Australian Olympic Team suffers huge blow!
Australia's Olympic medal chances took a significant dive this morning after news filtered through from the latest World Cup round in Madrid, with possible implications for Australia's Greg Bennett. Unraveling this mystery takes some patience! US athlete Matt Reed has thrown the ranking system into turmoil after he made a top ten finish to move his country up the pecking order. The equation is very simple. The top eight countries in the world get to field teams of three at the games.
While the whole scenario will be finalised at the World Championships in Vancouver in two weeks time, the man in the hot seat for Australia is Greg Bennett. His place in the team is in serious doubt after fellow Australian Brendan Sexton failed to finish in Madrid due to the cold. Sexton's failed attempt meant that Australia did not get any points from this round of the World Cup. Adding to Australia's headache was the performance of the two Russian athletes. Both had top 15 finishes meaning that Australia was pushed even further back.
Now, if you're still with us, we'll try and take this a little further. So now the scenario reads as follows:
- By finishing in 10th place in Madrid, Matt Reed has a total of 2552 Olympic qualifying points, meaning the US team is now in 7th place.
- Polyanksy, who finished 15th in Madrid, dropped Russia from 7th to 8th with a total of 2541 points.
- Sexton, who did not finish in Madrid, gained no points for Australia, pushing Australia back even further to 9th place on the world ranking table.
- The US takes a 45 point lead into the World Championships over Australia and a slim 9 point lead over Russia.
- The World's are a double point bonanza, so these deficits can be erased in the blink of an eye, or a puncture!
So now you know all that, what's the ITU thinking with only 74 days to go until the Beijing Olympics? It's baffling why we're still waiting for a final sign off for the teams and the number of athletes they are each allowed to field. And spare a thought for Greg Bennett! He must now play the waiting game to see if he'll compete at the Olympics. It's got to be hard to train with that hanging over your head. The ITU needed to have this done months ago so that the countries competing can lay their plans and prepare their athletes.
The flip side of course is that the World's in Vancouver is going to be one fast race, so stay tuned!
