Resignations follow qualification decision

SAILING: The Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) will next week call on the Irish Sailing Association (ISA) to account for its Athens 2004 team nomination procedures following yesterday's mass resignations from an ISA working group.

Ireland's triple Olympic veteran Mark Mansfield has also threatened to initiate legal proceedings against the national authority as a result of a complex series of events governing the Star keelboat class representation.

Former Royal Cork Yacht Club admiral Anthony O'Leary resigned as chairman of the ISA Olympic Group (ISAOG) on Wednesday afternoon in protest at the decision of the association's board of directors to abandon his group's recommendations. He strongly criticised the manner in which this was done following a review of the Star class selection criteria.

OCI president Pat Hickey told The Irish Times he was unhappy with the situation. "In all selection procedures, there must be a level playing field and rules of natural justice must apply," he said. "If we see that this has not occurred, we will certainly invoke our right to select who we want: the OCI is the ultimate selector."

The heart of the dispute lies with a fundamental issue: how to determine the best athlete (or crew) to represent Ireland when a particular discipline has more than one contender. For the last two Olympics, there has been considerable growth in the numbers of Irish sailors seeking nomination to the national team, and the need for formal selection procedures was agreed.

Following a close and exciting trials series between David Burrows and veteran John Driscoll in the Finn class four years ago, a similar best-of-three competition was widely favoured. However, the complexities appear to have started when it was also agreed that it might be unfair to a proven and high-performing sailor to force a trials series on the basis of any newcomer presenting for selection. Such a trials series, probably close to the final stages of preparation for an Olympiad, would be an unwelcome and possibly unfair distraction to a focused and well-primed athlete.

So a set of pre-qualification criteria were applied whereby the trials series would be triggered only if performance standards were achieved, thus allowing only true contenders for the single discipline nomination to enter trials. These criteria are generally based on the ISAF world ranking system, itself a complex formula of points earned for performances at graded events and where more competition equates to a higher ranking that does not necessarily indicate improving ability when compared to a less frequent competitor's rank. Clear enough? Good, it's about to get even better.

The Irish Star class had such a pre-qualification process agreed and which both crews and management had signed up to. However, it has recently emerged that ambiguous wording and conflicting documents created disagreement eight months into the process.

Moreover, a subsequent decision by the ISAF to allow only one boat per country to enter the pre-world championship regatta, itself a grade one event which a good result at would have a bearing on the rankings for one boat but not the other. A mini-qualification series for this single place was instituted and is under way. This makes a total of three layers of qualifications before the ISA could determine their nomination to the OCI for the Star class.

In an effort to clarify the confusion, the ISAOG met last week and discussed a resolution that was variously reported as either unanimously agreed or that consensus was reached. O'Leary's group reviewed all the documentation and reached the conclusion that "the original pre-selection criteria would apply, including the important addition of a top 16 result in the 2003 Worlds in Cadiz being sufficient to necessitate trials in the spring of 2004".

But the "addition" had been omitted from the relevant documents that the two teams had signed up to.

This finding from the ISAOG, which comprised former Olympians in addition to the full-time team management, was relayed to the ISA board for its meeting last Monday. It is understood that the board set aside the ISAOG decision and decided itself that no pre-qualification criteria would apply and that a trials series for the Star class will take place next spring. The decision was not referred to the ISAOG, although it is understood the full-time team management attended the board meeting.

Yesterday afternoon, at least four other members resigned from the ISAOG in support of O'Leary's position. The full-time management members were not among these.

Commenting on the development, Mansfield said: "This has resulted in the previously agreed pre-selection process, which every other Olympic class enjoys, now being denied to the Star Class. This is despite a number of events being completed which significantly affect this pre-selection arrangement. The goalposts have been moved. I believe I am now left with little other option but to legally challenge the validity of these changes."

Yesterday evening, ISA president John Crebbin explained the board's decision and regretted the resignations. "The systems were thought to have a potentially negative impact. Also, subsequent developments that allowed one boat into the pre-worlds event, a grade one competition, would also have been unfair. I hope to discuss these issues (with the ISAOG) and carry on with the existing set-up prior to the resignations."