Having sailors compete at various international regattas is essential for assessing their prospects of success at the Athens Olympics, a tribunal was told today.
The Sports Disputes Tribunal this morning began a hearing over three appeals against nominations for the New Zealand yachting team for the Olympics in August.
Two are byLaser sailor Andrew Murdoch, and by men's 470 crew Simon Cooke and Alastair Gair, who failed to win their respective classes at the national trials in January and missed nomination.
The appellants argue that they have better credentials than the sailors nominated -- Hamish Pepper and the combination of Andrew Brown and Jamie Hunt, respectively.
The other appeal is from women's 470 crew Melinda Henshaw and Jan Shearer, who won their event at the trials.
The pair have been told they have to compete in the world championships in Croatia in May to satisfy the selectors that they can meet one of the criteria -- the ability to finish in the top 10 at Athens.
Henshaw and Shearer weren't at regattas in 2003 and early 2004 that Yachting New Zealand's nomination panel took into account when assessing form and prospects.
Panel convenor Terry Nicholas told the tribunal that Olympic hopefuls had to be willing to commit to the process for nomination.
He noted the case of Pepper, who was involved with Team New Zealand's defence of the America's Cup last year, but had had his Olympic Laser campaign mapped out.
"Generally 90 per cent of people will be organised before the trials, so attendance at these events is quite essential," Nicholas said.
"The Olympics is a high quality event and the pressure people are under is enormous."
Nicholas said the nomination panel needed to be able to assess from other events how sailors would handle that pressure.
The tribunal is an independent body appointed by Sport and Recreation New Zealand.
Four members, headed by former Court of Appeal judge Ted Thomas, are hearing the appeals.
The hearing is expected to last one day, with a decision possible later today or tomorrow.
