Hunter-Galvan bid forces change in selection rules

Athletics New Zealand is likely to establish a list of approved marathons in which athletes will have to run qualification times for future Olympic and Commonwealth Games.

Scott Newman, the chief executive of ANZ, said yesterday that after the furore over the non-selection of US-based Liza Hunter-Galvan, the selectors may look at a range of races where athletes will have to compete to achieve selection standards.

Hunter-Galvan, who broke the ANZ standard for the women's marathon by almost three minutes in Amsterdam last year, was not initially nominated for Beijing by the ANZ selectors, who cited a lack of consistency in her international results.

Hunter-Galvan appealed the decision to the Sports Tribunal of New Zealand and last week won her appeal.

Yesterday, after reviewing all its information ANZ nominated Hunter-Galvan and her selection was approved by the New Zealand Olympic Committee yesterday.

"What we might do in the future is be more specific and give athletes a range of races where they can run the qualifying times," said Newman.

He said the selectors had acquired new information on Hunter-Galvan that satisfied them she was worthy of nomination but he did not know what that was.

He said assessing marathon times was difficult because of climatic variations.

"A 2hr 33min marathon in a hot climate could be a very good time but easier to achieve in a cooler climate."

Newman did not believe the selection of Hunter-Galvan would be a problem within the New Zealand team, of which convener of selectors, John Bowden, is an official.

"It's not the first time over the years that John has been through this process and we've already started to make sure Liza feels a part of the team."

Barry Maister, the secretary-general of the NZOC, said Hunter-Galvan's selection was clear-cut for the Olympic panel.

"She did the time that we had negotiated with the athletics selectors 18 months ago and we had no other criteria around it so it was not a hard call for us.

"The IAAF (International Athletics Association) A standard for the Games was 2hr 37min but when we met with the athletics selectors we said that was a bit high so we dropped it to 2hr 33min, which we thought would get an athlete into the top 16, and Liza met that time."

But Maister did not go along with making the standards tougher in the future.

"We can't go too much below the A standard. Most countries accept the (IAAF) B standard. We accept A standard and a bit more so we have to be a bit careful that we don't go out on a limb.

"There is the odd anomaly there but the A standard is a tough one.

"ANZ have brought an element of discretion to the nominations and have been aware that we are trying to raise the bar with our Olympians," said Maister.

- © Fairfax NZ News