for Brannasnacht tomorrow or is he coming in this afternoon?
Isnt KEOs comments section offline until mid jan?
WPW,DavidS got you good with that 1st comment boety,im still pissing myself!
WPW,DavidS got you good with that 1st comment boety,im still pissing myself!
Boertjie,
Windhoekie is going to be difficult this year still. Maybe early next year.
Great Ras, can anyone post this on Silverfern. The NZ should have a field day with this.
Davids,
Are you joining us on Brannasnacht?
Windhoekie is going to be difficult this year still. Maybe early next year.
Great Ras, can anyone post this on Silverfern. The NZ should have a field day with this.
Davids,
Are you joining us on Brannasnacht?
So we can rub the Aussies' noses in it like they did with us. Shyte, I might have to send this to etv. WPW, didn't you say something about knowing the chick that reads the news? Send this on my friend!
Ja,
the difference between the Ozzie hardass training camp and the SA Kamp Staalraad........................................is that the Ozzies will bring home the gold medals.
Just watch.......if the Ozzies clean up at the World Games the Yanks will holding training camps like this every other weekend!!!
the difference between the Ozzie hardass training camp and the SA Kamp Staalraad........................................is that the Ozzies will bring home the gold medals.
Just watch.......if the Ozzies clean up at the World Games the Yanks will holding training camps like this every other weekend!!!
Boertjie:
Literally, what you have posted there says: "We are always into shit"
I believe the correct wording is:
Semper in faecibus, sole profundum variat
(Always in the shit, only the depth changes)
I've posted the following on OO's blog. It's a selection of real; graffiti from Roman times:
http://www.orbilat.com/Languages/Latin_Vulgar/Texts/Pompeii_Graffiti.html
AND
http://www.personal.kent.edu/~bkharvey/roman/classes/graffiti.htm
The Aussies are pretty embarrassed at the mo even without their "Swimming Staaldraad" - just look at the way they are turning Sydney into "New Beirut" (circa 1985, that is)
Literally, what you have posted there says: "We are always into shit"
I believe the correct wording is:
Semper in faecibus, sole profundum variat
(Always in the shit, only the depth changes)
I've posted the following on OO's blog. It's a selection of real; graffiti from Roman times:
http://www.orbilat.com/Languages/Latin_Vulgar/Texts/Pompeii_Graffiti.html
AND
http://www.personal.kent.edu/~bkharvey/roman/classes/graffiti.htm
The Aussies are pretty embarrassed at the mo even without their "Swimming Staaldraad" - just look at the way they are turning Sydney into "New Beirut" (circa 1985, that is)
Il Pastino
And what does the nick mean?
Thanks for the real translation, will copy and keep it.
Go well!
# posted by : December 15, 2005 12:27 AM
Post a Comment
And what does the nick mean?
Thanks for the real translation, will copy and keep it.
Go well!
# posted by
: December 15, 2005 12:27 AM << Home
