sady
April 19, 2010, 7:49pm
47
To be honest, I think the right decision has been made with the selection committee (of which Eric Hollingsworth is ex-officio) picking Ben Offereins, John Steffensen (both automatic) and Joel Milburn for the third discretionary spot on the individual men’s 400m team.
I realise exactly why John Steffensen is upset with AA and Eric, but if this were the US trials - and the US culture seems to have been something close to John’s heart and psyche - he would also have been ordered to “perform or perish”. There is no discretionary selection, no encouragement award in the USA. You compete, you qualify or you miss the team. It’s the same in Aussie swimming, except you actually must do the qualifying time in the pool at the Trials. What you clocked last meet, much less last year (!) doesn’t mean squat. They are a brutal bunch in the pool.
So when you get an event with some depth, as is the case at this time in history with the world championships 4x400m bronze medal Aussie squad, then by necessity (IMHO) the first over the finish line is often (not always) the fairest way to select because it takes politics and favouritism out of the frame.
I do feel sorry for Sean Wroe who has been troubled this summer. Remember he was in the small Aussie team to compete at the world indoors in Doha, but after a lacklustre run for second in the Melbourne Track Classic he withdrew from that team.
I would say Eric is a pragmatist, a realist and knows that what he dishes out he must also cop in return. Milburn’s coach, Penny Gillies, also swallowed the poison when she had to drop him from the Berlin 4x4 medal contending (and ultimately, winning) side when his form simply didn’t warrant his inclusion last year.
So the men’s 400m scene in Oz is quite interesting at the moment and a bit of a soap opera at times but always entertaining, genuinely world class and for those reasons worth following …
All part of the reason why the US T&F and the Aussie swimmers are so successful.
Wondering what Sharmer would think if the following happened to him, happened to me 15 years ago.
Carl Lewis was coming to Aust for a GP and I was invited to coach the local club relay team as I coached all 4 members (2 national and 2 state place getters), one member pulled out to compete in the 100m hurdles (14 year old). Said her new coach told her she would get her in the national team and to leave her current coach as he had no idea what I was doing, supposedly doing hurdle drills wrong.