Yachting New Zealand is still considering its Olympic options in the wake of having two of their nominations overturned on appeal this week.
The Sports Tribunal ruled that Hamish Pepper's Laser nomination needed further assessment and he will have to prove his case for Athens at the worldchampionships in Turkey in May along with the second and third placegetters from the Olympic trial at Torbay in January.
The tribunal suggested the same in the 470 class, won by Andrew Brown and Jamie Hunt but successfully appealed by third placegetters Simon Cooke and Alastair Gair.
YNZ is awaiting the written version of the decision, which could take several more days, but chief executive Simon Wickham admitted coping with the fallout had not been easy. And he admitted he would not be surprised if the selection panel of Grant Beck, Glen Sowry and Terry Nicholas resigned.
"These guys are volunteers with a lot of experience in the sport.
"They've had their ability to exercise judgment questioned. They've definitely taken it hard," Wickham said last night.
Wickham pointed out the frequency with which sailors not rated in the top 10 a year out from an Olympics have finished in the top 10. At Sydney four years ago only two of the 11 class representatives were in the top 10 six months before the Games.
Eight of the 11 were by the end of the Games regatta.
The selection panel has sought a few more days to ponder its next step.
