South Africa's Olympic committee suspended the troubled national track federation on Sunday and said that athletes like Olympic 800m Silver Medalist Caster Semenya "would not be able to compete at the Olympics or Commonwealth Games until the problems were resolved," according to the AP. The South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee said it had now "cut ties" with Athletics South Africa, "which had been put under administration this year but defied that order on Saturday by reinstating its own board." The battle between SASCOC and ASA is also complicated by the apparent support for the track federation from int'l athletics body IAAF, "which still considers ASA to be in charge of South African track and field." SASCOC said that ASA was suspended as a member of the South African Olympic body and "can continue to engage with the IAAF on the functioning and administration of the sport." SASCOC "suspended the ASA board in April after an internal power struggle" between its President James Evans and VP and former South African Olympic marathon runner Hendrick Ramaala (AP, 6/23).
