Dodds appeals Games omission from tri team
Kiwi triathlete Tony Dodds is appealing his omission from the New Zealand Commonwealth Games squad.
The New Zealand triathlon team to go to the Gold Coast in April was announced on Thursday and Dodds wasn’t named.
Dodds’ mother and manager Sandie spoke to Stuff about the appeal, but didn’t want to say anything that could interfere with the process.
‘‘Tony is highly disappointed in not being selected for the Commonwealth Games, in particular for the relay team,’’ she said.
‘‘We’re in an appeal process that Tony engaged at the beginning of the week when he was told he was not named.’’
She said while this is ongoing they want to make sure they get a fair and unbiased appeal through Triathlon New Zealand.
They were seeking legal advice for the appeal.
‘‘Devastated not to be in the Commonwealth games team that was presented today,’’ Dodds wrote on Twitter.
‘‘I was not intending to publicly announce this, but as Tri NZ has presented the team, I want to acknowledge that I am appealing to their decision and am continuing my training for Gold Coast 2018.’’
Triathlon New Zealand high performance director Mark Elliott said he couldn’t comment on the situation.
Triathlon New Zealand makes its recommendations to the New Zealand Olympic Committee, which then decide who goes to the games.
‘‘We have a selection process we follow,’’ Elliott said. ‘‘Obviously it’s communicated out to the athletes and coaches about a year ago normally, about 10 months ago.
‘‘Our role is to quantify and qualify the nominations to NZOC because it’s their team.’’
The 30-year-old Dodds finished
21st at the 2016 Rio Olympics. The Wanaka athlete finished 10th at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games and fifth in the team relay.
The 29-year-old Ryan Sissons, who has been to two Olympics, and
21-year-old Tayler Reid were the two New Zealand men named to go to the Commonwealth Games.
Andrea Hewitt, 35, Rebecca Spence, 29, and Nicole van der Kaay, 21, were the women.
The two21-year olds named in the team have got the talent according to the head honchos at Triathlon New Zealand.
Triathlon New Zealand high performance director Mark Elliott had faith in the two younger competitors.
"The key thing is what we’ve seen over the course of the year with each of the athletes is we’ve seen progression in that performance," Elliott said. "It’s fantastic to see Tayler become much more professional in what he does.
"He’s been much more consistent performance wise on the swim and the bike work. Obviously a very important part of why he’s in the team."
Elliott said they have been consistent over what was a long season and neither went off the boil.
Reid claimed his first elite podium with a third in Karlovy in the Czech Republic in September.
Van der Kaay finished fourth at Karlovy and sixth in the recent Tongyeong test event in South Korea.
Elliott said 35-year-old Hewitt, who has been to three Olympics and two Commonwealth Games, started out at a similar age.
The mental attitude of the young athletes was important, Elliott said and these two have handled the step up from junior competition to senior level.
It will be the second Commonwealth Games for Sissons, 29, who has also been to the past two Olympics, and along with Hewitt, it gives them two experienced heads in the team too.
"The key thing for them with these guys they have been doing it for a long time," Elliott said. "What we’ve seen this year has been a lot more consistent with their performances over the season. Actually the podiums have increased."
Hewitt won bronze at the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games and placed fourth in Glasgow four years ago. She has been in good form this year, winning two events on the the world tour in Abu Dhabi and the Gold Coast.
Sissons competed at London 2012, Glasgow 2014 and Rio 2016 with his best finish being a 13th in Glasgow. Sissons comes off a strong season in which he won in Madrid and placed third in Hamburg.