Lightweight double scullers Carolyn Steele and Rachel Starr have won a late bid to try for the Athens Olympics - providing one of them gets her New Zealand passport in smart time.
The pair, from Auckland's West End club, missed out on the initial nominations for the Olympic qualifyingregatta in Lucerne, Switzerland, from June 13-16 as one of them was ill during the Rowing New Zealand selection trials in March.
They successfully argued for another chance and last week impressed the national selectors at Lake Karapiro sufficiently to be added to the two squads already confirmed for Lucerne - the women's coxless pair of Juliette Haigh and Nicky Coles from West End, and men's lightweight double scullers Duncan Grant and Mark Patterson from Blenheim's Wairau club.
There is a snag, however. Starr is a Canadian married to a New Zealander and does not have a New Zealand passport.
RNZ chief executive Craig Ross confirmed "wheels have been moving" for Starr to secure a passport in time. RNZ is working with government officials and the New Zealand Olympic Committee, who have the final say on who goes to Athens.
World rowing body Fisa is not thought likely to allow the women to row unless both have New Zealand passports.
New Zealand have three crews confirmed for Athens - world double scull champions Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell, coxless pair George Bridgewater and Nathan Twaddle, and the coxless four of Mahe Drysdale, Eric Murray, Carl Meyer and Donald Leach.
