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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Dog chasing it's tail. Guess we aren't going to agree. The top-2 finishers get the spots. If one drops out, it goes to number 3, then 4, then 5. Not an arbitrarily made decision to choose the guy who got dq'd and didn't even finish. Those rules are the same as ours and are logical. If they want to change the rules to suit their needs and those of an adoring public, so be it. It seems like they are likely going down that road. I only want the fastest guys there anyway, so Pablo Morales should have been given a bonus final swim at the '88 Trials b/c he was the reigning WC and just made a mistake finishing third at Trials in the 100 fly.
Dog chasing it's tail. Guess we aren't going to agree. The top-2 finishers get the spots. If one drops out, it goes to number 3, then 4, then 5. Not an arbitrarily made decision to choose the guy who got dq'd and didn't even finish. Those rules are the same as ours and are logical. If they want to change the rules to suit their needs and those of an adoring public, so be it. It seems like they are likely going down that road. I only want the fastest guys there anyway, so Pablo Morales should have been given a bonus final swim at the '88 Trials b/c he was the reigning WC and just made a mistake finishing third at Trials in the 100 fly.
