Athletes appeal against Australian team selection

Glad its not just GBR that have issues.
I think there is a certain amount of bias towards riders already based in europe .I am not sure if this to do with experience or monetary considerations.I know of one team where the riders were told 18 months ago they had a better chance if based in UK.
 
Oh I find it all a bit awkward. Surely you'd feel so awful if you managed to get on the team through appeal because that means someone who was selected now isn't going? I don't think I'd have the guts to do it. Not entirely sure what I think, I know there are riders I'd like to see on the team but not instead of anyone else already on, if that makes sense. Will be very interesting to see what happens.
 
I often wonder if those that appeal really think the decision will be changed? Not to mention what the atmosphere on the team would be - does anyone know if an appeal has been won before?
 
I am speculating wildly, but I think a group of riders has got together not to challenge their personal exclusion, but to challenge someone's inclusion. If you look at their high performance squads, there are a number of combinations on them with good form who have been left out, in favour of Lucinda Fredericks on a horse which wasn't named to any of the squads.

If there is a group of riders, then it is much harder for the selectors to blackball people in the future, and the Australians have form for challenging the selectors decisions - after all that was why Matt Ryan's much hyped but never achieved nationality change to GBR was first instigated.
 
Not entirely sure of my facts but am led to believe a few years ago now a very well known UK based New Zealand rider who has ridden an EXTREMELY well know grey horse for countless years was told she had to take herself and the getting on now grey horse over to New Zealand to even be considered for their Olympic Team. As I would have done under the circumstances she politely or maybe not! told The New Zealand selectors she and her wonderful horse would not be travelling over. It is not difficult to understand how the likes of both New Zealand and Australia do have a difficult job when trying to compare standards of horses and riders when they seldom if ever compete at the same competitions.....real headache!
 
For what it's worth I don't believe than any of the individuals who have appealed against non-selection for team GB have been succesful, Taekwondo fighter Aaron Cooke is taking his case to the courts
 
Interesting to see how this pans out. I think, in particular, some riders are upset about so much emphasis being placed on last weeks results when they were expressly told it wouldn't be. Wonder what will come of it all...
 
The out come of this will be very interesting - I really can't understand how the selectors can have left out Sam, Paul and Bill, all who have horses with proven form, for Lucinda Fredericks, on a horse I've barely heard off, and Andrew Hoy.
 
JEP said:
The out come of this will be very interesting - I really can't understand how the selectors can have left out Sam, Paul and Bill, all who have horses with proven form, for Lucinda Fredericks, on a horse I've barely heard off, and Andrew Hoy.
Click to expand...

Are you serious? Happy Times is the most inconsistent showjumper and with two showjumping rounds at the games, do you really think they'll take the risk? And why would they take Paul? On what? Lucinda definitely deserved a place I think and the horse is lovely. Flying Finish has gone double clear in all of his 6 three stars AND his first four star at lunmuhlen, not to mention always coming near top in the dressage, why wouldn't the selectors want a horse like that?

SpottedCat said:
I am speculating wildly, but I think a group of riders has got together not to challenge their personal exclusion, but to challenge someone's inclusion. If you look at their high performance squads, there are a number of combinations on them with good form who have been left out, in favour of Lucinda Fredericks on a horse which wasn't named to any of the squads.
Click to expand...

Flying Finish was actually on the Australian Elite Squad.
 
I'm not sure how much Paul tapners done recently, he's one of my fav riders but really seemed to disappeared off the radar for a while
 
Maemorn - I looked up the elite squad a couple of days ago and FF was not named to any of the high performance lists. The link is in the thread I posted the other day about selection.
 
Maemorn said:
Flying Finish was actually on the Australian Elite Squad.
Click to expand...

Really? Not for this year, according to this list:
http://www.uptowneventing.co.uk/-i2445.html

If he's gone DC in all 3* and his 4* that makes a difference, of course, but I can't see him suiting Greenwich... their TPs in Luhmuhlen cost them the win, no? And Luhmuhlen is pretty flat and gallopy compared to Greenwich.
PT on Inonothing, no? Or, perhaps the horse's soundness is slightly suspect, that's the only reason I can think of for excluding them.
 
kerilli said:
Really? Not for this year, according to this list:
http://www.uptowneventing.co.uk/-i2445.html

If he's gone DC in all 3* and his 4* that makes a difference, of course, but I can't see him suiting Greenwich... their TPs in Luhmuhlen cost them the win, no? And Luhmuhlen is pretty flat and gallopy compared to Greenwich.
PT on Inonothing, no? Or, perhaps the horse's soundness is slightly suspect, that's the only reason I can think of for excluding them.
Click to expand...

I agree he isn't the fastest horse, but he's guaranteed to do a nice test and is probably the best showjumper on the squad. So what's a few time faults when plenty of other horses will get worse tests and likely to have one or two in the showjumping? He probably wasn't pushed in Lumuhlen, it was his first four star after all. Inonothing looked really lame in the showjumping at Luhmuhlen, doubt it would recover in time for the Games, shame as he is a lovely horse. I hoped Bill would have been included over Andrew Hoy, he's had way better results and his horses are nicer!
 
silu said:
Not entirely sure of my facts but am led to believe a few years ago now a very well known UK based New Zealand rider who has ridden an EXTREMELY well know grey horse for countless years was told she had to take herself and the getting on now grey horse over to New Zealand to even be considered for their Olympic Team. As I would have done under the circumstances she politely or maybe not! told The New Zealand selectors she and her wonderful horse would not be travelling over. It is not difficult to understand how the likes of both New Zealand and Australia do have a difficult job when trying to compare standards of horses and riders when they seldom if ever compete at the same competitions.....real headache!
Click to expand...


I find this hard to believe especially as their top riders are based in England and have been for many years. Before the last Olympics, Mark brought Gandalf to Europe for experience and to get qualified. Their top home based combinations have relocated to England to expose themselves to stronger competition and get more experience out of their comfort zone. They are all up here and acclimatised so can be compared if necessary.


Maemorn said:
I agree he isn't the fastest horse, but he's guaranteed to do a nice test and is probably the best showjumper on the squad. So what's a few time faults when plenty of other horses will get worse tests and likely to have one or two in the showjumping? He probably wasn't pushed in Lumuhlen, it was his first four star after all. Inonothing looked really lame in the showjumping at Luhmuhlen, doubt it would recover in time for the Games, shame as he is a lovely horse. I hoped Bill would have been included over Andrew Hoy, he's had way better results and his horses are nicer!
Click to expand...

There is no guarantee that a horse will do a nice test especially in a pressure-cooker atmosphere of an Olympic Games. Any horse can have a rail show jumping although Flying Finish does look careful but time faults across country can clock up quickly. In Luhmuehlen he had the equivalent of 2 fences. I also noted that 1 judge had him 4 - 7 % above the other 2. Potentially that could have had him 3 or 4 marks lower and a couple of places lower.
 
I was at Luhmühlen for all 4 days ... and Inonothing got more time penalties as LF's horse , .... and I have to admit Fly Finish looked stunning in all 3 phases ...
 
There was a tweet yesterday (can't remember who from but one of the Aussie eventers) saying that people had been dodging Bill Leverett's foul mood in the warm up & they couldn't think for a moment why he was in a bad mood ;)

Be interesting to see what happens post appeal...
 
oldvic said:
There is no guarantee that a horse will do a nice test especially in a pressure-cooker atmosphere of an Olympic Games. Any horse can have a rail show jumping although Flying Finish does look careful but time faults across country can clock up quickly. In Luhmuehlen he had the equivalent of 2 fences. I also noted that 1 judge had him 4 - 7 % above the other 2. Potentially that could have had him 3 or 4 marks lower and a couple of places lower.
Click to expand...

The pressure may make a couple of marks difference, if anything, but you can't change the fact that the horse moves well and is beautifully trained, that doesn't just go away. I understand what you're saying about the judges, but that's the idea of having three of them, to get an average. You could equally say that the Swedish judge marked him a few % lower, which meant he could have had a better score.
 
Re the business about having people fly half way across the world for head to head trials, I doubt it in the mentioned case because of the long history of their riders basing themselves here. What would it prove? Also they seem to generally have a fairly non-interventionist approach to people's preparations.

That said, it's an idea that's been pushed in similar situations in the past! The Canadian dressage tryouts one year mandated that all riders wishing to be considered attend the trials in Canada, including those based in Europe. One very prominent rider simply declined, another did it and the horse did not perform well and was left off. One could argue that proved the second horse didn't travel well but then surely that would be a reason to make everyone travel.

It's also come up with the American show jumpers before, even European-based riders have had to return to the US to ride in the trials. That probably makes slightly more sense but still, it's not exactly 'horse friendly' approach.
 
The DR rider who appealed has lost her appeal:
http://equestrian.cyberhorse.com.au/201206229660/Dressage-Olympics/hayley-lost-appeal.html
Just a quick note on a website, but Hayley & Belissimo have consitently posted better scores than 2 riders who are on the team...

Off topic but everyone is seriously hacked off with EA (Equestrian Australia) at the moment as they are making big decisions with out consulting their membership and charging us for the outcomes that were not wanted.
 
teapot said:
There was a tweet yesterday (can't remember who from but one of the Aussie eventers) saying that people had been dodging Bill Leverett's foul mood in the warm up & they couldn't think for a moment why he was in a bad mood ;)

Be interesting to see what happens post appeal...
Click to expand...

Hmm yes, Bill responded to it himself - http://www.billlevett.com/archives/3997


Anyway, anyone got any news on the Eventing appeal?
 
Does no one care that Flying Finish and Rutherglen just ran a real 4* and will be expected to do another one is about six weeks?

Honestly, I find that rather obscene. This running horses every six weeks in 4* level compeitions by the Big Names seems to have become increasing common these days. Does the HSBC bonus have anything to do with that?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top