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 tjburk
Y'all are forgetting that Australia has rules and guidelines for selecting their team! They were in place prior to the Oly Trials! Thorpe screwed up! He's out! The next person in line steps up! If he doesn't go, then it's the next in line! NOT someone who DID NOT finish the race!
One of the reasons they went to a single false start was to keep people from using it to eliminate competition before the race even started. I.E. if the guy next to me false starts once, and I haven't, I try and pull him off with me on the next one. If he goes with me on my false start, he's done because that's his second! Once they did away with the second false start you can't do that any more!
True, if we are talking of a medal awarding race. But here we are talking about assigning spots in an Olympic Team which is purely arbitrary and up to local "authorities". An there is a difference between a rule and a guideline. What do the Aussies have? Rules or guidelines? If you know please quote us something and I will consider changing my mind. In this context the false start rule has nothing to do with Australia Swimming's faculty in choosing who will swim what at the Olympics.
Originally posted by tjburk
Y'all are forgetting that Australia has rules and guidelines for selecting their team! They were in place prior to the Oly Trials! Thorpe screwed up! He's out! The next person in line steps up! If he doesn't go, then it's the next in line! NOT someone who DID NOT finish the race!
One of the reasons they went to a single false start was to keep people from using it to eliminate competition before the race even started. I.E. if the guy next to me false starts once, and I haven't, I try and pull him off with me on the next one. If he goes with me on my false start, he's done because that's his second! Once they did away with the second false start you can't do that any more!
True, if we are talking of a medal awarding race. But here we are talking about assigning spots in an Olympic Team which is purely arbitrary and up to local "authorities". An there is a difference between a rule and a guideline. What do the Aussies have? Rules or guidelines? If you know please quote us something and I will consider changing my mind. In this context the false start rule has nothing to do with Australia Swimming's faculty in choosing who will swim what at the Olympics.
