If there is one takeaway from this it's that Brett Robertson is a class act
Let's be clear he wouldn't have withdrawn if Buchanan wasn't represented by Nic. Not a chance. Nic wouldnt have allowed it. pretty much understood by the running community in Australia.
and if he didn't have a stressie with zero chance of running through.
the hero worship of robinson is very annoying - if he had a tendon thing like diver he'd likely have done exactly the same thing.
He comes across exactly how you imagine he would, particularly a few mins in.
Thanks for posting this.
So he's basically saying everyone was injured to a degree, nothing to see here. It's clear as mud as to whether Sinead was 'fit and ready' or 'a bit injured, not running that much '.
Still, it was Sinead's call. And if this triggers anything then maybe there should be an expectation that you're fit enough to run it well? IF there's a qualified sub.
After 15y as your coach @LisaWeightman I have to admit you chose the wrong man. Better to have an @AthleticsAust employee coach/manager close to selection/management action. Sinead and Gen (both Nic Bideau), Jess (Adam Didyk) and Andy replacing Brett (both Bideau), chose wisely.
In response to:
Asking for a friend @AthsAust why wasn’t Lisa Weightman taken as a reserve for the women’s marathon - as a sideline Robbo wasn’t able to take his place in the marathon & was quietly & efficiently replaced by Andy Buchanan . @Culbert_Report @DickTelford
.Sinead’s been constantly injured since her Aus record. She barely competed & pulled out of multiple races. She had to prove fitness at Launceston Half, where she ran 72min , apparently that was enough to prove she’s fit. She got selected after she did that. I believe that if she had a stinker, Lisa would have been picked.
Her and Nic have not been transparent with AA with what’s been happening since the Aus record.
Yeah agree, and his comment that Diver's the Australian record holder was somewhat beside the point, given it was almost two years ago and there's many other factors that would favour Weightman. Also a bit rich to point to 13th (vs 17th which he didn't mention) when Weightman was denied a start in this race and we'll never know what she would have done.
I just can't buy the quads excuse. Not given the post-race comments from the other two runners and the radio silence before the race. Also is it really true that *all* marathon runners are on the edge of injury? I doubt it. 10-20% maybe, but surely not all of them (I've never done one so I'm happy to be corrected by those who have experience).
Perhaps we need to move to a selection race model and proof of fitness. Six months out, an Australian marathon course is chosen as selection. The order of that is the order of selection for anyone who has done a qualifying time in that race or another race within the time period. One month out you have to run (say) a 16min 5k to show you're not injured or badly out of form. Not a perfect system but it doesn't seem worse than what has happened.
Sinead and Nic were both extremely opportunistic to think that they could string together his infamous 8 week block to perfection & completely disregard the 18 months of events that unfolded prior to that.
It was wishful thinking. Every athlete who had a good performance on Sunday did so because they had a good 18+ months of health/strength , not an 8 week block and a splash of hope
After 15y as your coach @LisaWeightman I have to admit you chose the wrong man. Better to have an @AthleticsAust employee coach/manager close to selection/management action. Sinead and Gen (both Nic Bideau), Jess (Adam Didyk) and Andy replacing Brett (both Bideau), chose wisely.
In response to:
Asking for a friend @AthsAust why wasn’t Lisa Weightman taken as a reserve for the women’s marathon - as a sideline Robbo wasn’t able to take his place in the marathon & was quietly & efficiently replaced by Andy Buchanan . @Culbert_Report @DickTelford
Just when this saga looked like it was going to quieten down we now have a Dick Tweet to stir the possum again.
Dick and Deek have never been forgiven by the parochial Melbourne mob for, in their eyes, absconding to Canberra lol.
Trials. Fitness assessment. Eliminates politics. Remember when Bideau and Freeman were fighting over London real estate? That's the type of guy he appears to be.
Sinead and Nic were both extremely opportunistic to think that they could string together his infamous 8 week block to perfection & completely disregard the 18 months of events that unfolded prior to that.
It was wishful thinking. Every athlete who had a good performance on Sunday did so because they had a good 18+ months of health/strength , not an 8 week block and a splash of hope
The first Australian finisher gave birth 11 months ago, and also had stress fractures before Glasgow and Rio.
It was a very entertaining interview, he rightly defended his athlete, he's very knowledgeable, and not one boring cliche response.
"Lisa Weightman’s coach Dick Telford takes aim at Athletics Australia The women’s marathon selection drama has taken a new twist - even after the Paris race has been run and won."
Telford wanted to make sure everyone was regularly reminded of Weightman’s career-best form in the lead-up to the Paris Olympics from which she had been excluded.
“Continued best ever form from @LisaWeightman, running 48:41 in Athletics Victoria’s 15k certified course road champs yesterday,” he wrote on August 5. “Just outside Aussie best ever time, it follows her three best ever marathons over the last 18 months. A demonstration of resilience, love for our sport. Very proud.”
He comes across exactly how you imagine he would, particularly a few mins in.
Thanks for posting this.
So he's basically saying everyone was injured to a degree, nothing to see here. It's clear as mud as to whether Sinead was 'fit and ready' or 'a bit injured, not running that much '.
Still, it was Sinead's call. And if this triggers anything then maybe there should be an expectation that you're fit enough to run it well? IF there's a qualified sub.
It happens
‘Painful battle’: Rose Harvey completed Olympic marathon with broken leg
Diver should not be blamed for the utter failure of leadership and management by AA, the AOC and Bideau.
The athlete will always believe they can perform. That's a given for the best marathoners in the world. It's management's role to step in amd protect them from themselves.
Athletics Australia can and do have very specific fitness tests.
For example before Tokyo, Cedric Dubler pulled his hamstring. AA/AOC required him to run at 95% max velocity for 30 metres and show strong block starts before letting him compete.
He documented it all very transparently in link below (at time 20.49).
I would bet good money Bideau made sure Diver didn't have to do something similar (maybe 80k ran for the week, 6x1k at marathon pace) a week to ten days out.
If she had passed an appropriate test - they could have put it out there immediately after she dropped out, sensible runners would have said 'fair enough' and that would have been that. There would have been criticism but it wouldn't have been legit.
AA/AOC have hung their athletes out to dry from the very start with their policy failure then arrogant statement around selection. They are a shambles and a disgrace.
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