Yachting: Poor performances give selectors difficult Games choice

By DAVID LEGGAT



Yachting New Zealand is determined further legal wrangling will not figure in delicate Olympic Games selections next month.

The national selectors are due to meet on June 2 or 3 to decide their second batch of sailors to contest the Athens Olympic regatta in August.

Although three categories will be assessed, it is the women's 470 class which is likely to exercise their minds.

Melinda Henshaw and Jan Shearer won the Olympic selection trial at Torbay in January. But as it was their first regatta, the yachting selectors wanted more proof of their merits for Athens.

So they were provisionally nominated, provided they proved their capability of a top 10 finish in Athens by their performance at the world championships, which finished in Croatia at the weekend. Henshaw and Shearer appealed to the Sports Disputes Tribunal, who supported YNZ's decision.

They finished 41st in Croatia, hardly a ringing endorsement of their Athens credentials. Their rivals for the spot, Shelley Hesson and Linda Dickson, finished 15th.

Yachting's selectors will assess Henshaw and Shearer's case in isolation. If they decide they have not done enough to get the nomination, they will look at Hesson and Dickson. It is not a case of comparing their respective merits.

Yachting's selectors, Grant Beck, Glen Sowry and Terry Nicholas, have three choices:

* They can endorse Henshaw and Shearer for Athens, despite ordinary form overseas.

* They can overlook that pair and nominate Hesson and Dickson.

* Or they can decide neither pair is up to scratch and hand back New Zealand's spot in the class.

In theory that throws up the possibility of one, or both, unsuccessful candidates considering legal redress.

Having been the first national sports body to be pulled through the legal wringer, in March - by disgruntled sailors Andrew Murdoch (Laser), Simon Cooke and Alastair Gair (men's 470) and Henshaw and Shearer - YNZ chief executive Simon Wickham knows the cost, both financial and in terms of the questions it raised over the credibility of the sport's selection process.

Even though the Court of Arbitration for Sport subsequently threw out the disputes tribunal decisions backing Murdoch, Cooke and Gair, it's not a process the sailing body wants to go through again soon.

However Wickham said no selection panel should have to make judgments with a legal black cloud hovering.

"We've talked to the selectors about that. We don't intend to have the tribunal threat in front of us when we're considering selection decisions," Wickham said last night.

"You can't sit there and say 'what if, what if'. One of those two crews could appeal the decision because one of them's going to miss out.

"Ultimately as long as we follow our policy the risk of losing an appeal isn't great."

The least palatable option would be to hand back New Zealand's spot in the event. But Wickham reckons the selectors will make the call if warranted.

"That's what you have selectors for, to make that call.

"It's always nice to fill a team. Equally you've got to weigh that against wanting to send a team that's going to perform creditably. It involves a lot of investment, time and money."