Google+ Running in Cork, Ireland: Irish Athletics...the saga with the 400m relay team continues...

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Irish Athletics...the saga with the 400m relay team continues...

Early last week, Athletics Ireland nominated the following six athletes to be part of the 4 x 400m relay team to the Olympic Council of Ireland.....Joanne Cuddihy (KCH AC), Michelle Carey (Dublin Striders AC), Claire Bergin (DSD AC), Marian Heffernan (Togher AC), Jessie Barr (Ferrybank AC), Catriona Cuddihy (KCH AC)

Joanna Mills who had been excluded appealed this decision and a few days later, Athletics Ireland replaced Catriona Cuddihy with Joanne Mills. Athletics Ireland then made the following statement..."The appeal committee made the decision to withdraw the nomination of Catriona Cuddihy to the OCI and nominate Joanne Mills in her place.". The Athletics Ireland president Ciaran O'Cathain said.... "Catriona can now appeal the decision to the Olympic Council of Ireland and Athletics Ireland will make no further comment on this decision,".

Catriona Cuddihy then appealed that decision to the Olympic Council of Ireland and their spokesman said.........“The athlete’s legal counsel has been in touch but without full clarification from Athletics Ireland on what exactly went on we can’t proceed with any appeal, if only because the OCI may not even have a role to play here. What we need first is for them to explain the exact procedure, and method, behind the selection of the original relay team, and why this was then overturned on appeal. Because we can’t do anything until we have that full explanation. We don’t know if they’ve broken any of their own internal rules, or if there is any legal issue here, or what exactly the due process here is. So at this stage we can’t even say if we’ll be getting involved at all.”


It's fair to say that the whole thing is now a mess. Whatever happens, the deadline for the submission of Irish entries is Friday, the 13th of July.

Just for some background to this story....
Catriona Cuddihy......personal best for 400m is 55.83 which was set last March.
Joanna Mills......personal best for 400m is 53.89 which was set in July 2011. Just this morning (Wed 11th July 2012), she ran a seasons best time of 54.17 in the World Junior Championships in Barcelona.

Update...Wed 11th July @4pm....This story gets even more bizarre. From the Irish Independent on Tuesday........"The Irish Independent understands that one procedural hiccup did occur in the AAI's appeal process. When Joanna Mills formally objected to being omitted from the squad, AAI was duty-bound to contact all of the other members of the relay team, inform them an appeal had been lodged and offer give them all an opportunity to make a personal submission on the matter. Athletics Ireland actually followed correct procedure and did this. But they informed the athletes of this by email and the address that AAI used was not recognised by the various athletes' internet accounts. As a result, the notification went into the athletes' 'junk mail' boxes and was not discovered until Saturday night, which was after Mills' appeal had been heard. "

Update...Fri 13th July @8pm......THE Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) have decided that they will hear Caitriona Cuddihy's appeal against her deselection for London early next week. The OCI were expected to make a statement on the matter today, but it appears that they have received all the information they requested from Athletics Ireland (AAI) and are now ready to hear the case. The OCI said initially they could not hear an appeal until they were satisfied that Athletics Ireland had correctly followed all of their own internal procedures.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a mess! This is insane - how are those girls supposed to go out there and perform which this crap hanging over their heads...very distracting for the athletes both as part of a team and as individuals preparing for other events... this is a time when all of them should be able to focus on getting their heads right for London...

Anonymous said...

I know its harsh but should Catriona Cuddihy just acknowledge that she is slower than Joanna Mills at this moment.She will get another chance.Age is on her side.

Brian said...

As I mentioned in a previous post on the article about the Olympic team selection this is a problem created by AAI and OCI when there really isnt any!

Jessie Barr has the B standard for the individual 400mH and she clearly held her own in the euro champs in Helsinki where she made the final. Send her to the Olympics on the B standard for the 400mH and replace her on the 4x400 with Catriona Cuddihy. There is absolutely nothing stopping this from happening right now.

I know AAI had set rules that B standard athletes were not going to make the cut for the Olympics but given the form Barr has been in at 400mH, and that she would not be excluding 3 A standard 400mH athletes we dont have (some thing that UKA did when they chose a B standard female 800m runner who was in form ahead of 3 A standard female 800m runners that had achieved the qualifying time thus omitting them from the Olympics).

I just find it incredible that the athletes are being put through this nonsense so close to the Olympics.

Anonymous said...

Did Catriona win nationals just lately?

Anonymous said...

Brian.I see your point but AAI would be opening up another can of worms by selecting an athlete with a B standard.2 wrongs don't fox a right.If Jessie Barr is selected then Mark English Ciara Mageean Brian Gregan would have rights to appeal and the whole situation would turn into a farce.I think that all those should be selected and B standard athletes should have been selected where possible.Fact is AAI made a mess of it and now the right decision has been made.The only problem is that AAI have again caused embarrassment and upset to an athlete and have shown no interest in the development of the sport.Irish people in general need to understand Ireland is a nation of 4 million people and at Olympic levels not all our athletes can win or make finals.It is not the winning but the taking part that counts.with London so close we should have sent as many as possible.Ryanair fly to London for 80 euro return.Money can't be a factor.Missed opportunity and as usual no one suffers except the dedicated athlete.

Anonymous said...

I'm in agreement with the 2nd poster. Cuddihy should just accept that: Mills is faster than her, she's not going to London, get over it and move on!

Only in Ireland.

John Desmond said...

Fri 13th...latest update...see post