CLARKE DEMANDS ANOTHER CHANCE
Delayed Games should mean new qualifying, argues canoe champ
OLYMPIC champion Joe Clarke is leading calls for athletes to be given a second chance of selection for Tokyo, with the late postponement of the Games causing a headache for Team GB.
The Rio 2016 canoe slalom gold medallist controversially missed out on a spot at Tokyo 2020 to fellow Brit Bradley Forbes- Cryans after finishing one place behind him at last September’s World Championships.
But world No 2 Clarke says it would be ridiculous to stick with selections made almost two years before the rescheduled Olympics are held in July 2021 and insists the process should be reopened.
Last week the International Olympic Committee gave the green light for countries to make changes. They announced that although any qualifications achieved by individual athletes or quota places filled by nations would stand for 2021, all athletes would have to be selected again by their national body.
Team GB have so far officially selected 21 athletes — 15 sailors, five canoeists and climber Shauna Coxsey — but other British sports have also provisionally nominated their athletes for Tokyo.
Governing bodies are all now braced for challenges from those who were overlooked and
Sportsmail understands questions have been posed to British Triathlon, who chose their three female athletes before Christmas.
‘There are numerous people pushing for a reselection,’ said Clarke, 27,
‘I know this will be looked at with a fine-tooth comb by a lot of athletes in similar positions to me who just missed out.
‘When the Olympics got postponed, I re-read the British Canoeing policy and there is nothing in there about a cancellation or postponement, so it’s completely up to them what they decide.
‘For me, it’s a no-brainer. Our selection started with a race in April 2019 and that is two years and four months out from the main event.
‘It is all well and good selecting early for the Olympics, but two years and four months, that is ridiculous.
‘The Olympics is such a big thing and it creates huge revenue for our sport should we win medals. So, whatever happens, you want to send the best athlete at that moment in time.
‘I was beaten in September and that cost me the spot. But I had a shoulder injury that season and there is nothing to say that if you ran it again it would be the same guy.
‘ If it is the same guy, he deserves it and he has earned the spot again.’
British Canoeing used a points-based system to select their squad for Tokyo, with athletes counting their best two results from three races in 2019 — April’s British trials, June’s World Cup and September’s World Championships.
Clarke won the first two races but came fifth in the third, behind Forbes-Cryans, 25, who came fourth. That meant they finished with the exact same number of selection points overall but Forbes- Cryans earned the one spot in Britain’s kayak single (K1) boat because he scored the most points in the final race.
‘ I outperformed him all season, it was just that one race he pipped me in for that one spot and that was enough to make the difference,’ said Clarke, who had shoulder surgery in November.
He has recovered and believes selection should be decided in a three- day domestic event next spring. But he must now wait to see what is decided by his governing body and the British Olympic Association, who have so far appeared to rule out changing selections.