Triathlon: Great expectations
Pressure? Accountability? Bring it on
Gary Kingston, Vancouver Sun
Published: Thursday, July 03, 2008
When the excrement hit the spokes during the contretemps that surrounded the selection of Canada's men's Olympic team during the world triathlon championships in Vancouver in early June, Simon Whitfield was caught in the splash.
The 2000 Olympic champion from Victoria was seen to have been a key player in Triathlon Canada having set tough qualifying standards. Only Whitfield met the standard, meaning the federation's high-performance committee wound up selecting the other two men, adding Paul Tichelaar of Edmonton and, in the most controversial move, Whitfield's training partner, Colin Jenkins, over stronger overall athletes Brent McMahon and Kyle Jones.
Read the rest at Vancouver Sun
Why let the facts get in the way of a good story? :-)
Sorta like a similar article recently "published" in which the author and subject never exchanged a word... hmmm odd.
ReplyDeleteIt just reads like another simon interview, this doesn't seem to be any different than any of the other articles written on the subject... what "facts" are we missing per say?
ReplyDeleteThat's why I said "another" article... the common theme of the post worlds media has been misinformation regarding the selection process in the name of creating a more interesting story. Basic errors here that persist are that the criteria was created by or driven/changed for simon, that "stronger" or "more successful" athletes were left off the team, that only colin is simon's training partner, that the selection was driven by future funding, and that other medal contenders were left off the team. Its really unfortunately that simon takes the brunt of this energy rather than triathlon canada.
ReplyDelete