Cycling duo gear up for Olympics

26 May 2016 - 02:00 By DAVID ISAACSON

Cyclists Daryl Impey and Louis Meintjes were yesterday named in the Olympic team for the Rio Games in August - proof that small federations can influence the sometimes monolithic South African Olympic Committee.The duo were among 24 athletes across seven codes listed by Sascoc in its first team announcement of 2016.The rest of Team SA will be named in July.Cycling SA initially declined to sign an Olympic selection agreement with Sascoc, which didn't want to accept qualifying through continental avenues.The sport's convoluted international qualifying criteria would have meant no SA men's road cyclists in Rio - the only realistic way to qualify was through Africa.Impey and Meintjes are dark-horse contenders to win SA's first Olympic cycling medal in 60 years, since Alfred Swift's bronze in the 1000m time trial at Melbourne in 1956.Impey and Meintjes will have to work well together on the Rio circuit, which features an 8km climb.Elsewhere, there were no surprises in the men's and women's marathon teams, with the three fastest qualifiers selected.There is also one gymnast and three sailors, and diver Julia Vincent is the only female aquatics qualifier for Rio.The rest of the provisional team:Marathon (men): Lusapho April, Sibusiso Nzima, Lungile Gongqa.Marathon (women): Irvette Van Zyl, Christine Kalmer, Diana Lebo Phalula.Canoeing: Bridgitte Hartley.Gymastics (men's artistic): Ryan Patterson.Sailing: Stefano Marcia (Laser class) Asenathi Jim and Roger Hudson (470).Swimming: Chad le Clos, Cameron van der Burgh, Sebastien Rousseau, Michael Meyer, Christopher Reid, Matthew Meyer, Myles Brown, Bradley Tandy, Douglas Erasmus, Jarred Crous...

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