Maz Okoro to be added to the women's 800m

[olympic]

Please leave a message of support for one of our most exciting runners to be added to the team.

Please email UKA and BOA challenging the decision and giving the clear reasoning why she should be selected.

lbirchall@uka.org.uk
boa@boa.org.uk

Coming back from injury she deseves discretion let alone the fact she has the key current A standards!
It is an absolute disgrace and not in the interests of fairness that she was not
selected.

Select Maz!

Please encourage others to post here messages of support.

[olympic]

Please post messages of support and email the British Olympic Association and UKA - email addresses above - together we can make a difference.

[Geoff]

I suspect the reason there hasn't been a flood of support is this is not just about one athlete. It concerns five.This is the problem the selectors had and they opted for Sharp and gave a consolation place in the relay squad to Okoro. Personally, I would not have done that but can see why they did. I am originally from Stoke, the same city as Emma Jackson, so I have a lot of sympathy for her. She's run well this season and got an A standard plus one from last year but ran the trials with a cracked rib and probably in pain. No one has said how bad that is but if she can still train and be pain free soon then she is very unlucky.

I think the panel, which is not exactly impartial, should examine all the considerations regarding all the 800m selections and ensure the process has been conducted appropriately. They can also appeal to the BOA which seems to have worked before.

[SteveK26]

Pointless excersise.
The selectors cannot now de-select Sharp, can they.
So you might get thousands on your petition but it wouldn't make a jot of difference.
I actually feel way more sorry for Meadows; at least Okoro had a great chance of selection at the trials. She blew it.

It may have been an odd decision to pick Sharp over and above three others who could have gone, but its done now. I'm sure CVC will be informed in no uncertain terms as to how lots of fans and families feel about his selection. But none of this is Lynsey Sharp's fault, so I hope she is not hounded all the way to the start line. Its going to be difficult enough for her already.

[djlovesyou]

Absolutely. Although I too feel some of the athletes in question have been very hard done by, any change now is going to hurt Sharp and she's done nothing to deserve such treatment.

Part of me thinks it's a terrible decision, but I can't bring myself to fight to get it overturned because of the implications for Lynsey.

[mump boy]

My major issue with this is Maz wasn't given the chance to go the the europeans and redeem herself. She just got text saying she had beeb deselected. If she had gone to europeans she may well have got a medal, another A standard and beaten Linsay but she as never given that chance

SHe has 3 A standards and ran 1 bad race, while i would agree that she has no one but herself to blame this is not teaching a lesson it is just vindictive

[djlovesyou]

Yeah, I agree with that too.

Another thing to think about is that it's obvious that CVC knew what a fuss making this decision would cause. It's not like any fuss is going to sway any decisions. I appreciate he probably was unaware at the implications for not picking Lee Merrien, but this one is clearly pre-meditated and he'll be prepared to simply ride it out.

[larkim]

Can anyone find any malicious reason why CVC and the panel should have made the choice that they have?

There is a lot of "its unfair" and "we'd have had more athletes in" comments, but no-one that I've seen has come up with any reason for this decision other than that CVC and the panel thought that selecting Lynsey was the best chance of the Team achieving the highest place finish in this event in the Olympics.

Has CVC been a passionate Sharp supporter for the past 12 months? Has he constantly berrated Meadows, Okoro, Simpson for not being good enough / training hard enough?

Matt

[sprintfan]

Just leave it be. The decision, whilst controversial, is a good message for up and coming folks.

Those not selected will probably roll over and go back to work. But when they think about their own situation and how that led to the decision.

Like Mr van C's style!

[jjimbojames]

Just leave it be. The decision, whilst controversial, is a good message for up and coming folks.

That message being that A standards don't matter for some but don't get one and you won't go for others, that experience of a WC final counts for nothing, that the Trials are the be all and end all for some but not for others, that it's better to finish second in a low-key meeting than mix it with the world's best - which message would that be?

I still don't see how picking the slower runner is the better option; one race can't be enough to select a team on

[mump boy]

Just leave it be. The decision, whilst controversial, is a good message for up and coming folks.

That message being that A standards don't matter for some but don't get one and you won't go for others, that experience of a WC final counts for nothing, that the Trials are the be all and end all for some but not for others, that it's better to finish second in a low-key meeting than mix it with the world's best - which message would that be?

I still don't see how picking the slower runner is the better option; one race can't be enough to select a team on

You are so right, there is no message because the selections are totally incoherent

[olympic]

UKA and the BOA have been asked to review this thread regarding the selection process in the women's 800m. Please add your thoughts and messages of support for Maz.

[jeremy1]

So what is the point of having trials?; its unfair to go back to the totally subjective fights that took place in the old days when the Selectors got pilloried for the wong judgments in the eyes of the fans and especially the media;I am appalled, but NOT surprised, at the sentimental slush on this site but no doubt fans prefer touchy feely stuff these days to hard facts.

As far as I know no one here was part of the Selection panel,nor can tell who voted fo Sharp and why, so
the comments re CVC are not proved; his interview on TV yesterday morning was very nervously and carefully worded but he knows what his job was when selecting a team; pick the trials winner and woman in form and ignore out of form, injured athletes and weird athletes. So the posters here all want to ignore the winner of our British Trials . I bet they would not have said that 6 months ago

The 800m women knew all season that the Trials were to take place and the criteria; the most shocking piece of idiot running I have ever witnessed was by Okoro who could have waltzed through to a selection but knew so little about her abilities or suffered a massive dose of nerves that she ran a stupid race. WFT should I make a plea for her?
Simpson is totally out of form and could not run a a quality race all season despite an early start in the States before rushing over to our Trials.Meadows is not fit and has proved nothing; Jackson is not fit and and as I tire of saying it aint about luck with professional athletes, you have to be fit and on the start line to compete.

Most of the leading countries have trials with an element of flexibility admittedly but our 800m runners who have not been picked were NOT treated unfairly imo and i wish young Sharp all the best together with Weightman. I wont be putting any money on any of our other 1500m runners to get final places

[jeremy1]

btw, I can guarantee that if Sharp is a bit overwhelmed and/or does not perform well in the OG and any of our other 800m runners try , as they will, to make a point in some August/September races by doing what was required NOW, we will hear the 20/20 hindsight wallahs loud and clear.!

[curlark]

btw, I can guarantee that if Sharp is a bit overwhelmed and/or does not perform well in the OG and any of our other 800m runners try , as they will, to make a point in some August/September races by doing what was required NOW, we will hear the 20/20 hindsight wallahs loud and clear.!

If any of our other athletes are a 'bit overwhelmed' and don't perform as hoped at the OG I'm sure you'll be the first to point that out.

[MBChristie]

Although it's not the choice I would have made, now it's been taken, I'll support Lynsey all the way. I am not going to support this campaign.

[djlovesyou]

btw, I can guarantee that if Sharp is a bit overwhelmed and/or does not perform well in the OG and any of our other 800m runners try , as they will, to make a point in some August/September races by doing what was required NOW, we will hear the 20/20 hindsight wallahs loud and clear.!

What is it about Lynsey Sharp that makes you a supporter? I didn't realise that there were exceptions to your 'Failure to British athletes' campaign. Were there once other athletes like this and what did they do to join the hate list?

[ultragirl]

Phew, very bitter indeed.

[clutch30green]

At the end of the day Maz Okoro should have been selected for the 800m. It is a complete and utter disgrace and injustice that she hasn't. As a spectator/supporter of Athletics I feel numb that she has been treated this way and has really made me see this sport in a different light and I do feel less interested in it now because I just can't understand it.

The facts are simple - Maz has come back from injuries, operations and lack of confidence to have her best season in years. It was stated that athletes needed 2 A Standards to be considered - she got 2 this year alone and has at least one from last year. She has backed that up with a further performance under 2mins this year and last. In fact she has more A-standards than many others selected. This year she has had one bad race and yes it was in the trials when she was clearly trying to get another A Standard but had no-one with her at 400m unlike in the previous races and as a result didn't finish top 2. However Michael Rimmer who has had one good race this year (and got the A-standard in that race) and Chris Tomlinson amongst others didn't finish in the top 2 and haven't shown as good a form as Maz this year and have been selected. If Maz had been ill or slightly injured at the trials she probably would have been selected (along with Emma Jackson who is also in better form this year than Lynsey Sharpe). Mervyn Luckwell and Stuart Stokes are 2 examples of athletes who didn't compete at the trials, are not in as a good a form as Maz and have been selected over athletes who did compete at the trials and won but only have the B standards.

To make matters worse for Maz's selection, she was then taken off the European Championship Team even though not all spots were filled, so not given any opportunity to compete again to prove her one bad race this season was just a one off and there was nowhere else for her to go to compete. Other athletes taken off the European Championship team and couldn't compete anywhere, were selected for the Olympics anyway even without a current A Standard e.g. Dwain Chambers. Compared to some other athletes she has been treated terribly and there is absolutely know consistent justification for her omission from the team and this should be put right.

Lynsey has done well and got the European Silver and I'm sure she could be a great athlete in the future but she hasn't been able to match Maz's 3 A-standards and further sub 2min performances. Lynsey hasn't really made a huge amount of improvement in the last 12 months to justify her selection over Maz's. Yes she won a medal at the Europeans but so did Danny Talbot who was selected even with an A standard under his belt. Where is the consistency, where is the fairness and why is one of our top athletes this year on results being left out?

[AEW]

Sorry but I just don't buy this at all.

Since 2007 Marilyn has been selected for 12 international championships and has not managed to win an individual medal in any of them. With the A standards in the bag all she was asked to do was come first or second in the UK trials....a task anyone would have thought easy with Jenny Meadows out through injury, Jemma Simpson returning from injury and Emma Jackson carrying a cracked rib.

Instead she produced the most tactically naive performance from a senior athlete that I have seen in a long time and was beaten by 4 athletes including a 17 year old (albeit a hugely talented youngster). I suspect that the reason she was deselected for the Europeans was that she sealed her fate on the day of the trials.

To select her again is like being Charlie Brown constantly convinced by Lucy that everything will be OK this time and getting suckered. Championships are not about times they are about winners.

[djlovesyou]

Instead she produced the most tactically naive performance from a senior athlete that I have seen in a long time and was beaten by 4 athletes including a 17 year old (albeit a hugely talented youngster). I suspect that the reason she was deselected for the Europeans was that she sealed her fate on the day of the trials.

But what if Okoro had a little bit of a sniffle at the trials and decided she couldn't compete? Surely she then could have been selected without having run the trials like Stokes or Luckwell?

Or was her fate already sealed?

It really doesn't make any sense.

[AEW]

How could her fate already have been sealed.....it was in her own hands!

And I'm sorry.....a bit of a sniffle?....she ran 5 full seconds slower than this season's best that's a hell of a sniffle. To be fair I just haven't heard that she was ill so was it perhaps just a tactical miscalculation leaving nothing in her legs?

[djlovesyou]

Nah, you miss my point - I didn't say she had a sniffle. I just suggested that perhaps if she didn't compete at the trials, her position would have been better.

Other people missed the trials are were selected just fine. What would have happened had Okoro missed the trials?

Surely that would have been a position of strength given the number of A standards.

Winning the trials has been shown to mean very little in some cases, as Luke Gunn missed out despite winning and being faster than Stokes. Other B standarders like Nicholls and Francis win the trials with a B and miss out.

Sharp wins the trials with a B and gets in despite a whole stack of others with A standards. No consistency.

[AEW]

Apologies....I did misunderstand you.

Attendance at the trials was the only way to guarantee automatic selection so you'd have to be either very brave or have a very good reason for missing it. Final selection is of course subject to ratification by the BOA (8th July I think) so it's always possible that they will overturn the selection panel's decision but the Taekwondo example suggests that this is unlikely.

[Charlie Boy]

It can't and won't change Sharp is running, the rest are staying at home. The only way this will change is if Sharp gets the A by 8 July. Okoro had the A first 2 and she would of made the team. Maybe CVC does not want to see Okoro run another 700m race and blow up. I feel the biggest victim is Emma Jackson and has more of a reason to complain.

[iain]

I am pretty sure UKA will not overturn the selection, but might the BOA?

[jjimbojames]

So what is the point of having trials?; its unfair to go back to the totally subjective fights that took place in the old days when the Selectors got pilloried for the wong judgments in the eyes of the fans and especially the media;I am appalled, but NOT surprised, at the sentimental slush on this site but no doubt fans prefer touchy feely stuff these days to hard facts.

But yet the Trials winner has not been selected in every event - its a lack of consistency which is the biggest issue. People say Maz knew exactly what she had to do - but not winning the Trials shouldn't be the only reason for not being picked

[Ursus]

There are lots of factors to this. But concentrating on Maz, it was all in her own hands, and she blew it spectacularly. She could have jogged around against that field to secure her place, but she chose not to.

If that had been a one off aberration, I suspect she'd have still got the nod, but she's got previous and maybe it was just once too often for the selectors.

Yes of course I feel for her, but it's her own fault. And when she looks in the mirror she will know that.

The selectors were quite entitled to take the view that if someone can get it so wrong in the trials, what on earth would they do when the pressure is really on in the OG.

Yes it's a home OG, but let's not forget that we're talking elite level sport here, not a Sunday outing.

[Flumpy]

Everyone agrees that Maz ran a ridiculous race and if that had resulted in her not being selected then so be it, but it seems that in their rush to make an example of her they have punished others at the same time.

Had they chosen Jenny, Emma and Jemma I'd have some sympathy with the decision, instead they went for the scorched earth policy.

[Laps]

Marilyn Okoro doesn't deserve selection imo. The selectors made a difficult but correct call in this case.