Paris 2024 Olympic Marathon selection dramas, why Jessica Stenson gets the nod over Lisa Weightman

Selecting a marathon team is an unenviable task at the best of times — an issue that has reared its head in a big way for Australia's women's team ahead of the Paris Olympics .

Had Weightman been selected, she would have become the first Australian athletics competitor to compete in five Olympics. It will make Diver, from the Irish-speaking Gaeltacht region of west County Mayo, Australia's oldest ever athletics competitor at an Olympics, a record she already holds from Tokyo.

Those five marathons were five of the six fastest time she has ever run — it's hard to argue that the 45-year-old was anything other than in the best shape of her career. Weightman says she appealed the decision to the National Sports Tribunal , who returned the nomination decision to Athletics Australia.

"The depth in women's marathon in Australia is to be applauded and is unprecedented and in previous years, selection has been much more straightforward."As an Olympian, I have seen decades of Olympic teams selected and it is not unusual for there to be debate over decisions of a selection panel … an appeals process exists for this reason.

"Any allegations that Athletics Australia or Athletics Australia's selection panel has not acted with integrity is also defamatory, and simply not true."Athletes have trained for countless hours and dedicated their lives to this point, but with only three spots available, selectors rely on the selection criteria, which includes a combination of metrics and discretion, given that each marathon and the conditions in which they are raced are all different.

With countries limited to just three entries, that's a lot of runners who have the potential to feel hard done by — especially given some of the odd choices that have been made in the past.Much of the consternation surrounded the inclusion of former world record holder Brigid Kosgei, who takes her spot alongside defending champion Peres Jepchirchir and Hellen Obiri.

Olympic Games Olympics Selection Jessica Stenson Lisa Weightman Sinead Diver Genevieve Gregson Controversy

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