21 replies to this topic

[Tony123]

Lets hope common sense prevails and AA change their mind and let Genevieve LaCaze go to the Olympics.

She seems to be getting a lot of public support, hopefully this helps her cause..

[Tony123]

In Todays Paper  http://www.theage.co...0615-20fmb.html

[johnnyboyrun]

AA have their head up the A*ses as always.....i once heard one of the Chappel brothers say: "the thing about common sense is that it's not that common" This seems to be a common theme in AA....

[Bellthorpe]

The dumbos at AA are just like politicians. They make statements that simply don't make sense. In this case, the bit about disadvantaging other athletes.

Here's the full media statement. I've highlighted the last sentence, which is quite telling.

Quote

Athletics Australia Statement

On 1 July 2011 the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) approved Athletics Australia's selection policy for the London 2012 Olympic Games, and that policy was subsequently made available to all athletes.  The policy specified that the qualifying period for all events other than the marathon, walk events, 10,000m and combined events commenced on 1 May 2011 and concluded on 11 June 2012.

The AOC requires Athletics Australia to submit its selection nominations by 22 June 2012. Athletics Australia has endeavoured to give athletes the largest possible window of opportunity for qualification, continuing post our Olympic Nomination Trials which were conducted in early March 2012.  The qualifying period end date of 11 June 2012 was set in order to allow adequate time for selectors to consider the team and most importantly to give athletes the opportunity and time to appeal any selection decision if they elected to do so prior to 22 June.

Today, the Athletics Australia Board has reiterated the position that the conditions set out in the nomination criteria must stand, and that specifically, no performances achieved outside the qualifying period can be considered for nomination.  This decision has been reached because it was felt that to extend the qualifying period would unfairly discriminate against the many athletes who had planned their preparations to achieve their qualifying performances by the specified dates. We are therefore unable to consider Genevieve LaCaze's most recent performance for Olympic nomination and nor will we be able to consider performances from any other athlete after 11 June.

We will always strive to do what we can to help our athletes succeed, and we want to give them every opportunity to do so, however we also have a responsibility to be fair to all athletes and consistent in our nomination process.




The 54 athletes who have been identified for nomination to the AOC have worked hard to achieve the required standards within the nomination period and we are extremely proud to be able to identify for nomination such a large team for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

At this stage no further comment will be made.

At least the bungling over the d'Arcy - Monk photo had a funny side to it ...

[thomo]

http://www.letsrun.c...?thread=4629612

Made the USA's letsrun.

Again Eric_the Eel or Eric _the_ Eagle doesn't  come out in a good light.

[TCMB]

Rumours are flying that qualifying has been extended to June 22.
http://www.courierma...f-1226397481332

Hopefully it is more than rumours.....

[AndrewC]

If AA's pointless claim of the moral high ground is not bad enough, there's worse... let's compare this for a moment to the case of Melissa Breen.  

AA used the 'potential' clause to include her in the Olympic team (and rightly so, I believe) - even though she had not managed a qualifier in the time period.  Now, I don't believe in overnight miracles at the elite level, so, if LaCaze easily runs an A qualifier the day after the nomination date, she must clearly have had the potential to run an A qualifier the day before:  AA was just unaware of it.  I'm not convinced that this lack of knowledge is an excuse.  The way I see it, if anyone has been discriminated against, it's LaCaze.  AA should acknowledged that they failed to recognize her potential at the nomination date, apologise, and send her to London.

- AndrewC

[Tony123]

Shes in

http://www.athletics...the_president_r

[Bellthorpe]

Heh. So Coates leaned on them, then they blamed the Olympic Committee.

BTW, I don't believe in the 'potential' criterion. I think they should just send the best athletes available at the time of the games, however that is measured.

[Lyonsyrunner]

Great news! She will go faster for sure as she ran the second half solo! AA congrats on making the right decision. Why was our qualification period closed so early in the first place compared to the rest of the world! Stupid!

[MG4R]

Well the right decision was made in the end. Opens the doors for Renshaw and Tamsyn now.

This might shake up AA a little bit, although probably not, as athletes really influenced this decision. There needs to be a change to the system. In a sport that needs as much exposure as possible (especially on the worlds biggest stage), I cannot understand how/why they try to limit athletes.

[Wenty]

Sanity has prevailed. Prior to AAs positive turnaround they seemed to be confusing legal risk management with financial prudence and 'old school' attitudes. Aussie athletes do it tough enough in our 'amateur' system, without even considering the processes of the AA administration.

[AndyP]

I disagree with the ruling of extending the date to the 22nd.  They were right in their initial stance of saying that athletes aim to peak during the qualifying period that was stated, and that athletes that qualified outside of that should not be allowed.  BUT that should only be the case for events where the quota was filled.  In the case of LaCaze, an exception should have been made because there were still places available.

[thomo]

She just set a 1 second P.B in the 1500; 4:12:48.

http://www.insideath...e-runs-1500m-pb

[backofthepack]

It's good to see that Genevieve is coming into great form at the right time - just before the games.

[langswm]

Thanks for the link Thommo. What a lovely girl...and isnt it just fantastic to see 'people power" come to the fore and make a difference. I had never even heard of her until this brouhaha.

I reckon she might just get some endorsement opportunities!!

[Colin]

How do Aussies lose their accent so quickly in the US? Do they just hand it in at the airport?

BTW, knew that AA would buckle to AOC, the shemozzle is all caused by the lack of clarity that seems to exist in all Aussie OG selections and the lack of trials.

[langswm]

Colin, on 19 June 2012 - 09:26 AM, said:

How do Aussies lose their accent so quickly in the US? Do they just hand it in at the airport?

Nah....we're just good assimilators Col. Hell, we'd even adopt a seth efricen accent if you invited us to SA!

[AJS]

Doesn't sound American to me.  Typical young girl talk.

But hey, does it matter.  I remember seeing her in R4YL a few years back and having known she went to the US it was easy enough to find info.

Still young and should be good for some world champs and even Rio in the future - hope she sticks with it.  Makes sense that she should come into good form now given that the US Track season is in full swing.

It certainly is a different world with all this Social Media and stuff.  Without it I guess it would have been the end of her chances to make the team.

Great stuff, happy for her.

[HillsAths1]

Colin, on 19 June 2012 - 09:26 AM, said:

How do Aussies lose their accent so quickly in the US? Do they just hand it in at the airport?

BTW, knew that AA would buckle to AOC, the shemozzle is all caused by the lack of clarity that seems to exist in all Aussie OG selections and the lack of trials.

AA were made to look like a bunch of fools, helped no end by Eric Hollingsworth. Sanity has prevailed. Australia did however have selection trials for the Olympics and they were held in Melbourne on March 2nd and 3rd. Winners with A qualifiers were automatic selections.

In regards to clarity, the rules are pretty straightforward and are set out in the selection criteria, the problem occurs firstly because no one questions the dates when the standards and rules are first set (usually a year or more in advance) the problems occur when people have not met the standards that have been set by the original dates. If Genevieve had run the race 3 days earlier she was an automatic selection. She is a marketers dream! I hope Fabrice can make a leap that will get him into the team. He has the ability and experience to get into the medals.

BTW I am assuming that Eric already has his boarding pass.

Good luck to the whole Australian Team.

[thomo]

She did a P.B tonight. 9:37.90.

Can't ask for more.

Good post race interview.

[Ultramouse]

thomo, on 04 August 2012 - 09:15 PM, said:

She did a P.B tonight. 9:37.90.

Can't ask for more.

Good post race interview.

thomo, on 04 August 2012 - 09:15 PM, said:

She did a P.B tonight. 9:37.90.

Can't ask for more.

Good post race interview.

Ah, so she was worth selecting.

And I bet she hasn't trashed any shopfronts either.

Who needs a medal? Just a little dose of social justice once in a while.

Lucky thomo. He gets his post repeated repeated... (?)