Teen fights for spot in games team
A QUEENSLAND teen’s Commonwealth Games dream hinges on an appeal by a three-time Olympian over his own non-selection.
Joseph Deng, a 19-year-old Toowoomba resident, is understood to have been selected as one of Australia’s three 800m entrants.
But three-time Olympian Jeff Riseley, 31, has appealed to Athletics Australia over his non-selection as the third, discretionary runner for the host nation in the 800m at the Gold Coast Games in April.
Deng, who was born in a refugee camp in Kenya after his mother left South Sudan to escape war, was six when his family moved to Australia, settling in Toowoomba.
Deng’s coach Justin Rinaldi said last night he could not “confirm or deny” that the runner had been selected for the games team.
His selection has divided the Australian athletics community because it was prompted by his time in a B-race at the trials at Carrara Stadium last Saturday.
The 19-year-old failed to make the eight-man final of the 800m, but his time of 1min 45.71 sec in winning the B-race final - which made him the fifth Australian man to lodge a Games A-standard qualifying time was faster than Luke Mathews’ winning time in taking out the A-final (1:45.90).
Riseley was third behind Mathews in 1:47.04 and Peter Bol, the fastest in Australia in the 13-month qualifying period, could manage only seventh in 1:47.94.
The two automatic selections for the 800m were winner Mathews and runner-up Joshua Ralph, with Deng’s advanced time as a teenager no doubt carrying great weight.
Athletics Australia and the Commonwealth Games Association refused to comment until the appeals process is over.