Mo Farah gets his payback - Andy Vernon not named to 2015 British Worlds Team despite having standard

He ain't happy:

https://twitter.com/andyvernongb

KARMA IS A B!TCH

yea you kind of have to think it might be a little bit of a slap on the wrist for his fight with Mo. Sit this one out Andy and keep your mouth shut and we will see about Rio

LOLOLO

'Ello White America, assassinate my character.

Perchance if Mr. Vernon laid off the crisps and biscuits he would be game for a few laps of th' tartan, eh?

he's quite fat.

it's not even like they found a better candidate. they are just sending two people instead of three.

to be fair, his best 5000 this year is 13:47.97 from Lausanne. he ran 7:51 at the morton 3k, and his best result is 27:42 from payton jordan

so it's not like he has demonstrated great fitness recently, other than a fast 10k from May 2nd

In order for Mo to have gotten payback, he would've needed to have a hand in keeping Andy off the team.

Valley Sea wrote:

In order for Mo to have gotten payback, he would've needed to have a hand in keeping Andy off the team.

This poster is correct. The British selectors have discretion in leaving people off whom aren't top two at trials and don't hit the standard twice.

If you don't do that, then the Panel will leave you off unless they think you:

i. Have realistic potential to finish in the top 8 in their event in Beijing; or

ii. Are a developing athlete who is on the pathway towards individual

medal success at future Olympic Games.

But can someone tell me why a country with the financial resources of GBR doesn't send a full team to Worlds? Or why the IAAF doesn't require a country with Britain's resources to send a full-team? If I was the IAAF, I'd make it a part of the requirements for hosting the 2017 Worlds.

Are they trying to save money? It makes no sense.

The third team member in an event who is just barely under the standard isn't likely to medal but that's not the point. They have fans in the local running club, from their college, etc. It can only grow the sport.

Plus, many of them are likely to make the team for the Olympics where if they go to Worlds this year, they won't be nervous as **** next year if the Olympics is their first major competition.

Take a look at the example of former Rice runner Lennie Waite.

The British champ started the year with a 9:48 pb but has PRd at least 3 times this year, with a huge PB coming in her last race as she's run 9:46.91, 9:45.94, and 9:40.39 this year.

The standard for Worlds is 9:44. The Standard for the Olympics is 9:45. If she goes sub-9:45 again this year or next and is top 2 at the Trials, she's automatically on the British Olympic team. But she'll have no experience as they don't want to send her this year as she's unlikely to be top 8.

It's absurd to not send her. It's not like she PRd in April and is in bad form. She's PRd in her last 2 races and was 2nd at the European Team Champs in June.

Can someone who is British tell me the rationale behind not sending a full team? I can only think of one - monetary.

-Rojo.

PS. Perhaps if she hadn't represented her country at the European team champs, she'd have hit the standard a 2nd time. And what if she hits it this weekend or her next race? Worlds don't start for another month.

Vernon spend more time on track, less time on Twitter - wax on, wax off.

rojo wrote:This poster is correct. The British selectors have discretion in leaving people off whom aren't top two at trials and don't hit the standard twice.

If you don't do that, then the Panel will leave you off unless they think you:

i. Have realistic potential to finish in the top 8 in their event in Beijing; or

ii. Are a developing athlete who is on the pathway towards individual

medal success at future Olympic Games.

But can someone tell me why a country with the financial resources of GBR doesn't send a full team to Worlds? Or why the IAAF doesn't require a country with Britain's resources to send a full-team? If I was the IAAF, I'd make it a part of the requirements for hosting the 2017 Worlds.

Are they trying to save money? It makes no sense.

At least if they are looking at it like Athletics Canada, the thinking is probably that people will try harder to get better if you have stricter selection standards. There is also a moralistic component that athletes are just getting a free "vacation" if they are selected but supposedly don't have a chance to get in the top 8.

The stupidity and short-sightedness of this thinking is so obvious that it's hardly worth refuting.

Yup.Canadians think of the Worlds and Olympics as their right. They don't understand it's a privilege and there is little point in sending a Canadian who won't even make it to the finals.

He was fast enough to at least act as Farah's domestique through the penultimate lap, no?......oh, wait

I think mo is an outright sham, and Vernon equally a tool. Both of them are a disgrace in their own right. That being said, what's the point of Vernon going when he will be nothing but an also ran in any race on the world level? Did he think 7.51 and 13.47 would impress selectors?

They likely did not want to send an athlete not in his top form who would have made for bad feeling with his erstwhile teammate, the top star of the entire team. However, Farah seems to run very well on pure hate.

Athletes train their entire lives to go to World's and Olympics. It seems cruel to leave them home when they have hit the standard and you have no one better to send in their place. The IAAF should establish standards to protect the athletes, not merely so that the country federations can feather their own nest, or support merely a few of their athletes at the cost of broader development. How's it working for Canada and the UK? I'd say not so well. You want to encourage more athletes to go after it, not discourage them.

It's money. That simple.

UK Freeloader Police wrote:

At least if they are looking at it like Athletics Canada, the thinking is probably that people will try harder to get better if you have stricter selection standards. There is also a moralistic component that athletes are just getting a free "vacation" if they are selected but supposedly don't have a chance to get in the top 8.

The stupidity and short-sightedness of this thinking is so obvious that it's hardly worth refuting.

That is, sadly, the rationale they give. And EVERY club athlete thinks it's wrong.

Unfortunately the money for elite athletics does not come upwards from the grass roots, but down from the lottery and Sport England, and the governing bodies have to show they are doing something to improve medal counts; they get no points for taking full teams. They completely fail to take account of the extra inspiration that would flow around when someone with a bit less talent than Mo did everything right for years, and made an Olympic or World team.

Here's a good summary - luckily, this guy got a second chance, when he was older and slower, but probably only because of the outcry when he wasn't picked for Beijing...

Maybe this will be lesson for him, spend more time training than attacking your teammate on twitter

somebloke wrote:

It's money. That simple.

True. UK Athletics is financed by the Government. USATF is a NIke subsidiary.

From Andy Vernon:

'unfortunately it was not possible for me to not give them a chance unless I was reigning world or European champion, one of which I came very close to doing last year. The selection criteria does not have an option for automatic qualification having no official trial where I could satisfy "2 qualification standards and first 2 in the trial" otherwise I would be on the team. Hopefully they would have only made 10k runners achieve 1 standard due to the nature of the event and lack of opportunity. Due to this, I was always going to be under the discretion of the selectors.'

Unfortunately I think it is just that, money. Two young lads weren't sent to the EU u23 championships recently for the 5000m despite meeting all the requirements (top two at trials, ran under the 14:00 standard). Instead they chose to just send one other runner who is a bit faster but didn't go to the trials and leave the second place vacant. They just make the rules up as they go along.