There is often more than meets the eye in a number of situations. Last week I wrote an opinion piece supporting the decision made by NZ Swimming in not nominating a couple of Open Water Swimmers into the NZ Olympic Team.
I still continue to support them and support the decision to now nominate Kane Radford for the team. It has since come out that one of the competitors that finished ahead of him utilised unsportsmanlike tactics that severely impacted the likely result of Kane. This swimmer has since been disqualified.
Kane successfully appealed to the Sports Tribunal (under urgency) on the grounds that he would have likely have finished higher if not for the tactics of the other swimmer, and that more weight should have been given to his other results at Pan Pacific Champs and other World Cup performances.
I’m excited to know that another Kiwi will be lining up in Rio to put their best foot forward (or arm in this case). All the best Kane.
More media reporting here:
- http://www.sportzhub.com/article/swimming-new-zealand-nominate-kane-radford-for-rio-olympics.html
- http://www.swimvortex.com/kane-radford-wins-tribunal-appeal-to-race-in-rio-marathon-for-new-zealand/
- http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11664845
- http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/olympics/nz-olympic-team/81535810/olympic-lifeline-for-kane-radford-with-swimming-nz-asked-to-reconsider-selection.html
- http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/sport/307450/ocean-swimmer-successfully-appeals-olympic-exclusion