Aussie 1500m champ w/qualifying time left off WC team

Direct link to policy before they take it down https://cdn.revolutionise.com.au/cups/aa/files/re7ppq8mkjvaepob.pdf

Then post a link to those rankings. I can't find them by googling road to Tokyo. I thought the olympics used the official World Athletics rankings. Why would they have two seperate rankings. That is odd.

Try not to be a conspiracy guy but this sh1t really opens a can of worms.

- Nic's recent relation with Puma and them now partnering with AA

- Said athlete that was selected is a Puma athlete (GG) VS. non-Puma unattached athlete who was not selected (AC)

This. I'm sure if Abby actually qualified for the olympics last year she would have been selected over a Griffith recovering from injury. After Hall and Hull, Griffith was the only other woman that qualified under the international system, so it was either Griffith or AUS giving up their 3rd spot.

Now back to this year, it is clear from the internet archives that the rule in question was written before the national championship took place. So while it is a really stupid decision for Abby not to be on the world team, I wouldn't call it a conspiracy or a scandal. Lots of countries make lots of stupid decisions all of the time. There might be some politics involved - but thats true in every sport. Based on the letter of the law, under these new stupid rules, Abby did not qualify for auto-selection, leaving the decision up to human selection. That said she should have been chosen over Griffith anyways, and these rules should have been communicated to athletes better, so that they knew that they could not chase the standard for an auto-spot if they got the W at nationals.

Seems everyone's had problems with AA at one time or another lol.

"Aussie athletics head coach Eric Hollingsworth suspended and faces sack"

foxsports.com.au

Aussie athletics head coach Eric Hollingsworth suspended and faces sack after ignoring demands not to comment on Sally Pearson feud

Sally’s coach couldn’t help himself

Open link

It was always the case, and, was assumed to be so with Abbey, that you had to have a qualifying time within a specified period before or after the nationals or during the nationals and win nationals to get automatic selection.

Why it wasn't the case here will probably forever be mired in obfuscation lol.

This sort of crap has always gone on with selection, who remembers
Genevieve LaCaze (now Gregson):

"2012 London Olympics
LaCaze set an Olympic A-Qualifying time of 9:41, two days after the deadline set by Athletics Australia. She set the time at a race in Indianapolis.[3][4][8][10] She claimed her inability to set an Olympic A-Qualifying time earlier was a result of the university athletics schedule making it difficult to set a qualifying time.[3] After news of her too-late qualification time broke, she became a trending topic on Twitter under the hashtags #letlacazerun and #genlacaze as people indicated their support for her to represent Australia at the 2012 Summer Olympics.[10] Following the story, she was contacted by Nike and New Balance about potential sponsorship.[10] No other Australian athlete had qualified for the 3000m distance.
LaCaze was eventually chosen to represent Australia at the 2012 Summer Olympics after having initially been left off the squad.[6][11] Australian Olympic Committee President John Coates intervened asking Athletics Australia to include her on the squad.[4][6][8][11] Prior to Coates' support, Athletics Australia high performance manager Eric Hollingsworth had said that LaCaze did not deserve to go because she had not complied with Athletics Australia's nomination deadline.[4]"

Genevieve Gregson - Wikipedia

"2022 WORLD ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIPS
The World Athletics Championships will be held in Eugene, USA from 15-24 July, 2022.
On 12 December, 2020, World Athletics announced the qualification system for the 2022 World Championships. You can view the details of this announcement here.
The Athletics Australia Selection Policy and Online Nomination Form can be found on this page.
COMPETITION VENUE
SELECTION
Selection Standards - The selection standards for this event will be outlined in the AA Selection Policy.
Selection Window - The World Athletics qualifying period for the Marathon and 35km Race Walk is 30 November, 2020 to 29 May, 2022. For the 10000m, 20km Race Walk, relays and combined events, the window runs from 27 December, 2020 until 26 June, 2022. For all other disciplines, the qualification period is 27 June, 2021 to 26 June, 2022."

https://www.athletics.com.au/national-teams-storage/world-athletics-championships/

So if she and her coach had been aware of the new rule she would have had until the 26 June to get that 4min 1500 instead of coming home as soon as they thought they had met the selection policy.

That makes sense. Australia is such a rules obsessed and rules following country, even to its detriment. Crazy.

These are not the same.

In the example you've given Gen qualified after the window had closed (but have a guess at who the agent likely was negotiating those Nike and NB deals). That's not strictly a AA issue.

In the current situation neither Georgia nor Abbey had standard at Nationals. Abbey won head to head, and proceeded to hit the standard after travelling to the US to race. This was then confirmed to be sufficient for selection by at least one (or more) AA employees, leading the Caldwell team to believe they had an auto, and opting to return home.

Fast forward 2-3 weeks, Georgia hits standard in the Rabat DL running 4:00 (she had not run under the 4:04.20 standard since 2018). So now despite both athletes hitting standard after nationals, GG has been chosen by the selection panel (possibly including her coach and agent Nic Bideau) on the basis of having a faster time, despite AC beating her head to head.

Here what we know in order. It stinks.

- Selection policy set October released November. Summary table contradicts detail on auto selection. Win nationals with qualifier PRIOR to nats is auto.

- Caldwell wins nationals in April. Beats Georgia Griffith and Linden Hall. Jessica Hull exempt.

- Nic Bideau (AA staff, coach/agent of Griffith) sends Caldwell's coach email about achieving qualifier AFTER nationals for auto selection. Offers PUMA shoe deal.

- Caldwell qualifies in May at 4:04

- Griffith qualifies in June at 4:03 and 4:00

- Other AA staff leak info to Caldwell's coach. AA selector clarifies with Caldwell's coach that qualifying time doesn't mean auto selection.

- AA change selection policy on 31 May to limit appeal rights.

- Caldwell not selected. Griffith, Hull, Hall are.

- Caldwell appeals. Appeal not successful.

- Caldwell's coach online explains selection farce and concern of Bideau conflict of interest.

- AA weird half apology statement that says staff (Bideau) was not authorised to comment on selection and misunderstood the policy.

So many problems with this.

I know, which is why I wrote: "This sort of crap has always gone on with selection", "sort of crap", not crap specific to this case.
And it was strictly an AA issue, i.e. "Australian Olympic Committee President John Coates intervened asking Athletics Australia to include her on the squad", AA then acquiesced.
Just sayin'.

Looks like AA are copping a bit on Facebook too:

www.facebook.com/AthleticsAustralia/photos/a.437316144300/10160658580124301

You’re wrong this link lists the world ranking irrespective of country so there are more than 3 listed from various countries. Obviously only 3 can from each country. So when you filter out the additional athletes over and above the 3 from each country Abbey was in a qualifying position last year and was overlooked for an injured athlete. Simples.

You’re incorrect abbey was in a quota position last year and was not selected in favour of GG.

Thanks. Unfortunately the road to Tokyo doesn't seem to be accessible any more, but Abbey was definitely in the quota as the 4th Australian. The injured 3rd Aussie who hadn't run a 1500m in over a year was taken in her place.

link?

https://www.facebook.com/groups/athletesaustralia/permalink/5222410174514927/

www.facebook.com/AthleticsAustralia/

Couple of threads on Abbey, but there's a lot of posts to wade through.

Check threads:

"CLARIFICATION REGARDING SELECTION FOR THE 2022 WORLD ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIPS"

"TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT"

There's way more on athletes australia Facebook page. See the link above.