At age 20, she won the Aussie champs earlier this year. Then she hit the standard. Then she was left off the Worlds team even though everyone though Aussie champ + standard eaualled auto spot (but it came out if you read it closely you had to have the standard ahead of time).
Guess who got the medal today?
Non Linden Hall. Not Jessica Hull. Abbey Caldwell.
Aussies, did a committee make the decision? Nic Bideau? Who?
I heard her family was in the stands with "Team Caldwell" tshirts. I'd like to buy one. Anyone know what they look like?
To be fair, the 3 women that Australia picked for the World Championships 1500 had all run significantly faster than Abbey Caldwell.
Having said that, I'm also very happy that Abbey Caldwell was able to get the bronze today at the Commonwealth Games.
I had a long conversation with her at the Sound Running meet in Los Angeles a month ago after she ran the 800 in 2:00.03, breaking her PB by 3 seconds. She's very friendly.
She was at that meet because she had been training in Southern California. She said that her training had been going really well and she was optimistic about her chances at the Commonwealth Games.
She only turned 21 in July so she still has a few more years of improvement ahead of her. Hopefully she will get selected for next year's World Championships in Budapest.
Caldwell wasn't even meant to be at the Commonwealth Games.
It was a "compromise" offered to her during the appeals process in exchange for dropping any legal action, in the hope that her coach and family would not comment further publicly.
Her coach and group accepted the spot (as the World Championships were just two weeks away), continued to call AA out on their garbage and then Caldwell won a medal. Brilliant.
To be fair? She was told by multiple AA staff (one of whom is the coach/manager of the athlete who was selected ahead of her and offered her a sponsorship deal under his agency which she declined) that she was an automatic qualifier if she ran the standard. So rather than chase a faster time like the girls she beat at nationals (and the CWGs) she decided to focus on training as opposed to racing. So wait what's fair again?
All of these stupid issues merely highlight again, the unfairness of the whole system. Anyone with a Q time should get to run. Nobody cares what country they live in. No 3:30 Kenyans or 44.xx Americans should sit home so some 45 donkey can run.
All of these stupid issues merely highlight again, the unfairness of the whole system. Anyone with a Q time should get to run. Nobody cares what country they live in. No 3:30 Kenyans or 44.xx Americans should sit home so some 45 donkey can run.
This comment has no relevance to the situation of Caldwell not being selected for WC. Aus did not leave the quicker runner at home so some "donkey can run". GG, JH and LH all have faster PR's than AC.
Had a brutal championship season, both at World's and Comm Games. Most of his athletes except McSweyn look completely out of their depth and just aren't competitive outside of AUS.
Hindsight, lap times, etc, etc have nothing to do with it. 50 years of involvement in Australian athletics tells me that if you won nationals and met the qualifying time within a certain time frame leading up to whatever the championships were then you were in.
Won't regurgitate what's already been said about some believing/told that was still the case, the rule had been changed and poorly communicated, yada, yada, yada,...
So regardless of hindsight, lap times, etc, etc, her and "Team Caldwell" have been vindicated, i.e. she should have gone to the more prestigious WC.
And you know, just maybe the fact that Hall and Hull backed up from 3 rounds at Worlds had a negative effect on their performance 10 days later at Comm Games. Just maybe, huh?
Caldwell on the other hand trained through and was peaking for Comm Games.
I heard her family was in the stands with "Team Caldwell" tshirts. I'd like to buy one. Anyone know what they look like?
Says "Team Caldwell" !!
Easy to be a selector in hindsight isn't it, great journo rojo?
First lap was 1:07, second lap 1:08...maybe take that into account before criticising from 20,000km
What are you talking about? Hindsight?
I went ballistic the first time I heard about it. Go listen to the podcast. She won the damn trials. She then hit the standard. Everyone knew that meant you should be on the team. I'm glad an Aussie says 40 years of precedent back me up.
They tried and did screw her on a technicality.
When USATF did similar shit with Pan Ams, we sued them and won. The difference was USATF wasn't right technically in our case.
THIS STANDARD SHIT IS KILLING THE SPORT. We need more meets that matter.
She won the Trials. She was 20. She's clearliy a world class athlete and belonged at the Games. Put her on the team.
Why in the hell wouldn't seh be on the team?
It's really not that hard.
Ok. I get it. Australia actually has 3 other realy good 1500 runners - all of whom made the world or Olympic final last year or this.
That's a good problem to have. However you want to determine the final 2 spots is up to you, but whatever you do, don't let the agent / coach of one the girls be involved in the process. Isn't that what happened?
1) Was Caldwell offered a Puma contract by Nic Bideau that she declined? 2) Did Georgia Griffith signed a Puma contract offered to her by Nic Bideau? 3) Was Nic Bideau involved in selecting the 1500 team?
Three simple questions.
While your at, can you tell me who picked the team and did they ever provide an explanation?
I can TOTALLY understand why they thought 3 women would do better than Caldwell at Worlds. I dont really care. The preceived conflict of interest - whether real or not - really bad and want national champs to matter.
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