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 dorothyrd
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It is up to Australia to decide who swims, but I can't help thinking that the swimmers in that country are going to think that their trials mean nothing.
Now, if you are an Aussie and you know that you are clearly the fastest in an event, do you prepare for the trials the same way? Or do you figure you are in anyway and why bother preparing for the trials?
I realize this would be even more of an issue in the US where the trials and O's are so close together as to impact tapering. But it still has relevance in Australia.
Originally posted by dorothyrd
...
It is up to Australia to decide who swims, but I can't help thinking that the swimmers in that country are going to think that their trials mean nothing.
Now, if you are an Aussie and you know that you are clearly the fastest in an event, do you prepare for the trials the same way? Or do you figure you are in anyway and why bother preparing for the trials?
I realize this would be even more of an issue in the US where the trials and O's are so close together as to impact tapering. But it still has relevance in Australia.
