Qualifying standards under fire – again

Last Updated: Wednesday, May 28, 2008 | 9:44 AM ET

Paul Gains CBC Sports

Tyler Christopher achieved an A+ standard in the 400 metres only after the qualifying period ended four years ago. (Thomas Kienzle/Associated Press)

It's an Olympic year and what would an Olympic year be without someone criticizing the qualifying standards?

Ever since governments started pouring money into the sport there have been disputes. The 1972 Canadian Olympic track and field trials were held in Toronto and a team of 47 athletes was announced during the post-event banquet. Within days the Canadian Olympic Association dropped 10 of them, though a handful were taken to the Munich Olympics as "observers."

There have been cases where athletes have taken the governing bodies to court over selection issues. Former Canadian 1,500m record holder Dave Reid went to the Ontario Supreme Court in 1996 seeking more time to achieve the 5,000m standard. The judge acknowledged he had a case because Canadian track authorities had added a high jumper to the team even though he'd made the standard a day past the deadline. A competition was hastily arranged but Reid missed the time.

The procedure is anything but straightforward. The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) comes up with a list of "B" standards, a minimum requirement for entry into the Olympics, and a more difficult "A" standard. These are based on results in past world championships and Olympic Games. They are designed to fill all spots in the qualifying rounds of each of the 47 track and field events.

Each nation is entitled to send three athletes per event but only if all three athletes have achieved the "A" standard by the qualifying deadline. The controversy is that Athletics Canada, the governing body of track and field in this country, has also imposed an "A+" standard which is, in some cases, superior to the IAAF "A" standards.

Tyler Christopher

Four years ago Tyler Christopher, who is one of Canada's leading medal hopefuls going to Beijing, achieved the A+ standard in the 400m but only after the qualifying period ended. Rather than fight the system Christopher accepted his fate.

"Tyler has never complained about standards so he didn't really have an issue with it," says his coach Kevin Tyler. "As a coach I would feel better going into Beijing with him if he had been through Athens, but these are the cards we have been dealt."

Last Sunday Giita Macharia and Tara Quinn-Smith were crowned 2008 Canadian marathon champions following their performances in the ING Ottawa marathon. Their times, 2:16:54 and 2:33:57 respectively, were faster than the Olympic "B" standards set by the IAAF but much slower than the times required by Athletics Canada.

The athletes themselves appear to have accepted the fact they will not be going to Beijing. In Macharia's case he likely realizes his 14th place finish in Ottawa against athletes who are, in most cases, not good enough to make their respective national Olympic teams, would not bode well in Beijing. Sending him to the Olympics would be like sending a 110m hurdler knowing full well that he will finish at least 10 metres behind the field in the opening round.

Both Macharia and Quinn-Smith, however, are now eligible to compete for Canada at the IAAF World Marathon Cup in Berlin in August 2009. And that, says Martin Goulet, chief high performance officer of Athletics Canada, is part of the athlete development plan.

Rising star program

Since 2004 Athletics Canada has implemented a program called the "Rising Star" program. This is to qualify young athletes who have made "B" standards and have shown promise. Kevin Tyler is a proponent of this program.

"If they had the rising star criteria in 2004, Tyler (Christopher) would have qualified," says coach Tyler, "so I think that has filled some of the gaps."

Goulet says he has received many emails from people asking that a Canadian marathoner be sent to the Olympics but points out that the philosophy of Athletics Canada and Sport Canada, the government arm which funds high performance track and field, is to ensure a competitive team. In any case, the IAAF standards in the marathon are inferior when compared to most of the other events, probably because the IAAF would like to see a large marathon field toe the line in Beijing.

"The [Canadian Olympic Committee] basically were giving some extremely tight guidelines to the national sports federations before Athens," Goulet explains. "This time they gave us full flexibility in what we believe we need to do in order to bring a competitive team. We could have decided to go with IAAF standards in all events. But, as you know too well, we are evaluated on our results, not only on medals but on our ability to bring people to the top 8, and top 12, and top 16 level in the world."

Four years ago Athletics Canada took 23 athletes to the Athens Olympics and returned without a single medal. That has had an impact on the amount of Sport Canada funding the organization has received over the past four years.

"But it's beyond medals. It's also the depth of our results which has an impact," Goulet continues. "Whether the group of athletes is 23 like we had in Athens or the 28, 32 I think we are going to have in Beijing, all these athletes are focused on results. If we have a group that is focused like that everybody is going to push everybody else. This is the philosophy of excellence that we want to see in our team. We are no different from swimming, canoeing and so on."

Goulet believes the Canadian team will achieve their target of two medals in Beijing. While that might sound like a small amount, it's worth remembering that there will be more than 200 nations competing for medals in athletics at the Olympics.