Aussies object to Irish bobsleigh team

Speak Now · 09-02-2010 4:41pm #1

This would be some kick in the teeth for the girls.
Bit embarrassing though Hikcey bringing up Thierry Henry

:rolleyes:

http://www.rte.ie/sport/other/2010/0209/bobsleigh_ireland.html

Ireland's women's bobsleigh team could lose their place at the Winter Olympics in the courtroom after Australia submitted an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport insisting that they were the rightful recipients of a starting spot in Vancouver.
The Irish team, comprising of Claire Bergin, Aoife Hoey and Leona Byrne, are currently in Whistler training for the main event which is scheduled to take place on 23 & 24 February.
Hoey and Bergin captured the 20th and final spot in qualifying, outperforming their Australian counterparts in the process.

The Austrian team then withdrew from the Games and Ireland were bumped up to 19th in the rankings, with Japan offered the now vacant 20th spot as the top team in Asia.
This has caused consternation in the Australian Olympic movement as officials argue that they should be offered a similar path to Vancouver as the number one country in Oceania.
'I'm happy about the hearing,' said Fiona De Jong, director of sport for the Australian Olympic Committee.
'We were able to make our point, which I feel is pretty strong. There are five rings in the Olympic insignia and the continent of Oceania deserves to be there. These girls are the best in Oceania.'
Olympic Council of Ireland president Patrick Hickey is appalled that Ireland could yet be cast aside by CAS.
'It would be outrageous if those girls were stripped of their accreditation and sent back home to Ireland,' Olympic Council of Ireland president Patrick Hickey told Around the Rings, an Olympic publication, before the hearing.
'We're already suffering from the football (case) of Thierry Henry scoring a goal with his hand and eliminating us from the World Cup finals. And if something like this happened it would be catastrophe altogether.'
A decision is expected later today.

colin29 · 09-02-2010 5:24pm

The Australians have a pretty weak argument, just because one of the rings of Olympic symbol represents the continent of Oceania and they are the best Oceania has to offer Ireland should be bumped out to make room for them, they didn't qualify, they were too slow and they have no one to blame for not being there but themselves, Australians have an awful problem with poor sportsmanship.

robinph · 09-02-2010 7:06pm

Not a hope of them getting in from my reading of that. It's Japan that they should be fighting for the spot with as Ireland had actually qualified and Japan then got the free entry.

sineadgalway · 10-02-2010 12:17am

Aussies just got added as the 21st team

http://www.rte.ie/sport/2010/0209/bobsleigh.html

Speak Now · 10-02-2010 12:29am

sineadgalway wrote: »

Aussies just got added as the 21st team

http://www.rte.ie/sport/2010/0209/bobsleigh.html

Being an arrogant sporting nation gets you places.

If had been the paddy's we'd be laughed off like something out of cool runnings.

The Irish girls have a target now:D

Macha · 10-02-2010 10:36am

Jerry Seinfeld wrote: »

Being an arrogant sporting nation gets you places.

If had been the paddy's we'd be laughed off like something out of cool runnings.

The Irish girls have a target now:D

Don't worry the Irish women are far better than the Aussie team - that's why they made it through without the help of loopholes and the Aussie team didn't.

juke · 10-02-2010 11:04am

Heard on RTE this morning that a second objection has been lodged.

That in fact Ireland has been made the 21st team, and Australia the 19th, and this decision has yet to be ratified by the International Olympic Committee and some South American country is objecting to a 21st team in the competition.

The International Olympic Committee meets tonight, I think.

Speak Now · 10-02-2010 11:15am

juke wrote: »

Heard on RTE this morning that a second objection has been lodged.

That in fact Ireland has been made the 21st team, and Australia the 19th, and this decision has yet to be ratified by the International Olympic Committee and some South American country is objecting to a 21st team in the competition.

The International Olympic Committee meets tonight, I think.

Brazil now :rolleyes: :mad:

http://www.rte.ie/sport/2010/0210/bobsleigh_ireland.html

Ireland bob bid faces fresh challenge

Wednesday, 10 February 2010 08:58
Ireland's effort to compete in the women's bobsleigh team event at the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games has come under threat from a new adversary with the news that Brazil are to challenge the team's place at the Games.
The South Americans, who accrued more ranking points than Ireland, are furious that Aoife Hoey and Claire Bergin secured an Olympic berth despite their late entrance to the qualifying campaign.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport has already recommended that Ireland's two-man team should retain their place after a legal challenge from their Australian counterparts.

Australia were also permitted to compete on Tuesday after their successful appeal against the International Bobsleigh and Tobogganing Federation on the grounds that Oceania should have a mandatory representative under the rules of its qualification system.
An original list of 20 teams has been expanded to 21 and the sport's governing body is now under pressure to further expand the starting line-up of competitors.
After the Australia ruling a CAS statement read: 'The ad hoc Division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has upheld the application filed by the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) which claimed that the International Bobsleigh & Tobogganing Federation (FIBT) did not apply its qualification system for the Olympic Winter Games 2010 properly.
'The CAS Panel found that the clear wording of the qualification system implemented by the FIBT reflected the intention of representation by one men's bob team and one women's bob team from non-represented continents and could not be interpreted otherwise than as formulated.
'Accordingly, the application of the AOC was granted and the FIBT was ordered to allocate a continental representation quota place to the AOC for participation of the pilot Astrid Loch-Wilkinson in the 2- man Women's Bob Event in the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.
'Nevertheless, considering the situation of the Irish athletes, who expected legitimately to be entitled to participate in the Olympic Winter Games 2010 after their entry had been validated by the FIBT and the IOC, the CAS Panel has recommended to the IOC and VANOC the inclusion of a 21st team in the women's bobsleigh event which is scheduled for 23 February 2010.'

Fiona De Jong, the AOC's director of sport, was delighted by the decision.
'We are bloody stoked, obviously,' De Jong said. 'I had the opportunity to speak to the girls and they squealed for about two minutes and did a happy dance.'

Serbian · 10-02-2010 11:42am

This is hilarious. Ridiculous decision to add Australia in the first place, and how did the Olympic Committee not see a claim from South America coming? Next the Antartican bobsleigh team are going to come clamouring for a place in the Olympics.

robinph · 10-02-2010 12:14pm

RTE wrote:

The South Americans, who accrued more ranking points than Ireland, are furious that Aoife Hoey and Claire Bergin secured an Olympic berth despite their late entrance to the qualifying campaign.

So how come Brazil were not already qualified then?

From the various nuggets of information through the reports linked so far...

There were 20 places to compete.
Ireland are currently ranked 19th but were given the 20th place in the entry. (?)
Austria pull out.
Japan get the 20th place as everyone else shuffle up the list a bit.
Australia complain, but not about Japan who got a place based on their continent they complain about Ireland who actually qualified due to ranking.
Australia get the 21st place.
Brazil realise that there are no entries from their continent so have a go at using the same arguments as Australia.

If Brazil are ranked higher than Ireland why were they not already qualified or why did they not get the spot ahead of Japan when Austria pulled out?

opinion guy · 17-02-2010 5:00pm

This is all pretty rediculous. I'm starting to see why Fifa would not consider letting us into World Cup....

RichTea · 17-02-2010 11:49pm

http://www.universityobserver.ie/2010/02/16/fionn-mccool-runnings/

The Irish women’s bobsleigh team were last week cleared to enter the Winter Olympics despite an appeal lodged by the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) as well as a further challenge by Brazil. The two-women team, compromising of Claire Bergin and pilot Aoife Hoey, will now participate in an expanded event at the Whistler Sliding Centre.

The initial dispute centred on Ireland’s qualification as the twentieth entrant ahead of Australia. The AOC contended that as the only representative of Oceania at the Vancouver Games, under the guidelines of the FIBT (the sport’s international governing body) they were entitled to be part of the women’s bobsleigh event. This argument was deemed justified by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), who approved of a 21-team competition including both the Irish and Australian crews.

This was not to be the end of the legal wrangling. Following the success of the AOC’s appeal, Brazilian Ice Sports Federation launched a petition, believing that Ireland’s participation at the women’s bobsleigh was invalid owing to Ireland’s late replacement of France in qualification. In a decision released ahead of Friday’s opening ceremony the CAS rejected the plea of the Brazilians, allowing the event to commence as planned. The decision was praised by OCI Chief Executive Stephen Martin, adding that it had been a “difficult week, but now we can look forward to the Games commencing.”

For Hoey there was an added reason to be cheerful, as the Portarlington native was selected as the flag bearer for Friday’s spectacular opening ceremony. The 26-year old-was overjoyed with the honour. “It’s been a rough few days out here in Vancouver with all the legal action swirling around the bobsleigh team,” she said, “but this move has lifted our spirits in a big way.”

The opening ceremony of the Vancouver games itself was overshadowed by the tragic death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili. Despite the death of the 21-year-old, the ceremony carried on with the full participation of the Georgian contingent, who were greeted with an emotional standing ovation at the BC Place Stadium. The 2,500 athletes representing 82 nations at the Winter Olympics, as well as the thousands in attendance, united in a minute’s silence for Kumaritashvili.

The passing of the Georgian is the latest in a line of controversies surrounding the Vancouver Games. These incidents have included anti-globalisation demonstrations, arguments over practice times allotted to Canadian athletes, as well as the women’s bobsleigh quagmire.

The attention garnered is seen as a positive by Stephen Martin, a man who believes that all publicity is good publicity. “The profile of winter sports has certainly been to the fore over the last week or so”, he told the press at the CAS hearing, “and that has to be a good thing.” The Irish women’s crew is the first of its kind to participate at an Olympics. As the final team to qualify for the Games, Ireland may not be favoured to win medals, but the fact that they are in Vancouver at all is a fine achievement.

Aussies object to Irish bobsleigh team

Comments