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Dani King loses Rio Olympics appeal dani king 2

Dani King loses Rio Olympics appeal

Olympic Champion says there's not much more she can do after failing in her appeal to support Armitstead in the Olympic road race...
by Laura Laker
Sun, Jul 10, 2016 14:24
6

Olympic Champion Dani King says her appeal for a place in the Great Britain road cycling team for the Rio Games has failed.

King, who won gold in the team pursuit at London 2012, previously claimed the selection process was unfair.

The 25-year-old told BBC London: "I have been told they felt they had gone with the selection criteria."

Mark Cavendish said to be set for Rio, but Dani King to miss out

Despite being the second-highest ranked British rider, she was not selected for Team GB, a decision she said she was heartbroken about.

Emma Pooley and Nikki Harris were chosen to support lead rider, Lizzie Armitstead, in the women’s road race on August 7 – although both riders are ranked below King, the BBC points out.

King made her appeal through a new route introduced by British Cycling following consultation with the British Olympic Association.

"I don't think there's much I can do any more, so I will just be on that reserve spot for Rio," she said.

King last night won the London stage of the Red Hook Criterium Championships for her Wiggle High5 team after lapping the field. She hopes to compete in the Road World Championships later this year.

Dani King
Rio Olympic road race
Laura Laker

Laura Laker is a freelance journalist with more than a decade’s experience covering cycling, walking and wheeling (and other means of transport). Beginning her career with road.cc, Laura has also written for national and specialist titles of all stripes. One part of the popular Streets Ahead podcast, she sometimes appears as a talking head on TV and radio, and in real life at conferences and festivals. She is also the author of Potholes and Pavements: a Bumpy Ride on Britain’s National Cycle Network.

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Chris James | 8 years ago
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'In this case, King didn't get picked due to a selection criteria'

It woudl be interesting to know what these selection criteria are, because Pooley stunk the gaff out at the nationals and struggled on every climb in the Women's Tour. Emma's been a great rider, but she seems way off the pace after her time doing duathlons.

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NeilG83 replied to Chris James | 8 years ago
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Chris James wrote:

It would be interesting to know what these selection criteria are, because Pooley stunk the gaff out at the nationals and struggled on every climb in the Women's Tour. Emma's been a great rider, but she seems way off the pace after her time doing duathlons.

Pooley's results in the Giro Rosa which finished yesterday were much improved. She was 11th on the stage that went over the Mortirolo and 13th in the time trial. I think the problem the GB selectors have is that from a small 3 rider team one of them has to ride the time trial and Pooley is probably the only GB woman that is capable of producing a good TT result and helping Armitstead on a hilly course. 

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balint.hamvas replied to NeilG83 | 8 years ago
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NeilG83 wrote:

Pooley's results in the Giro Rosa which finished yesterday were much improved. She was 11th on the stage that went over the Mortirolo and 13th in the time trial. I think the problem the GB selectors have is that from a small 3 rider team one of them has to ride the time trial and Pooley is probably the only GB woman that is capable of producing a good TT result and helping Armitstead on a hilly course. 

On the first hilly stage, she was over 10 mins behind the winner. On the Mortirolo stage, she was 2:30 ahead of the pink jersey group, by the finish, she was three and a half minutes behind that group. 

On Stage 6, the last, really hilly stage, she was 24 minutes down on Stevens. Don't tell me she's anywhere near to something that could be called 'good form'. 

I have nothing against her, don't get me wrong, I am just slightly baffled that she can sail to Rio on the winds of past performances.

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racingcondor | 8 years ago
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Riders are crying Foul because BC have cocked it up this year in a big way. We're sending no women to the BMX or Mountain Bike events even though we had the talent to do so. At best that suggests poor career planning which seems bizzare in an Olympic year.

I'd love to know what that selection criteria was (seriously, if it was W/kg > Dani then just say so and the doubters will have something to think about at least), Dani has consistently been the 2nd strongest female roadie the UK has for the last year (and more).

I understand the selection of Lizzies young, on form team mate but based on all the public (and there lies the problem) evidence Emma Pooley was a very risky choice and her performances in the Aviva Tour and Nationals weren't promising.

The good news is that Pooley put on a good show on the queen stage of the Giro Rosa so her climbing is coming on well, lets just hope her bunch skills and descending (her historic weakness) dont rule her out of the final laps in Rio. She's going to need more than climbing unless she's in a breakaway.

I'm a huge fan of Pooley, she has been a great rider, spokesperson and is still ripping it up in multi sport events. She's a hell of an athlete. I'll only be convinved that she was the right choice after the race though, she's either got to shut down a vital breakaway or be there until 1 lap to go doing the work. I genuinely hope she does as I'd love to think we now have enough talent to not send people as good as Dani.

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bobbinogs | 8 years ago
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Nah, the problem is that a lot of children are growing up in an era where everyone who turns up gets a badge and no one loses or fails to get what they want.  Hence, we now have to have 'selection criteria' to justify management decisions...whereas sometimes it is better just to back a selector's instinct to pick the rider based on experience and a number of other more subjective factors...but if they did choose like that there would be a long line of riders crying "Foul" and threatening legal action given the decision process was flawed.  PC madness but we get what we deserve.  In this case, King didn't get picked due to a selection criteria.  Such is modern life, time to move on and support those who did get picked.

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maviczap | 8 years ago
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Poor decision, and given Pooley's poor performance in the nationals, i think this will comeback and haunt BC, same for Steve Cummings omission. 

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