Athletics Qualification to Summer Olympic Games Paris 2024

[DjukaVB 22]

4 July was deadline to decline quota places, now 5-6 July time to reallocate unused quota places.

 

[Orangehair43 315]

Anna Purchase confirms her place has been rejected and so has Jake Norris. 

[Orangehair43 315]

On 7/2/2024 at 4:30 PM, Cinnamon Bun said:

The following  athletes will have their rankings rejected by Jack Buckner and UKA: 

 

Jake Norris (Men's Hammer)

Anna Purchase (Women's Hammer) 

Kenneth Ikeji (Men's Hammer)

Jade Lally (Women's Discus) 

Hannah Nuttall (Women's 5000m)

Phil Norman (Men's 3000m Steeplechase) 

Zac Seddon (Men's 3000m Steeplechase)

Aimme Campbell (Women's Shot Put)  

All confirmed. 

[Orangehair43 315]

 

[Orangehair43 315]

The outcry over British Athletics’ “disgusting” Olympic selection policy has escalated after one of the nation’s leading young athletes accused the governing body of robbing her place in Paris and driving people away from the sport.

Anna Purchase, who has reached the World and European hammer final over the past year and is ‘Paris qualified’ through her world ranking, will be overlooked because she missed, by just 57cm, a separate standard imposed by UK Athletics to prioritise likely medallists and top-eight finishers.

There are 32 places in the women’s hammer competition but Team GB will go unrepresented and 24-year-old Purchase, who is ranked in the world’s top 16, will instead see her place go to a lesser rival from another country.

Purchase, who fears a loss of funding and future bias by speaking out, believes that she would be doing her sport and fellow athletes a disservice by not using her voice to push for change. She joins a quartet of outraged British athletes who spoke this week to Telegraph Sport against an Olympic selection policy that will leave Team GB without anyone in the women’s hammer, women’s shot, women’s discus, men’s 3000m steeplechase and men’s hammer. This is despite having athletes in all of these events who are listed on the World Athletics ‘Road to Paris’ website as ‘qualified by world rankings’.

Sporting legend Martina Navratilova replied to a message about Telegraph Sport’s story on Thursday with the words, “What the heck???”

Posting on Instagram, Purchase confirmed that her Olympic ‘invitation’ would be “declined by British Athletics”, despite her throwing a distance this season that would have reached the last three Olympic finals.

 

“British athletics have not only robbed me of another opportunity to compete, they have robbed me of a dream of being an Olympian,” said Purchase.

“I’m proud to be British. I’m proud to be the British champion. I’m proud of our culture of competition, endeavour and inclusion. Where is this Pride of Britain? I can’t comprehend how this decision and decisions like this align with our cultural values. Should we not be proud to have as many athletes as possible, representing our nation at the Olympic Games?

“We put our lives, careers and financial security on hold to pursue this sport, only to have the opportunity taken away because we are deemed ‘not good enough’ to make the top eight or win a medal in our event.

“If we are dismissed despite being among the best in the world, why would we continue? If money is the factor, let us crowdsource or pay our own way. The current state of British Athletics’ selection … is driving people away and discouraging young athletes. This backward and unsustainable practice will ruin the sport.”

Purchase also highlighted deep concerns about how the governing body have designed and then enforced their selection policy, saying they have “ultimate control”. 

She added: “You can’t have one bad mark as a British athlete without the fear of British Athletics using it against you. There are no checks and balances within British Athletics. I know I am risking loss of funding and future bias for speaking out about this issue; however, I would be doing myself, my fellow athletes, and future athletes a disservice if I didn’t try to make a change. I, like many others, have worked too hard for too long to be let down by the same people who are supposed to be our biggest supporters.”

Shot-putter Amelia Campbell called the policy “disgusting” and said that it was “killing” British athletics while discus thrower Jade Lally said that she was “ashamed” to represent her national federation. 
 

Steeplechaser Phil Norman, who missed the standard by 0.15sec despite posting the best British run in the event for 33 years, said that he had received no offer of help from British Athletics in pursuing his Paris Olympic dream. Campbell, Lally and Norman all now intend to retire, despite being good enough according to their World Athletics’ rankings to be invited to the forthcoming Olympics.

Jack Buckner, the UKA chief executive, warned last year that there would be a shift in Olympic and World policy with likely smaller teams and a particular focus on what he called the “big hitters”. UK Athletics announced a £3.7 million loss in their most recent accounts but have denied that their policy is related to finances. 

The Paris selection policy was first published in July 2023 and part of its rationale was to introduce measurable standards that eliminated more discretionary decisions. In what is a truly global sport of more than 200 affiliated nations, the UKA standard is understood to reflect forecasts of what is needed to reach the top eight of an Olympic event. The British Olympic athletics team will be announced on Friday. UKA say that they do not comment on selection issues.

 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/athletics/2024/07/05/british-athletics-selection-policy-row-paris-olympics/

[Faramir 515]

I am more and more convinced that the success of a system like the British one is detrimental to sports, I just don't know if failing would lead them to better or to even more insane policies.

[dodge 1,041]

Surely they’ve selected at least one runner for the women’s 5,000m? None on the list?

[Orangehair43 315]

6 minutes ago, dodge said:

Surely they’ve selected at least one runner for the women’s 5,000m? None on the list?

Seems None selected. 

Edited July 5, 2024 by Orangehair43

[Orangehair43 315]

10 minutes ago, Faramir said:

I am more and more convinced that the success of a system like the British one is detrimental to sports, I just don't know if failing would lead them to better or to even more insane policies.

They would get stricter and stricter, even with the backlash growing 

[erquanmen 17]

Maybe  learning athletics olympic selection as  have done in swimming.For example,Ogata So was unselected though he got OQT in 200m medley at Japan Selection Trial for Olympic Games,because he missed the Japanese standard qualification time by 0.01 second.