Following finalisation of the British Olympic swimming team on Sunday, an appeal against the non-selection of Molly Renshaw has been lodged after the 16 year old breaststroker was left out of the team, despite having swum the FINA A qualifying time at the Olympic Trials in March
There is no suggestion that British Swimming has not followed their written selection policy, nor is it an appeal against a subjective judgement as in the case of diver Tonia Couch and Paralympic swimmer Dave Roberts, with the criteria having been applied in a purely objective manner. The appeal is instead thought to hinge on an apparent anomaly that allows swimmers to be picked for individual swims despite having failed to record a FINA A time at either of the selection competitions. Meanwhile times from the March trials could be used to allocate vacant spaces to swimmers otherwise selected.
Renshaw’s camp have announced they are appealing against the position, arguing that British Swimming is being unreasonable in its selection policy, but have been keen to stress they do not object in any form to any of the selections that have been made. Apart from the apparent disparity in selection approach inherent in the policy, the appeal will also claim that Renshaw has been penalised by British Swimming instructing that her primary event for the summer would be the European Junior Championships, thus weakening her performance in Sheffield last week.
The deadline for finalising British entries to the games is the 7th July and hence appeal proceedings, if allowed, would need to be convened and completed before that date. It is understood a decision will be made within 24 hours.