South African swimming medal prospect Gerhard Zandberg was hauled into a disciplinary hearing just hours before he crashed out of the world championships in Barcelona at the weekend.
Zandberg, 30, was fined an effective R5000 and ordered to do a year's community service because he switched rooms at the team hotel to move in with his girlfriend.
The swimmer had been looking to win a record fifth medal in the 50m backstroke, having made the podium in this race at four of the last five world championships.
But in his semifinal on Saturday evening he slipped at the start and failed to recover sufficiently to make the final.
A source said Zandberg was called into the hearing at 1.30pm on Saturday, spent an hour there and then waited until 3.30pm to hear the sanction.
"He was a broken man," the source said. "Just the timing of this sucks. It shows management are not there for the swimmer."
Swimming SA (SSA) CEO Shaun Adriaanse, a member of the three-person disciplinary tribunal, declined to comment.
"We don't comment on disciplinary matters. He was disciplined according to team rules and he was sanctioned."
Asked about the timing of the hearing, Adriaanse replied: "For any disciplinary, there is no convenient time to do it."
It is believed Zandberg had first been summoned to the hearing on Friday night - with his heats on Saturday morning - but had ignored this.
He was apparently initially fined R50000 but that was subsequently reduced to R15000, R10000 of which was suspended.
This was the second disciplinary hearing for Zandberg on this trip. He landed in trouble earlier on because of comments on Facebook criticising team management.
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