By John Salvado and Bonny Symons-Brown
MELBOURNE, March 28 AAP - Sprint star Matt Shirvington has slammed the coaches at Athletics Australia for a lack of encouragement and assistance in the final countdown to the Beijing Olympics.
Australia is likely to be unrepresented in the men’s sprints in Beijing and there remains a great deal of uncertainty about the 4x100m relay team.
Australia will make a last-ditch attempt to secure an Olympic 4x100m qualifying time at the Osaka grand prix meet on May 10, although the make-up of that squad will not be confirmed until late April.
Shirvington has not given up all hope of running the individual 100m in Beijing, although his chances - and those of national record holder Patrick Johnson - were effectively dashed at the Olympic trials in Brisbane last month.
Both were left in the blocks in a slow race won by little-known Otis Gowa.
``We’re in limbo at the moment and we’re not getting a lot of help from Athletics Australia,’’ Shirvington, the former national record holder, told AAP.
``It’s not a financial thing, it’s an encouragement thing, we’re just sort of being left out in the cold and no-one’s giving us help.
‘’… Basically all I am really after in terms of support is my head coach to call me and say `look, we can’t help you or we can’t support you but we’ll try and get behind you if you can go and do well’.’’
Shirvington believes track and field in Australia will suffer if the nation is unrepresented in the men’s 100m and 200m at an Olympic Games for the first time since 1980.
``If we’ve got no sprinters at the games then we’ve got no kids watching them on TV and then we’ve got no inspiration and no aspiration for those young kids,’’ said Shirvington, who burst onto the international scene as a teenager in 1998, twice breaking the national 100m record and finishing fourth at the Commonwealth Games.
Shirvington, 29, said many other athletes had spoken to him regarding their concerns about a lack of feedback from the AA coaching staff.
``We just want time and we want someone to say `look we can’t help you but if you go and you back yourself and you do well we’ll be there’,’’ he said.
``We’re just not getting that.
``They’ve basically said `here’s the team, now get lost’.’’
AA high performance director Max Binnington said he had twice spoken to Shirvington about the selectors’ decision to focus on the men’s relay.
``I think his frustration is that we haven’t said to him `Matt, go out and chase an individual time and we’ll pick you’,’’ said Binnington.
But we've said that to everybody. Essentially we’ve said `we can’t see it happening’.
``The sprinters have shown nothing this season to suggest they’re in the sort of shape that warrants selection in the individual 100m in the Olympic team.
``However we do think the relay can demonstrate that it’s a chance.’’
Johnson has appealed his non-selection in the Olympic individual sprints, while the running future of the only other Australian to have met the 100m A qualifying standard, Joshua Ross, is still unclear.
In an ideal world, all three would be key members of the Australian 4x100m squad, although selectors may choose to go with a predominantly younger team including the likes of Gowa, Aaron Rouge-Serret, Matt Davies and Isaac Ntiamoah in Osaka.
AA named 25 athletes in its preliminary Olympic team on March 5, with pole vaulters Kym Howe and Paul Burgess, walker Jane Saville and distance runner Sarah Jamieson given further time to prove their fitness.
But there was no men’s 4x100m squad, even though Australia has an impressive recent history in the event, including two world championships podium finishes and a fifth placing at the Athens Olympics.
Other athletes can be added to the squad up until June 23, with the Australian Olympic Committee finalising the complete team on July 4.
Seriously, though hasn’t he run 10.3 this year, looking horrible? With a little relaxation and encouragement, a 10.2 isn’t impossible I think.