It's funny how some of us over here in the USA complain about our system
when we have one of the fairest in the world. Most countries only send
athletes who have a shot to medal, much less top 8. If we used the "top 8"
or "make the final" qualification then our distance crew would be pretty
slim over in Sydney. Now if we used the "get a medal" qualification we'd
have near no distance crew and our marathon crew over the past 3 Olympics
would be slim to none. Thank god for America, we love participation..:)
Alan
>From: Mats Åkerlind <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Reply-To: Mats Åkerlind <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Subject: t-and-f: Stay-at-homes
>Date: Mon, 25 Sep 2000 18:09:03 +0200
>
>Many European Federations have tougher qualifying standards than the
>international ones. That especially applies to the B standard, the one
>which allows a country to field one athlete in an event.
>
>In Sweden, the Swedish Federation is not free to send the athletes that
>they wish. All selections have to be approved by the Swedish Olympic
>Committe, which has higher standards. Basically the only want to send
>athletes that "have a realistic chance to place in the top 8". This
>means that there are "qualifying results". But even making them doesn't
>mean that an athlete is selected. We've had a few cases before Sydney
>where athletes had the marks / were extremely close, but were not
>selected. They include 100H runner Susanna Kallur (13.04), 400 runner
>Jimisola Laursen (45.69), hammer throwers Per Karlsson (75.78) and Bengt
>Johansson (75.62), shot putter Jimmy Nordin (20.07), marathon runner
>Marie Söderström-Lundberg (2.35). In Sweden Race Walking has it's own
>federation (which means that I don't follow it that close), but I
>believe that the same happened to 50K walker Bengt Bengtsson. He, as I
>understand it, was faster than the IAAF "A" standard but was not
>selected.
>
>In hindsight, especially Kallur, Nordin and Laursen could have been
>interesting to watch (Kallur will get a shot at glory in Santiago at the
>World Juniors...). At the same time, some of the athletes in Sydney have
>not made it, people who just squeezed in through the eye of the needle.
>They include Anna Söderberg in DT (an early qualifier), LJ duo Peter
>Häggström and Mattias Sunneborn and some others. But every once,
>somebody surprises and makes big. For instance - how many of you would
>have included Swedish 110 Hurdler Robert Kronberg in the Final?
>
>Personally, I'd like to see a somewhat more generous selection. But I
>wouldn't like to see every Swede that had made the B standard in Sydney
>(of course there would only be one per event, but you get my point, I
>guess...). It's fun if you have some chance of advancing.
>
>As for the other European countries, let's hear from list members there.
>I know that Norway has an almost tougher standard than Sweden. What
>about the rest?
>
>Mats Åkerlind
>"[EMAIL PROTECTED]"
>
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