No relaxing of criteria — Dutton

Press, 28 May 1984, Page 36

No relaxing of criteria — Dutton

By

KEVIN TUTTY

There had been no relaxing of the qualifying criteria to allow 11 further competitors into the Los Angeles Olympic team, said the convener of the Olympic selection panel, Mr Roy Dutton, last evening.

Mr Dutton and his coselectors, Messrs Bruce Cameron and Jack Prestney, had stuck strictly to their initial criteria — that competitors must have a good chance of finishing in the top 16 — in naming the additional 11 competitors. Mr Dutton said he was not perturbed at suggestions that adding further competitors to the team would cheapen the value of the selections already made. “All those who have been added to the team have qualified under the conditions we set down, and there could be other nominations yet.” Individual sports have until Thursday to make further nominations, but Mr Dutton does not believe there will be many more. “The selection of these latest competitors was no more difficult than the initial team selection. But with so many top countries withdrawing from the Olympics we had to analyse the different events carefully,” Mr Dutton said. “In some sports the withdrawal of the Eastern bloc countries has made a significant difference to rankings, but in other events they have altered very little.” The Olympic' team now totals 130 competitors — 98 men and 32 women. Five of those named yesterday had their selections deferred when the bulk of the team was announced on April 30. They were the diver, Gary Lamb; the weightlifters, Allister

Nalder and Mike Bernard; and the fencers, Martin Brill and David Cocker. Seven of the people who were initially eliminated by the Olympic selectors are still out in the cold. They are the gymnasts, David Lutterman and Rowena Davis; Kevin Ryan the marathon runner, (who has had a decision on his selection deferred until June 6); Michael Sykes, a boxer, Murray Cameron, a shooter, and two other judo players, Brent Cooper and Mike Smith. Nalder’s selection was probably a fait accompli. He reached the original qualification standard in his division at the Oceania weightlifting championships a week ago, and Bernard was only five kilograms short of it. The fencers had also performed well in Europe and Mr Dutton said they had also virtually satisfied the initial selection criteria. Mr Dutton said in the last couple of weeks Cocker had competed for a Great Britian club in a European club competition, with an entry of more than 400 fencers, and finished eighteenth. Mr Dutton said he did not want sports to get the feeling that the Olympic selectors were calling for new nominations. He added that the Olympic panel had selected these people without a total knowledge of their training background since the announcement of the first part of the team at the start of the month. “We hope that associations would take a respons-

ible attitude and inform us if they felt that any competitor had lost too much condition.” “The whole problem with this exercise is that we have been hamstrung for time. The whole thing has been built on good will and mutual trust.” Asked if he thought the naming of additional competitors would have any effect on the Olympic appeal, Mr Dutton said he hoped that it would “perk the appeal up.” ft l am sure the public will show their generosity and dig a little deeper now that the team is a little bigger.” Mr Dutton did not believe the additions to the team would have a negative effect on the fund raising. • The New Zealand rowing selectors have decided not to make any additional nominations for the Olympics until after the Lucerne international regatta over the week-end of June 15 to 17. Gary Reid, of Whakatane,

the national singles champion, will be among the scullers competing in that regatta. On his European tour he has already won two titles at the French national championships. Mr Fred Strachan, the convener of selectors, said from Dunedin last evening that the panel had agreed to bear in mind the number of defections when considering special nominations. It was probable they would be a little more lenient than usual, but would not be sending a “B” team to Los Angeles. The selectors had looked at the number of defections in the three sculling events and noted that four of the top six countries in the singles at the last world championships would not be competing. But the situation was not the same in the double. The New Zealand Amateur Rowing Association will not hold its next council meeting until June 20, Mr Strachan said.