If I am reading this right, Swiminfo.com is reporting that Craig Stevens is indeed going to back out of the 400 and leave it up to Australia Swimming to "pick another member of the Olympic Team" to swim that race in Athens. If I am ANY other country, swimmer, the 3rd place finisher at the Trials or an organization interested in ethics, then I am raising a stink on this one!!!! Thorpe DQ'd and the Aussies are going to skirt the rule and get him in anyway. They would be relegated to the status of Ben Johnson, Rosie Ruiz, and the 60+% of MLB who are on steriods! This is FREAKIN' UNBELIEVABLE. I have no respect for any of the aforementioned and if this happens, none for Ian Thorpe and the Australian swim federation (or whatever official name they hide behind) are in that seeming, stinking pile.
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Originally posted by JRidge
I think you missed a small part of the Foster story. They have already changed the rules. It appears that Matthew Kidd is on the team (which is terrific) when he did not make the cut in the 100 free which he won (he missed the cut by .49) nor in the 50 in which he took second to Foster.
The story misunderstands the Matthew Kidd situation.
The British selection standards state "The 1st placed British swimmer in each 100m event final at the Trials will be selected for medley team events provided that the combined individual performances achieve the Top 8 World Ranking qualifying standard, as at 31 December 2003, set out below in Schedule 3."
The combined times for the medley relay is faster than the qualifying standard so Kidd was selected for the relay as the 100 Free Champion. He is allowed to swim extra events because the selection rules say that once you are selected you can swim events that don't have two British swimmers already in them. The 100 free had no British swimmers, so he will be allowed to contest. The 100 free didn't qualify him for the team, the medley relay did.
Originally posted by JRidge
I think you missed a small part of the Foster story. They have already changed the rules. It appears that Matthew Kidd is on the team (which is terrific) when he did not make the cut in the 100 free which he won (he missed the cut by .49) nor in the 50 in which he took second to Foster.
The story misunderstands the Matthew Kidd situation.
The British selection standards state "The 1st placed British swimmer in each 100m event final at the Trials will be selected for medley team events provided that the combined individual performances achieve the Top 8 World Ranking qualifying standard, as at 31 December 2003, set out below in Schedule 3."
The combined times for the medley relay is faster than the qualifying standard so Kidd was selected for the relay as the 100 Free Champion. He is allowed to swim extra events because the selection rules say that once you are selected you can swim events that don't have two British swimmers already in them. The 100 free had no British swimmers, so he will be allowed to contest. The 100 free didn't qualify him for the team, the medley relay did.
