Bravo!! I can't say I blame them. Please read this article from The Telegraph. Can you imagine being the best Brit in your event in 30-40 years, getting the World Rnaking needed to go to the Olympics but not being sent?
The Telegraph can reveal that at least three athletes are planning to instantly retire after being listed as “qualified” by World Athletics but knowing that they have narrowly missed their federation’s deeply controversial standards in events that will otherwise have no Team GB representative.
They include Jade Lally, who is due an Olympic invite according to her world ranking, but missed the UK’s qualifying standard by just 5cm with a discus throw this year of 63.15m that no other British woman has bettered since 1983.
“I have to retire because of British athletics,” Lally said. “I’m proud to be British … but I’m ashamed to represent British Athletics. If you are a British athlete, and have already missed out on a championship, I would 100 per cent encourage anybody to switch to another country if that is an option. I feel like I have wasted a career trying to prove a federation wrong.”
It's not just field eventers that are being screwed. Zak Seddon, who had the best British steeple in like 30 years, also isn't going to the Olympics despite running 8:20. A Brit hadn't broken 8:20 since 1992 when Phil Norman did at the UK Champs (Norman wasn't selected for the team either).
“Luckily I have had support from my employer, [but] you think, ‘I’m the best in the country, I’ve run the quickest time for like 30 years and yet I’m losing thousands of pounds just to try and qualify for the Games’... I think I owe it my wife and my kid [to retire]. It’s not just my own sacrifice, it’s how much they have to sacrifice for me. I’m proud of what I’ve achieved," said the father of a 2-year-old.
Here is an interview with Phil.
