Looks like USAT subbing you out was the right call. Doper.
markfretta wrote:
Though I am indeed a big fan of Slowtwitch, I usually just read the forums and abstain from responding. In this instance, however, I think I must chime in regarding the San Diego men's Olympic Trials event. As you all know, the start list was released yesterday and only 4 American men, myself included, qualified under the existing ITU criteria. USA Triathlon has a substitution policy, however, which allows for one athlete who does not make the start list and has the highest "record" of non-qualifying athletes to sub in for an athlete who does make the start list and has both the lowest "record" of the American men on the start list and a lower "record" than the athlete subbing in. The "record" is made up of the sum of an athlete's 2 best point totals in the prior 12 months obtained in a World Championship Series race, a World Cup, or a Region Championships race (La Paz, January 2012, not Pan Am Games). In this instance, I am the American male with the lowest record on the start list and I was informed yesterday by USA Triathlon that Hunter Kemper will be subbed in for me. You need not ask me how I feel about spending the last 4 years of my life trying to qualify for this race, being one of only 4 men to do so for our country, and then being removed to place someone who has not qualified into the race. I think that goes without saying. Believe it or not, however, this is not the issue I take with this process. Okay, listen to this...
So all relevant athletes have been aware of this "record" and substitution business for quite some time. We have all spent thousands of our own dollars to travel to random races to cultivate and strengthen our records in anticipation of this process. Here's the funny thing though: your record only comes into play if you MAKE THE INITIAL START LIST! Why is this important? Well, Ethan Brown (who I might point out is an extremely talented athlete, an even better person, and my good friend) is essentially the #1 athlete in the world on the ITU wait list to get into San Diego. This means that in a matter of hours when a random person withdraws from the race (and this will happen) Ethan will roll onto the start list. Ethan has a lower record than I, but will not be a sub candidate as he was not on the original start list. Stated differently, an athlete who performed well enough to make the initial start list (me) can be subbed for while an athlete who rolls onto the start list hours later but did not perform well enough to make it into the race initially AND has a WORSE record than me (Ethan) is protected and does not have to worry about being subbed out. Had Ethan had 15 more ITU points (maybe he would have finished a spot or two higher in Mooloolaba or in a random South American points race) he would have been on the initial start list and would have been the athlete with the lowest record making him the substitution candidate, but, since his results were not quite good enough to get him onto the start list initially, HE IS PROTECTED and doesn't have to worry about being subbed for!!! In summary, a worse performance is being rewarded. I am being penalized for making the start list over my teammates/competitors. USAT should have the common sense to wait until 12 days out from the race when the FINAL FINAL start list is set and then make its substitutions given the athletes who are on the start list then when athletes have rolled in off the wait list. Still, they are not adopting this process (well, yet). Their reasoning? "We want to provide notice to the athlete who will be subbed." ????????????? Okay, so let me get this straight... you want to be fair to me by providing me with notice that I might be taken off the start list? The athletes who are about to roll on don't even have "notice" that they'll be in the race so how are they negatively affected if you tell them when they roll on that they will be subbed for? In the words of Hunter Kemper, the beneficiary of this whole process, this is "ridiculous." I have some other words to describe this process, but I'll keep it classy.
Stay tuned to see how this all plays out. I have worked hard to get to this place and I am not going to just give in to this fundamentally unfair and flawed process.