Not every decision is as controversial as the Cook case. Most sports are not lucky enough to have a world No 1 in their ranks, nor enjoy such depth that they feel they can afford to leave top-ranked competitors at home.
But many sports are grappling with the unique challenge of having to select athletes to fill places that ordinarily would not be available.
“There were always going to be more appeals and challenge this year with it being a home Games,” says Liz Nicholl, chief executive of UK Sport, which is responsible for monitoring how the £500 million-plus investment in British elite athletes is spent.
“There is more at stake, more athletes who are not used to the selection procedures, so there are going to be more appeals. If you had just missed out you would want to make sure you knew why.”
The problem with the current system is that the athletes, never mind the public, may never know. There is no requirement on sports to publish their selection criteria, the appeals process is confidential, and neither governing bodies or the BOA is obliged to explain why athletes are ignored.
All appeals pass through Sports Resolution, a UK Sport-funded arbitrator. Its decisions are binding on athletes and sports but it only publishes its decisions if both parties agree. So far only rhythmic gymnastics decision has been revealed to public scrutiny.
GB Taekwondo’s omission of Cook is the most secretive decision as well as the most contentious. The governing body has never published its selection criteria and refused to answer any questions about the process or reasons behind the decision to drop a player who would have been the No 1 seed in the Olympic competition.
Despite receiving £4.8 million of public money since 2009, the sport is unaccountable - and apparently indifferent - to the public who pay its administrators’ wages. Taekwondo say all the athletes are aware of its criteria, which has been agreed by UK Sport and the BOA, and, to reveal it, would give away a competitive advantage to its rivals.
Cook’s omission may well be justified, according to the rules, but when the decision flies so obviously in the face of results, how can anyone be sure?
With no explanation of why the sport’s brightest talent has been dropped, the suspicion has grown that Cook’s face no longer fits following his decision to leave the governing body’s performance programme.
If that were the case, Nicholl told The Daily Telegraph, it would be “completely unacceptable”. That may well not be the reason for his exclusion, but without an explanation, it is impossible to judge.
Fencing and judo are more forthcoming than taekwondo - both publish their selection criteria - but they are still sensitive about selections that have faced appeal.
Fencing has four challenges from athletes excluded from their 10-strong team. The sport delayed Monday’s planned announcement of their team disciplines as a result, but a spokesman said they are confident they have followed agreed procedure.
Judo’s 14-strong team was approved by the BOA on Tuesday, but the sport has faced several appeals. In keeping with the opaqueness around this process, they refuse to say how many.
In future, it should surely be a condition of funding and inclusion in Team GB for the Rio Games in 2016 that selection criteria are published in full. Only then can the public have confidence that their unprecedented investment in elite sport is delivering the best athletes to the Games.
Sadly for London, it may be too late to be certain.
ORIENT RENEW STADIUM BID
The Olympic Stadium mystery is set for another twist with Leyton Orient chairman Barry Hearn set to lodge a new bid to occupy the arena in a ground share with West Ham.
Hearn pulled out of the most recent round of bidding in March, declaring the stadium “unfit for football” if the running track is retained.
The terms of the stadium tender have since been rewritten, however, largely to try to evade a legal challenge from Hearn, and he believes the new terms may work for Orient.
Crucially, the new tender allows seats to be built over the track, something that West Ham see as central to their bid. Hearn’s complaint has always been that the seats are too distant but, if spectators can be brought to pitchside, he will be interested.
With West Ham having solved the seating problem, Hearn will offer the London Legacy Development Corporation the prospect of another football tenant providing week-in, week-out income.
The LLDC will have to consider it, no matter how much the prospect is likely to irritate West Ham.
TORCH DUTY FOR CLARKE
Open Champion Darren Clarke will carry the Olympic torch next week when it arrives in Portrush, his home town of on the north Antrim coast.
The arrival of the torch in Ulster and then Dublin next week is a key part of the round-Britain relay, and Clarke is one of a number of Irish sports stars expected to be involved
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
London 2012 Olympics: Britons Staying for the Games and Tourists to Flock in - Amadeus Research - ibtimes.co.uk
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A 13 percent rise on the number of tourists visiting the UK compared with last summer is expected because of London 2012, with around a quarter coming from North America, Amadeus research suggests.
Britons flying away on their summer holidays in the three weeks ahead of the 27 July opening ceremony is expected to be down by 5 percent.
However the number leaving in the three weeks after the Games' conclusion on 12 August will be 10 percent higher than in the same period the year before.
On the whole 2 percent fewer Londoners will be leaving the capital city than they did in the summer of 2011.
Amadeus's research is based on global air reservations through all online and offline travel agencies, which make up around half of the total number of bookings.
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Source: www.ibtimes.co.uk
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