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Statistician Peter Matthews argues that Great Britain & Northern Ireland should have sent a far bigger team to Barcelona
Andy Vernon (17) is one of the unlucky athletes who could have gained experience in Spain
© Mark Shearman
BRITAIN has a strong team for the European Championships in Barcelona – and so it should, being one of the top three powers on the continent along with Germany and Russia. But there are many more athletes who could and should have been included.
UKA chief coach Charles van Commenee set much tougher standards than European Athletics, keeping the World Championships standards from last year, and has been very clear in informing the athletes of this and resolute in sticking to the policy. However, I would have filled a further 31 positions with athletes who have met the EA standards, for whom this level of competition is absolutely right and who have earned the opportunity to compete by their performances this year. British athletes and the hundreds who will support them in Barcelona are being seriously deprived – for what?
I know that, in believing strongly that full teams should be selected, I speak for many keen followers of athletics as opposed to the administrators and coaches who run the sport. I am far from being a supporter of European Athletics after their stupidity in doing their best to ruin the European Cup/European Team Championships last year and in devaluing their Championships by determining that it will be staged every two years so that there will be an edition of the event in 2012 prior to the Olympics, which will surely be bypassed by many top athletes. However, I feel they are being let down here by UKA in the team that we are sending to Barcelona.
Now, some will say that we have taken “passengers" to previous Championships, but do you really feel that the names I list here would be that? I would not argue so strongly against such a tough selection policy for World Championships or Olympic Games, but these are the European Championships, and surely this is exactly the right level of competition, providing valuable experience for such up-and-coming athletes as Gareth Warburton, Lawrence Clarke and Andy Vernon. I believe that these and the others I name have earned the right to compete in Barcelona and indeed several are candidates for making the finals.
I would also point out that there is inconsistency in the selection policy in that a full squad of marathon runners has been included, yet most of them are far below the relative standards of those not selected in the track and field events. I am pleased, of course, that they are being given this chance of international competition.
So these are my selections for these gaps. All the athletes shown have achieved the EA standards this year, except for those shown with an asterisk, who did so last year (as allowed by the qualification procedures). I have filled the vacant sprint positions. Why are athletes being taken just for the relays without filling these?
Let us also assume that, like Jodie Williams, the juniors who qualify – David Guest (decathlon) and Holly Bleasdale (pole vault) are reserved solely for the IAAF World Junior Championships. There are others not mentioned who have also qualified, but I have exercised my judgement. I recognise that I might not know if some athletes might not be fit for selection and I have put question marks against a few.
* Additional candidates for European Championships to augment UKA’s team: Men - 100m: Marlon Devonish; 200m: Devonish; 800m: Gareth Warburton, Darren St Clair; 5000m/10,000m: Andy Vernon and/or Lee Emanuel for 5000m; 3000m SC: Luke Gunn; 110m hurdles: Lawrence Clarke; HJ: Samson Oni or Robbie Grabarz; PV: Steve Lewis; TJ: Larry Achike?; DT: Brett Morse; JT: Mervyn Luckwell? Women - 100m: Joice Maduaka, Elaine O’Neill; 200m: Maduaka, Hayley Jones; 400m: Nicola Sanders, Kim Wall; 5000m: Emily Pidgeon, Laura Kenney*; 10,000m: Freya Murray, Sonia Samuels; 100m hurdles: Angelita Broadbelt-Blake; 400m hurdles: Tasha Danvers; HJ: Stephanie Pywell; PV: Henrietta Paxton; DT: Philippa Roles, Jade Nicholls; JT: Laura Whittingham; Hep: Louise Hazel*
Most of these extra athletes are not world-class, but they are European-class. Of course, my team would have a smaller percentage of medal success than the chosen one, and perhaps this matters too much to the powers that be.
But I believe that we must encourage our athletes by providing them with incentives and opportunities. I look to the long-term development of our sport rather than being transfixed by shortterm medal counts. I would also mention that I believe in selectors exercising their sound judgement in selecting on the basis of fairness, form and in predicting who is likely to do their best. This is how we used to do it before these days of fixed criteria.
* PETER MATTHEWS is the editor of Athletics International and chairman of the National Union of Track Statisticians. This article appears in the latest issue of Athletics Weekly - a bumper 84-page Euro Champs preview issue.
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