Team GB athletics squad for London 2012 Olympics announced

03 Jul 2012

The UK Athletics head coach, Charles van Commenee, and his fellow selectors were embroiled in controversy yesterday after taking the unprecedented decision to overlook four athletes with multiple A-qualifying standards for the women’s 800 metres at the London Olympics and choose instead an athlete with only the lesser B-standard and a personal best more than a second slower than her selection rivals.The selection panel handed a solitary 800m place in the 77-strong team to Lynsey Sharp, daughter of former international sprinter Cameron Sharp, on the strength of her victory at last month’s Olympic trials in Birmingham and her silver medal at last week’s European Championships in Helsinki.But her selection meant there was no place in the 800m for Jenny Meadows, the 2009 world bronze medallist, nor Marilyn Okoro and Emma Jackson, the only women who have achieved the A-standard of 1 min 59.90sec this season. Jemma Simpson, who was second at the trials, also missed out.The decision was a major surprise because Sharp’s lifetime best is 2-00.52, set in the Helsinki final last Friday, which is well outside the A-standard of 1-59.50.Had Sharp not been chosen, the British selectors could have filled all three available 800m places. By selecting her, they effectively gave up the other two places.

The decision provoked an immediate backlash from Okoro, the fastest woman in Britain this season with a time of 1-59.33 but a poor fifth at the trials, who used her Twitter account to announce she was quitting the sport.

Okoro has also been selected for the women’s 4 x 400m relay and it remains to be seen whether she will carry out her threat and give up her Olympic place.

Van Commenee said the selection panel had wrestled with the issue of the women’s 800m for two hours on Monday and said it had been the most difficult decision they had to make.“We decided Lynsey Sharp is the one with the best current form,” said the Dutchman. “Not one of these athletes actually took control of their own destiny. That’s why it was very difficult.

“The athletes made it difficult by not doing what they’re supposed to. Once the selection panel has to spend two hours on selection, that’s already a bad sign. The panel is convinced that the athlete who’s selected has the best chance of performing at the Games.”

Sharp, 21, who has been juggling training with studying for a law degree at Edinburgh Napier University, said she burst into tears when selector John Nuttall phoned her yesterday to deliver the good news.

She said: “It was a huge decision for them to make and it means a lot to me that they have confidence in me and they did believe I could perform the best at the Games. It’s a huge vote of confidence.”

She added: “It was always going to be like this. There were five girls and a maximum of three places so there were always going to be people who were disappointed. That’s the nature of sport. Of course I feel for the other girls, but that’s what sport’s like.”

The selectors’ decision dealt a devastating blow to Meadows, Britain’s most successful two-lap runner since Dame Kelly Holmes, who ironically discovered yesterday that she stands to be elevated from the 2011 European indoor silver medal to the gold after it was announced that the woman who defeated her in Paris, Russia’s Yergena Zinurova, is to be stripped of her title for a doping offence.

Meadows, who has been in a race against the clock to recover from a torn Achilles tendon but failed to make it to the start-line in Helsinki, described the decision as “very surprising” but said she would not be lodging an appeal.“Lynsey must be so pleased and proud of herself, and I wouldn’t want to take that away from an athlete,” said Meadows. “If I appealed, I’d be taking it away from her and I wouldn’t appreciate that being done to me.”

Beyond the women’s 800m, the decision to pick only two male 200m runners for London drew a furious response from Richard Kilty, who was also overlooked for the 4 x 100m relay.

Kilty, who had required A-standards in the 200m, said he would be appealing against his omission, branding it an “absolute disgrace”.

Under the selection rules laid down by the International Association of Athletics Federations, an athlete with a B-qualifying standard can only be selected for the Olympics if no other A-standard athletes are entered in the same event.

The athletes selected for Team GB are:

Men

Adam Gemili - 100m and 4 x 100m (age: 18, born: London, lives: Dartford)
Dwain Chambers - 100m and 4 x 100m (age: 34, born: London, lives: London)
James Dasaolu - 100 and 4x100m (age: 24, born: Croydon, lives: Loughborough)
Christian Malcolm - 200m and 4x100m (age: 33, born: Cardiff, lives: Newport)
James Ellington - 200m and 4x100m (age: 26, born: Lewisham, lives: London
Martyn Rooney - 400m and 4x400m (age: 25, born: Croydon, lives: Loughborough)
Conrad Williams - 400m and 4x400m (age: 30, born: Kingston, Jamaica, lives: Hither Green)
Nigel Levine - 400m and 4x400m (age: 23, born: Bedford, lives: Bedford)
Andrew Osagie - 800m (age: 24, born: Harlow, lives: Twickenham)
Michael Rimmer - 800m (age: 26, born: Southport, lives: Manchester)
Ross Murray - 1500m (age: 22, born: Gateshead, lives: Twickenham
Andrew Baddeley - 1500m (age: 30, born: Merseyside lives: London)
Nick McCormick - 5,000m (age: 30, born: Newcastle, lives: Loughborough)
Mo Farah - 5,000m and 10,000m (age: 28, born: Somalia, lives: Portland, USA)
Chris Thompson - 10,000m (age: 31, born: Barrow-in-Furness, lives Oregon USA)
Stuart Stokes - 3,000m steeplechase (age: 35, born: Bolton, lives: Bolton)
Lawrence Clarke - 110m hurdles (age: 22, born: London, lives: Bath)
Andrew Pozzi - 110m hurdles (age: 19, born: Leamington Spa, lives: Bristol)
Andy Turner - 110m hurdles (age: 31, born: Nottingham, lives: Sutton)
Dai Greene - 400m hurdles and 4x400m (age: 26, born: Llanelli, lives: Trowbridge)
Jack Green - 400m hurdles and 4x400m (age: 20, born: Maidstone, lives: Bath)
Rhys Williams - 400m hurdles (age: 28, born: Cardiff, lives: London)
Robbie Grabarz - high jump (age: 24, born: Enfield, lives: Birmingham)
Steve Lewis - pole vault (age: 26, born: Stoke on Trent, lives:London)
Greg Rutherford - long jump (age: 24, born: Milton Keynes, lives: Milton Keynes)
Chris Tomlinson - long jump (age: 30, born: Middlesbrough, lives: London)
Philips Idowu - triple jump (age: 33, born: Hackney, lives: Birmingham)
Mervyn Luckwell - javelin (age: 27, born: Milton Keynes, lives: Loughborough)
Lawrence Okoye - discus (age: 20, born: Croydon, lives Croydon)
Brett Morse - discus (age: 23, born:Cardiff, lives: Penarth)
Abdul Buhari - discus (age: 30, born: Nigeria, lives: London)
Carl Myerscough - shot put (age: 32, born: Blackpool, lives: USA)
Alex Smith - hammer (age:24, born: Hull, lives Hull)
Daniel Awde - decathlon (age: 24, born: Essex, lives Essex)
Dominic King - 50k walk (age: 29. Born: Colchester. Lives: Colchester)
Danny Talbot - 4x100m (age 21, born: Sailisbury, lives: Trowbridge)
Simeon Williamson - 4x100m (age: 26, born: London, lives: Enfield)
Mark Lewis-Francis - 4x100m (age: 29, born: Birmingham, lives: London)
Richard Buck - 4x400m (age: 25, born: York, lives: Loughborough)
Luke Lennon-Ford - 4x400m (age: 23, born: Sutton Coldfield, lives: London)
Rob Tobin - 4x400m (age: 28, born: Lincoln, lives: Basingstoke)
Previously selected for marathon: Scott Overall - (age: 29, born: Hammersmith, lives: Sutton), Dave Webb - (age: 30, born: Leeds, lives: Leeds), Lee Merrien - (age: 34, born: Guernsey, lives: Guernsey)

Women

Abi Oyepitan - 100m and 200m (age: 32, born: London , lives: London)
Anyika Onuora - 100m and 200m (age: 27, born: Liverpool, lives: London)
Margaret Adeoye - 200m (age: 27, born: London, lives: London)
Christine Ohuruogu - 400m and 4x400m (age: 28, born: London, lives: London)
Shana Cox - 400m and 4x400m (age: 27, born: Brooklyn, USA, lives: London)
Lee McConnell - 400m and 4x400m (age: 33, born: Glasgow, lives: Glasgow)
Lynsey Sharp - 800m (age: 21, born: Edinburgh, lives: Edinburgh)
Laura Weightman - 1500m (age: 21, born: Alnwick, lives: Leeds)
Lisa Dobriskey - 1500m (age:28, born: Ashford, lives: Loughborough)
Hannah England - 1500m (age: 25, born: Oxford, lives: Birmingham)
Jo Pavey - 5,000m and 10,000m (age: 38, born: Exeter, lives: Exeter)
Julia Bleasdale - 5,000m and 10,000m (age: 30, born: Surry, lives: Surrey)
Barbara Parker- 5,000m and 3,000m steeplechase (age:29, born: King's Lynn, lives: California, USA)
Eilish McColgan- 3,000m steeplechase (age: 21, born: Dundee, lives: Carnousie )
Johanna Jackson - 20km walk (age: 27, born: Middlesbrough, lives: Leeds )
Tiffany Porter - 100m hurdles (age: 24, born: Michigan, USA, lives: London)
Perri Shakes-Drayton - 400m hurdles (age: 23, born: London, lives: London)
Eilidh Child - 400m hurdles (age: 25, born: Perth, lives: Kinross/Bath)
Holly Bleasdale - pole vault (age: 20, born: Preston, lives: Chorley)
Kate Dennison- pole vault (age: 28, born: Durban, SA, lives: Loughborough)
Shara Proctor- long jump (age: 23, born: Anguilla, lives: Atlanta, USA)
Yamile Aldama - triple jump (age: 39, born: Havana, Cuba,lives: London)
Sophie Hitchon - hammer (age: 20, born: Burnley, lives: Loughborough)
Goldie Sayers - javelin (age: 29, born: Newmarket, lives: London)
Jessica Ennis - heptathlon and 100m hurdles (age: 26, born: Sheffield, lives: Sheffield)
Katarina Johnson-Thompson - heptathlon (age: 18, born: Liverpool, lives: Liverpool)
Louise Hazel - heptathlon (age: 26, born: Southwark, lives: Birmingham)
Marilyn Okoro - 4x400m (age: 27, born: London, lives: London)
Nicola Sanders - 4x400m (age: 30, born: High Wycombe, lives: Bourne End)
Emily Diamond - 4x400m (age: 21, born: Bristol, lives: Bristol)
Previously selected for marathon: Paula Radcliffe (age: 38, born: Northwich, Cheshire, lives: Salisbury), Mara Yamauchi (age: 38, born: Oxford, lives: Teddington) Claire Hallissey (age: 29, born: Watford, lives: Virginia, USA)