TRIATHLON AUSTRALIA RE-AFFIRMS COMMONWEALTH GAMES SELECTION CRITERIA

 

 

Triathlon Australia, March 13, 2014: With Australia’s elite triathletes racing in Saturday’s ITU Mooloolaba World Cup, Triathlon Australia has today re-affirmed its 2014 Triathlon Commonwealth Games Team Selection Criteria.

Two athletes, Aaron Royle and Emma Moffatt have already received early nomination following their performances in the designated automatic selection race (2013 ITU World Triathlon Series Grand Final in London) where Moffatt was third and Royle seventh. (In order to earn the automatic nomination athletes had to be the highest placed Australian and in the top eight finishers.)

Four places remain to be filled – two male and two female – and will be nominated at the discretion of the Triathlon Australia Elite Selection Committee (TAESC) by April 18.

The 2014 Triathlon Commonwealth Games Team Selection Criteria was developed in consultation with leading coaches and athletes, taking into account the experiences surrounding selection for the 2012 Olympics and the specific requirements of the Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

One of the key changes was the appointment of an independent Elite Selection Committee which is chaired by leading sports lawyer Ian Fullagar and made up of four additional selectors, Olympians Miles Stewart and Nicole Hackett, former leading ITU competitor and coach Mel Ashton-Garard  and Triathlon Australia Life Member, long-standing and respected Triathlon administrator Brian Hinton.

Published on the Triathlon Australia website in April 2013, the Criteria clearly states in addition to selection through the automatic qualification race, the TAESC may also use its discretion to select remaining athletes by considering “any matter in relation to any athlete under consideration for nomination.”

The discretionary clause opens up the maximum number of opportunities for athletes to demonstrate their selection claims.

Triathlon Australia’s National Performance Director Bernard Savage said: “We have communicated with coaches and athletes the importance of being successful in significant races against high quality fields over the course of the selection period.”

Triathlon Australia’s CEO Anne Gripper confirmed the TA Board’s confidence in the 2014 Triathlon Commonwealth Games Team Selection Criteria and the independence and expertise of the members of the Elite Selection Committee.

“Taking into account the input of many stakeholders  the Elite Selection Committee determined that the selection criteria would result in the selection of the best athletes by incorporating both the concept of automatic selection from one key race and the discretion of the Committee and this was supported by the board,” she said.

“We understand the pressures that athletes and coaches feel as selection time gets closer but believe that the current selection criteria and Elite Selection Committee will ensure the fairest and most successful outcome for Australia at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.”

Issued on behalf of Triathlon Australia Ian Hanson by

Ian Hanson| Media Manager Triathlon Australia
Managing Director
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