Speaker 1: Here at Two Good Sports, we would like to acknowledge
Speaker 1: the traditional owners of the land on which we record
Speaker 1: this podcast. The werengerie people. This land was never seated,
Speaker 1: always was always will be. Hello, Hello, bonjour, Dare I
Speaker 1: say welcome bien venue to two Good Sports Sports And
Speaker 1: he's told differently, I'm Georgie Turney.
Speaker 2: I would try my French, but I'd be really found
Speaker 2: out for my lack of attention in year nine.
Speaker 3: Hello George, how are you?
Speaker 1: I am so so good, And yes I've added a
Speaker 1: little bit of French flavor because we are going to
Speaker 1: be talking about the Olympic Games.
Speaker 2: It's really in contrast to the fact that you're wearing
Speaker 2: a Morons guernsey.
Speaker 3: You're a woman of many interests.
Speaker 1: Jeremy, thank you so much for pointing out my incredible
Speaker 1: fashion choice today. It does lead into my good sport
Speaker 1: bad sport for today. And I'm just going to clear
Speaker 1: the desk for a moment and just step at top
Speaker 1: the platform that I've built for myself, because soapbox is already,
Speaker 1: clapbox is ready, because I am ready to give a
Speaker 1: fair whack to men that I considered giants when I
Speaker 1: was growing up watching my favorite game being rugby League.
Speaker 4: The State of Origin has happened.
Speaker 1: Game one, Queensland the victors, but a lot of the commentators,
Speaker 1: a lot of former players, a lot of the coaching
Speaker 1: staff that we saw.
Speaker 4: I really have a very, very very big issue with them.
Speaker 1: In the opening eight minutes of the State of Origin game,
Speaker 1: Reese Walsh, who yes, I hold my hands up, he's
Speaker 1: one of my favorites. I know, he was absolutely pole axed,
Speaker 1: pole axed in the opening minutes by Joseph sula Ee
Speaker 1: And can I just say that this is not the
Speaker 1: advertisement that you want for rugby League. Joseph sually E
Speaker 1: was sent off and then I tell you what these
Speaker 1: giants are the game that I have looked up to,
Speaker 1: bent over backwards.
Speaker 4: To try and be like not to send off a bulletins.
Speaker 1: Reese Walsh was unconscious on the ground after getting a
Speaker 1: shoulder to the face, and they were trying to be like,
Speaker 1: I mean, it's Origin. Maybe in Clubland that's a sendoff,
Speaker 1: but in Origin, please it's twenty twenty four.
Speaker 4: Grow up, get over it. It's a sendoff.
Speaker 3: I send off.
Speaker 2: Begin to tell you how darring it is as someone who,
Speaker 2: let's be honest, watches Rugby League only for origin, which
Speaker 2: is a lot of the AFL sort of audience, of
Speaker 2: which concussion is a massive topic in the AFL. At
Speaker 2: the moment you watch again inside the opening ten minutes,
Speaker 2: and the reaction online is like, if he did that
Speaker 2: in AFL, he'd get fifty to life.
Speaker 3: Yes you, oh, who's the best? We love him.
Speaker 1: Yes, he has the actual accurate analysis that was necessary
Speaker 1: for this game. Rugby League pundits, hang your heads in shame.
Speaker 1: This is all that.
Speaker 5: You need, um, just watching the other code here, and
Speaker 5: these guys wouldn't last a second in the AFL because
Speaker 5: that action there, that would get your forty weeks in
Speaker 5: bridge and that is not on. These guys are off
Speaker 5: their heads, just a diving headshot. They wouldn't last around.
Speaker 5: They're not well over there.
Speaker 2: This is cooked it and it was really difficult to
Speaker 2: watch and gratefully Reese Walsh got up.
Speaker 4: Reese was fine.
Speaker 1: Reese was fine, but it was deemed a Category one
Speaker 1: head injury because he was unconscious on the ground for
Speaker 1: some time before all the trainers got out to him.
Speaker 1: He eventually passed his HIA, which is insane as well.
Speaker 4: I'm like, what SOROWD.
Speaker 3: Does that work.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So technically he would have been allowed back onto
Speaker 1: the field, but because it was deemed a.
Speaker 4: Category one head injury, he couldn't go back.
Speaker 3: They would have taken to the hospital.
Speaker 1: For just to be sure, ambulance, air ambulance would be called.
Speaker 1: And look, I really like Joseph Suwali. I think he
Speaker 1: is an outstanding young talent. But you cannot you cannot
Speaker 1: do that. And in the scope of everything that's happening
Speaker 1: right now, when it comes to discussions about concussion in
Speaker 1: every single code on this planet, to go in not
Speaker 1: trying to make a tackle with your shoulder to the head,
Speaker 1: it is a straight up send off. And he's also
Speaker 1: likely going to be suspended for four matches as well.
Speaker 1: So every single person that was like, oh, it's a
Speaker 1: very big cal in the origin, this is crazy.
Speaker 4: Get out, get out. The game doesn't want you.
Speaker 3: Get out.
Speaker 2: My favorite thing is Billy Slater in the postmatch, of course,
Speaker 2: is the Morons coach being like, I'm just going to
Speaker 2: keep my thoughts to myself, which.
Speaker 3: Is really giving.
Speaker 2: I'm fine fine, and you're like, oh you're not fine, baby,
Speaker 2: You're sure you're not fine.
Speaker 3: He's like well what did you think? Yes, which it
Speaker 3: just was the ultimate.
Speaker 2: He'd never really said anything, but I was like, oh
Speaker 2: he fuming would would be understandable because he is he's
Speaker 2: a game winner, which he didn't need him Moron's one anyway.
Speaker 1: Look, I mean is it was always going to be
Speaker 1: tough for New South Wales to come back with only
Speaker 1: twelve men on the field for seventy minutes, and I've
Speaker 1: got to say they were brave. But it's just one
Speaker 1: of those things that Yes, of course, the word I
Speaker 1: kept hearing was unfortunate, so unfortunate that this has happened
Speaker 1: to the spectacle of the game.
Speaker 4: So unfortunate, this is the thing. Ah, yeah, it is.
Speaker 1: It's unfortunate that Reyes Walsh was boll axed in the
Speaker 1: first seven.
Speaker 4: Minutes by an illegal tackle.
Speaker 3: Like h So there's a bad sport.
Speaker 2: I'm going to come in with a good sport and
Speaker 2: changing goes to talk about something positive, but I am
Speaker 2: going to give the good sports surprising no one to
Speaker 2: nil Danaher and the Danaher family and everything that they
Speaker 2: do for the Big Freeze. I think sometimes in sport
Speaker 2: we talk about concussions, we talk about you know, sometimes
Speaker 2: the things that make headlines are super negative and you
Speaker 2: can forget just how unifying being part of the sports
Speaker 2: community is. Yes, and the Big Freeze is really special.
Speaker 2: And the fact that you are going to look out
Speaker 2: over the mcg and just see a sea of blue
Speaker 2: the beanies they're so warm, they're so warm this they're
Speaker 2: almost too warm, which is a weird thing to say
Speaker 2: because it's acting at the moment in Melbourne, but they've
Speaker 2: just done and there's kids ones now.
Speaker 3: But it's more for someone in the face of the beast.
Speaker 2: That is what Neil calls m and D to turn
Speaker 2: it into what it's become, the tenth Big Freeze, and
Speaker 2: it just is something that makes me immensely proud to
Speaker 2: be part of the AFL community in any way.
Speaker 3: Does it feel like longer than a year since I
Speaker 3: last did it? Sure? Was it actually that cold? No? No,
Speaker 3: surprisingly not that cold.
Speaker 1: Because so for anyone that doesn't follow along the Big
Speaker 1: Freeze game, there's a moment it's halftime, right, No pregame, Oh, pregame, pregame,
Speaker 1: it's pregame where notable faces from around the country don
Speaker 1: their best attire and are sent down a freezing cold,
Speaker 1: slippery dip into an ice, ice, ice cold bath.
Speaker 4: You're saying, not that cold?
Speaker 3: Yeah? I mean did I go in basically head to
Speaker 3: toe leather? You did?
Speaker 4: You were dressed as Maleficent so.
Speaker 3: That it was all like water repellent.
Speaker 2: Sure was my head piece essentially at swim Cat so
Speaker 2: my hair didn't get wet. Probably yes, but no, in
Speaker 2: all seriousness, just a really special weekend and hopefully hopefully
Speaker 2: we are steps closer to a cure. And again a
Speaker 2: big shout out to beck down her My god, no
Speaker 2: one works.
Speaker 4: Other no one does.
Speaker 1: She's and she's such a It's such a wonderful family
Speaker 1: and all that they.
Speaker 3: Do, four brothers.
Speaker 1: It's it's incredible what they are doing, because I do
Speaker 1: think that every single year, the awareness that is raised,
Speaker 1: just purely awareness is incredible. There are so many people
Speaker 1: now around Australia who would know what MND stands for disease,
Speaker 1: and they may not have before this moment. So yes,
Speaker 1: hats off, hats off to them.
Speaker 2: That might be our strongest bad sport emotionally and our
Speaker 2: strongest good sport.
Speaker 4: I've deflated the so kay, I've deflated it.
Speaker 3: Well.
Speaker 2: I think there are some people in athletics that would
Speaker 2: like to get back onto it, because our deep dive
Speaker 2: this week is something that while it might have been
Speaker 2: part of selection criteria for years in years gone by,
Speaker 2: it has come to such an ugly head in the
Speaker 2: women's marathon. And we are mere months out from the
Speaker 2: Paris Games, and this is when we see the good
Speaker 2: stories ramp up, particularly in track and field. Yes, because
Speaker 2: they get one shot, one opportunity every four years to
Speaker 2: make their impact.
Speaker 4: But we need to know the faces that we're going
Speaker 4: to support.
Speaker 2: Unfortunately, even though we have such a strong cohold of
Speaker 2: women's marathons runners, they're making headlines for not necessarily all
Speaker 2: the right reasons. And we're going to take you through
Speaker 2: the deep dive and blow your mind. It's not just
Speaker 2: the fastest runners that get to go to the.
Speaker 1: Games, Jeremy. The Olympic Games fast approaching. They are a
Speaker 1: blink away.
Speaker 3: They really are.
Speaker 1: And if I was a magical runner who could run
Speaker 1: very very fast do incredible things, and I somehow had
Speaker 1: run the third fastest time for my particular event and
Speaker 1: that was all we needed. The third fastest time gets
Speaker 1: you qualification through to the Games, I would think I'm
Speaker 1: on my way. I am the top three runners in
Speaker 1: this country. I've packed the bags, I have been looking
Speaker 1: up all the places that I'm going to eat, all
Speaker 1: of the pastries.
Speaker 4: I am ready to go.
Speaker 1: But you, jellmy are telling me that my dreams in
Speaker 1: this magical world would be dashed.
Speaker 3: There's a word called discretion that is used for Olympic qualification.
Speaker 2: And particularly over the last couple of weeks in the
Speaker 2: women's marathon, there have been headlines across the country about
Speaker 2: the fact that it's not necessarily our three fastest runners,
Speaker 2: or in this case it isn't that have been given
Speaker 2: their ticket to Paris, and chaos and lawsuits and lawyers
Speaker 2: have ensued, and understandably enough, but we want to start because,
Speaker 2: as you said, they're magical. The pace at which they
Speaker 2: can run a marathon is so impressive, and there's incredible
Speaker 2: stories for the three women who have qualified, and we
Speaker 2: want to start by celebrate them.
Speaker 4: I think that.
Speaker 1: What's key to note here, deal listener, is that there
Speaker 1: is an argument that in this country marathon running has
Speaker 1: never been at its strongest.
Speaker 3: Especially in the women's competition.
Speaker 1: We have such a deep pool, so much so that
Speaker 1: six women have run underneath the qualification time that was
Speaker 1: necessary to get to a games. However, we've only got
Speaker 1: three spots.
Speaker 2: Six doesn't go into three comfortably, and so there was
Speaker 2: all this anticipation about who was going to get selected.
Speaker 2: And some of these women are already household names, particularly
Speaker 2: in track and field. So let me introduce you to
Speaker 2: the three women who were selected. Shane Diver. Now, Georgie,
Speaker 2: you said in a magical land where you would be
Speaker 2: a runner, Well, Shane Diver started running at thirty three
Speaker 2: years old. I'm thirty three in one of the greatest stories.
Speaker 2: So essentially, her sister invited her to the Tan to
Speaker 2: do a fun run and she was like, you know what,
Speaker 2: I've just had a baby.
Speaker 3: I'll get into fitness. She did her first lap of
Speaker 3: the Tan in twelve minutes.
Speaker 2: Okay, not bad for someone who's never trained.
Speaker 3: Just to give you an idea, it was it. And
Speaker 3: then she did her next lab and she's like, oh,
Speaker 3: I shaved forty seconds off. That not bad.
Speaker 2: So she decided to join a rum club. Again, we're
Speaker 2: talking in her thirties and has had a baby and
Speaker 2: everything else, and in that time a coach has gone.
Speaker 3: G you're fast, You've got some skill sets here. Things
Speaker 3: that would never happen to me, even magical land flash forward.
Speaker 3: She is the Australian women's record holder in the marathon.
Speaker 2: She was selected for Tokyo at forty four years old,
Speaker 2: and before I harp on about her age and qualification,
Speaker 2: about the fact that she will be forty seven in Paris,
Speaker 2: this is a direct quote. I find it extremely frustrating
Speaker 2: that a lot of media attention is mainly focused on
Speaker 2: my age. Do you know who didn't listen Channel seven
Speaker 2: when they were like the year she was born? This
Speaker 2: was number one, because it just blows our mind that
Speaker 2: you can find, especially track and field form so like.
Speaker 3: But she is an incredible story. She has two children.
Speaker 2: She is our fastest ever run in the marathon, and
Speaker 2: during the qualification time ran the fastest time.
Speaker 1: Yes, so in that qualification period, So to qualify for
Speaker 1: the marathon, you have from I think it was like
Speaker 1: the end of twenty twenty two till early twenty twenty
Speaker 1: four to post a time that fits underneath the two
Speaker 1: hours twenty six minute mark, let's say, And she was
Speaker 1: able to do that at the end of twenty twenty two.
Speaker 4: So she is on the plane and she had the
Speaker 4: fastest time, so she's off.
Speaker 2: The second fastest time was Genevieve Gregson, a name that
Speaker 2: is synonymous with sport because she is going to her
Speaker 2: fourth consecutive Olympics.
Speaker 1: Yes, and if you don't know Gregson, you may know
Speaker 1: her as Genevieve Lacarz.
Speaker 2: That was her maiden name, absolutely, and the Gregson name
Speaker 2: is because her partner made the final.
Speaker 3: Her partner Ryan made the final in the fifteen hundred
Speaker 3: meters in Rio. So just like a very athletic family, she.
Speaker 2: Used to compete and is the Australian record holder in
Speaker 2: the steeple chase.
Speaker 1: Yes, which is where I have to say I remember
Speaker 1: her most four and I would say a lot of
Speaker 1: our listeners would remember her because there was those really
Speaker 1: heartbreaking scenes in Tokyo where she's running the steeple chase,
Speaker 1: the final steeple I think it was the final one,
Speaker 1: and she ruptured her achilles tendon on that final final jump,
Speaker 1: landing on the track and just screaming. And he just
Speaker 1: saw her there on the ground and I was like,
Speaker 1: that is on the world stage to do that significant
Speaker 1: injury in the biggest moment of your life.
Speaker 4: Oh, it took my breath away.
Speaker 2: Watching the steeple chase hurts my achilles, like the actual
Speaker 2: event itself is wild. And I had the privilege of
Speaker 2: chatting to Genevieve recently and I said, how did he
Speaker 2: get into that? She's like, I trained in America and
Speaker 2: I'm like, well that probably okay, and She's like no
Speaker 2: one else wanted to do it.
Speaker 3: And I was like, oh, well, I'll have a crack.
Speaker 3: But in that moment, she.
Speaker 2: Thought my career might be over. Yes, my achilles is
Speaker 2: giving way. Everything about this sport just isn't agreeing with
Speaker 2: my body. Yeah, and steple chase is typically three thousand minutes.
Speaker 2: And remember that Tokyo was actually in twenty twenty one, yeah,
Speaker 2: not twenty two, so she hasn't had a four year
Speaker 2: Olympic cycle to prepare for Paris. Took that time off
Speaker 2: to have her first child and to rehab. Has then
Speaker 2: thought I'll give the marathon a go.
Speaker 4: Oh my god.
Speaker 2: Turns out she's good, and by good, I mean very
Speaker 2: goddamn good. In that time of adopting a new sport
Speaker 2: that goes for forty two kilometers, she's run the third
Speaker 2: fastest ever Australian marathon.
Speaker 1: Visual thirty nine k's more than she was usually doing.
Speaker 2: Is just such an inspiration and again is going to
Speaker 2: her fourth Olympics, but has decided to pick up a
Speaker 2: different and very very competitive discipline. Phenomenal, really really incredible story.
Speaker 2: And then we get to our third qualifier.
Speaker 1: As we can only have three, remember because we can
Speaker 1: only harly have three.
Speaker 2: Jess Stenson, who may ring a bell for the fact
Speaker 2: that she won gold in Birmingham in the marathon.
Speaker 4: So she Commonwealth Games.
Speaker 2: She's a proven performer in the green and gold on
Speaker 2: the big stage. She's heading to her second Olympics because
Speaker 2: she missed out on Tokyo. Yes, because she had a
Speaker 2: bone injury that came about after she had her first child,
Speaker 2: which they're so incredible, I know, well more incredibly her
Speaker 2: second child was born in September of last year. No yeah,
Speaker 2: and since giving birth has then ran the time that
Speaker 2: has qualified her in this top six that's.
Speaker 3: Like six months. It's actually insane. She ran the time
Speaker 3: when a baby was six months old.
Speaker 2: Again, I can't begin to tell you how much as
Speaker 2: a mum this blows, or as anyone that blows your mind.
Speaker 2: Of the top six women that made this qualifying time,
Speaker 2: five of them have had children.
Speaker 1: I just can't. I just don't understand. But Jeremy I
Speaker 1: would assume. So if we've gone Shane Diver, she has
Speaker 1: the fastest time right she's on the plane. Genevieve Gregson
Speaker 1: second fastest time she's on the plane, Jessica Stenson third
Speaker 1: fastest time she's on the butt.
Speaker 3: She was the fifth fastest qualified during the period.
Speaker 2: And this is where the drama ensues because Lisa Weightman
Speaker 2: is one of Australia's best ever marathon runners. If selected,
Speaker 2: she would be going to her fifth Games in track
Speaker 2: and field, and during this period she did run the
Speaker 2: third fastest time. So but she is not on the
Speaker 2: plane to patters, she didn't receive the phone call. Yes,
Speaker 2: and understandably so she and her camp are devastated.
Speaker 1: So this is a decision that is made by Athletics Australia. Yes,
Speaker 1: when they are choosing their squad, they have to make
Speaker 1: these tough decisions about who gets to represent them and
Speaker 1: our country on the world's biggest stage.
Speaker 2: I must admit I was ignorant to the selection process
Speaker 2: that happens in athletics. I made the massive assumption that
Speaker 2: it's the top three times and away you go. There
Speaker 2: is a word called discretion yes in their selection guidelines,
Speaker 2: which is what this all hinges on. And Athletics Australia
Speaker 2: have come back to the point where they're saying we're
Speaker 2: using our discretion and where selecting Jess to go to
Speaker 2: the Games.
Speaker 1: Yes, and I would assume and I think one of
Speaker 1: the reasons that they have given themselves is that is
Speaker 1: her history with being able to perform at big events, right,
Speaker 1: like she has that gold medal experience.
Speaker 2: And also what we know about Paris is it's going
Speaker 2: to be very hot, yes, and treacherous conditions.
Speaker 1: And this is why the marathon and the selection process
Speaker 1: for this event and other events. But it can come
Speaker 1: down to discretion because it is really difficult to try
Speaker 1: and synchronize synchronize a selection process, right you can only
Speaker 1: run a few marathons at your top speed through the
Speaker 1: course of a year. The courses come into play because
Speaker 1: a lot of courses are a lot flatter than others.
Speaker 4: Others are hillier.
Speaker 1: So depending on where you choose to run, that will
Speaker 1: obviously affect your time. So among these six runners, a
Speaker 1: lot of their times were posted at different places and
Speaker 1: throughout different periods throughout the two years.
Speaker 2: Their training blocks are about thirteenek right, so you're roughly
Speaker 2: looking at three months there lead up to each marathon,
Speaker 2: so they probably have two, maybe three elite marathons in
Speaker 2: them annually. So they target these particular races where they
Speaker 2: know they're more likely to run a better time in
Speaker 2: order to qualify. And also it's noted for marathon runners
Speaker 2: where the prize money.
Speaker 4: Is So for me though, I feel that this term discretion.
Speaker 1: It makes sense for a lot of sports and a
Speaker 1: lot of sporting bodies to anything with the team like this. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so why is this case different from so many others?
Speaker 2: So Lisa Weightman on the fifteenth of May made an
Speaker 2: appeal to the National Sports Tribunal and her argument was
Speaker 2: that the nomination criteria was not properly applied and there
Speaker 2: was no material in which Athletic Australia's decision could be
Speaker 2: reasonably based. The NST found in favor of Lisa Weightman,
Speaker 2: so they went away did their due diligence. In this time,
Speaker 2: Lisa's got a manager and this is all getting very
Speaker 2: muddy and very uncomfortable behind the scenes, in the fact
Speaker 2: that AA hasn't announced that these three women have got
Speaker 2: the ticket to Paris. While this process is going on,
Speaker 2: AA say cool, we're sticking with our mark. The National
Speaker 2: Sports Trust then present their findings to AA and say, look,
Speaker 2: we think that you should have an independent committee to
Speaker 2: assess this because in our findings, you know, there's an
Speaker 2: unfair bias here. That's their recommendation, and Athletics Australia have
Speaker 2: gone yeah nah, so we hear you no. And then
Speaker 2: in this time, we are already in the Olympic training
Speaker 2: block for the marathon.
Speaker 4: This is even happening last night.
Speaker 3: We are less than thirteen weeks out.
Speaker 2: So these women are training like they're going to Paris,
Speaker 2: believing that they may be going to Paris, waiting for
Speaker 2: the ticket. And the other thing is all of this
Speaker 2: takes a lot of money. It's lawyers, it's engagement, and
Speaker 2: we just want to highlight no one's winning here. No
Speaker 2: poor Jess Stinson and the pressure on you receive the
Speaker 2: call to say that you're going to an Olympics, you
Speaker 2: go into Paris and perhaps you weren't expecting it, And
Speaker 2: what a dream. I've just had a kid. This is
Speaker 2: just my Cinderella moment and someone who I'm close to
Speaker 2: because the athletics fraternity and especially marathon runners.
Speaker 3: They travel around the world together.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's very very tight knit. These people are teammates. Yes,
Speaker 1: that's an individual sport, but they are teammates, they're friends,
Speaker 1: they've known each other for decades.
Speaker 2: So on Wednesday, the twenty ninth of May, five minutes
Speaker 2: before the appeal deadline, Lisa informs Athletics Australia that she
Speaker 2: was going to make a final appeal to the Court
Speaker 2: of Arbitration of Sport in Switzerland.
Speaker 4: So she's taken it to the next level.
Speaker 2: Several hours later, she pulls it back and basically says,
Speaker 2: you know what, I'm dropping this.
Speaker 3: I'm done here and my understanding is it came down
Speaker 3: to cost.
Speaker 1: Well her official statement after she decided to drop that appeal.
Speaker 1: What I am most disappointed about is Athletics Australia's own
Speaker 1: internal systems and procedures that have allowed this outcome and which,
Speaker 1: unless corrected, will negatively impact future Australian athletes and the
Speaker 1: legitimate claims to represent Australia.
Speaker 2: And big names within athletics, someone like Sally Pearson who
Speaker 2: has then gone on to have a career in media
Speaker 2: after being an olympian herself wrote an article that went
Speaker 2: gamebusters that started with the line I'm shocked, Lisa Weightman
Speaker 2: is heartbroken and Athletics Australia is in crisis. She goes
Speaker 2: on to say, I'm disappointed with the national selection panel,
Speaker 2: but I'm more shocked at the integrity of Athletics Australia
Speaker 2: and how this has become a total fast So on
Speaker 2: the eve of an Olympics, Athletics Australia are getting whacked. Yes,
Speaker 2: and people like you and I are shocked, going, what
Speaker 2: do you mean? What do you mean in a time
Speaker 2: based event.
Speaker 4: It's not the fastest who goes, It's not.
Speaker 3: The fastest, like this is brand new information.
Speaker 1: I also think though, that it is case in point
Speaker 1: once again of just the reactive power of social media
Speaker 1: one hundred percent, because this is where it started to
Speaker 1: get really nasty. People started to see these articles from
Speaker 1: Sally Pearson. They started to see the headlines bombshell Athletics Australia,
Speaker 1: and they then were like, oh, hang on a second,
Speaker 1: what is this. This must be an absolute outrage. What
Speaker 1: should I be doing? Muddying this further is of course,
Speaker 1: at its heart, these are people, the human side the.
Speaker 4: Emotions of this.
Speaker 1: I mean, there's so much you say it ecstasy, you know,
Speaker 1: the Cinderella story, but then there's absolute heartbreak because what
Speaker 1: you thought was going to be your dream coming to
Speaker 1: life is not the case anymore. And we saw that
Speaker 1: with Lisa Weightman's husband, Lachlan MacArthur weighing in on social media,
Speaker 1: a move that he may now himself have like say.
Speaker 3: That he regrets.
Speaker 2: He deleted Twitter after making these comments, and you can
Speaker 2: understand that emotions were very heightened, but he tweeted or xed.
Speaker 2: It still feels weird to say that, but sure xd
Speaker 2: Jess Trengo, which is Jess's maiden name, could you please
Speaker 2: take down your background photo of my family? By the way,
Speaker 2: this was after one of the seven to one all
Speaker 2: time head to head wins by Lisa Weightman.
Speaker 1: So this is after Jess Stenson is selected as that
Speaker 1: in that third spot.
Speaker 3: But it was yet to be announced by Athletics, yet.
Speaker 4: To be announced, but the actual.
Speaker 3: Run selection process had happened.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they were aware, right, Yes, so the official announcement
Speaker 1: hasn't happened, but all the main players know what's going on, yes,
Speaker 1: And so Lisa Weightman's husband has gone to Jess's personal account,
Speaker 1: seen a display picture of them all celebrating looking like
Speaker 1: happy family, and publicly tweeted and publicly tweeted take that down.
Speaker 4: There's a heartbroken family here.
Speaker 2: And we do live in a media landscape where it's
Speaker 2: that sort of fodder that gives this stuff massive five.
Speaker 4: All the screenshots that came all of.
Speaker 2: A sudden, it goes there is disdain, there's hate, there's
Speaker 2: drama behind the scenes.
Speaker 4: Do you think that that was inflated because it was women?
Speaker 1: I know that a man has necessarily like taken this
Speaker 1: first blown it up, But do you think that part
Speaker 1: of the drama that everyone then attached themselves onto when
Speaker 1: it came to this story was because it was women,
Speaker 1: female athletes.
Speaker 2: I actually had this conversation with Genevieve Gregson, who again
Speaker 2: I had an event with her in the lead up
Speaker 2: to this being made in a public announcement, and she
Speaker 2: was understandably very Pg. Thirteen in her description of all
Speaker 2: else she used to play the game.
Speaker 4: Still she did discretionary.
Speaker 2: Remember she at the time didn't tell me who the
Speaker 2: parties were, just said, look, there is a pretty ugly
Speaker 2: dispute happening behind the scenes, no one wants to see it,
Speaker 2: and you know, I just feel for my community at
Speaker 2: the moment. And I actually said to her the only
Speaker 2: thing that I can compare it to in my life
Speaker 2: is that I always feel like I'm pitted against other
Speaker 2: women in media. And genuinely, I've been in meetings with
Speaker 2: bosses that have said to me, you weren't the person,
Speaker 2: but I can only give the job to you or
Speaker 2: Georgie who's better of which I in my early twenties
Speaker 2: had to have the grace to go that's your job,
Speaker 2: not mine.
Speaker 3: I think she's one fool, and you can make your
Speaker 3: own choice.
Speaker 2: But there is this idea, particularly with women, yes, that
Speaker 2: yours has to be competition within the competition.
Speaker 4: Because this is a thing. It is a competition. We
Speaker 4: all know it's a competition. It's athletices.
Speaker 3: We get it.
Speaker 1: But then you don't need to necessarily then go on
Speaker 1: this at this extra level.
Speaker 2: And there must be this awful feeling in going. A
Speaker 2: decision was made and you rightly so believe it to
Speaker 2: be unjust because and I can see the merits of
Speaker 2: your argument, but I got a ticket to Paris. Yeah,
Speaker 2: ticket to Paris, and in credit to Lochlan MacArthur. Once
Speaker 2: the image was taken down, he basically tweeted saying, look,
Speaker 2: thank you to Jess for taking that down. I have
Speaker 2: a heartbroken family here and he then deleted his account.
Speaker 2: And you can understand from the Weightman camp perspective going,
Speaker 2: I'm meant to be going to my fifth Games.
Speaker 1: Yeah, if it was me and I thought that I
Speaker 1: had clocked that time, you know, me my magical running
Speaker 1: world and I'm on the way to Paris and then
Speaker 1: I'm told no, you're not. I would have I would
Speaker 1: feel like the world had completely shifted and I'm falling, falling, falling.
Speaker 2: And you just feel that with her public statement, perhaps
Speaker 2: this situation wasn't met with the empathy and the nuances
Speaker 2: of what it was.
Speaker 4: Maybe transparency.
Speaker 1: I always feel like, I mean, we give governing bodies
Speaker 1: a fairwack on this podcast for not being as transparent
Speaker 1: as maybe they and I think that's the case here again,
Speaker 1: like there has been a communication breakdown here. Jane Fleming,
Speaker 1: who is the Athletics Australia president, said in the statement,
Speaker 1: you know, we acknowledge the difficult task of Olympic nomination selection,
Speaker 1: whether a more athletes qualified than positions available. Any allegations
Speaker 1: that Athletics Australia or Athletics Australia's selection panel has not
Speaker 1: acted with integrity is also defamatory and simply not true.
Speaker 1: So she stood up for the process. But should the
Speaker 1: selection process change?
Speaker 2: Well, this is where Sally Pearson at the end of
Speaker 2: our article says, we want answers, and so are there
Speaker 2: answers when we look around the world. Is this a
Speaker 2: scenario that's unique to Australia or is it not? And
Speaker 2: you've had an example that blew my mind.
Speaker 1: I did tell me because you may be seeing there thinking, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's crazy, guys, this is insane.
Speaker 4: Be the fastest six week fly? Yeah, how do we
Speaker 4: do this?
Speaker 1: But it's also not only rules for us, rules for others.
Speaker 1: This is standard practice around the world, including in the
Speaker 1: East African powerhouses of Ethiopia and Kenya. So Ethiopia had
Speaker 1: ninety eight women run underneath the qualifying time of two
Speaker 1: hours and twenty six minutes fifty seconds during that qualification period.
Speaker 2: How many women run in the they could have fielded
Speaker 2: the entire field. Kenya had sixty six, unbelievable. So they
Speaker 2: are also making decisions of ninety eight into three and
Speaker 2: I tell you what for them as well, they did
Speaker 2: not pick the three fastest times posted. There was one
Speaker 2: in there that was in the mid fifties, like the
Speaker 2: fifty fifth time, fastest time she is on the way
Speaker 2: because they thought you are a big event athlete, you
Speaker 2: have the experience to back it up.
Speaker 4: I am picking you.
Speaker 2: The fifty fifth fastest qualifying time in the Olympic qualifying
Speaker 2: period is going to Paris.
Speaker 1: I think so yeah, because they're also fast ninety eight
Speaker 1: ninety eight underneath the qualification time. So these decisions are
Speaker 1: happening around the world. Discretion is applied across the board.
Speaker 2: And now we do have someone like Tamsa Manu, who's
Speaker 2: so entrenched in athletics in Australia, to give her two
Speaker 2: cents about what's happened here.
Speaker 3: But also what could be a potential solution. So let's
Speaker 3: have a listener to Tamson.
Speaker 6: You can see why she's disappointed. And there's a lot
Speaker 6: of emotion around this selection. But unless you make it
Speaker 6: really clear cut and you say in the selection criteria, right,
Speaker 6: we are picking the top three times. And again that's
Speaker 6: hard too because marathon you have to target that race
Speaker 6: and I know that the USA has a marathon championship
Speaker 6: trials because of that, so they take out the gray
Speaker 6: area in the selection and the first three across the
Speaker 6: line in those marathon Championship trials get selected, and the
Speaker 6: fourth person is the alternate, and so on. So I
Speaker 6: hope what Australian Athletics does is we do what the
Speaker 6: American team does, and we do name an alternate.
Speaker 3: I wonder how Lisa would feel about getting on the
Speaker 3: plane as a sub.
Speaker 4: Oh, do you know what I think? At least you'd
Speaker 4: be on the plane. Do you know what I mean?
Speaker 4: Anything could happen, Anything could happen. Injuries happen all the time.
Speaker 3: I mean.
Speaker 2: And also the argument there, and it's a fair one
Speaker 2: where Jamson's like had one race the first three to
Speaker 2: get across the line. There you go, let's solve this.
Speaker 2: It's what happens in America. That's great. This whole scenario
Speaker 2: just doesn't pass the pub test. There are no winners,
Speaker 2: it seems, on either side. But what we will be
Speaker 2: doing is getting our green and gold on and cheering
Speaker 2: the hell out of the three athletes that have qualified.
Speaker 2: Oh yes, and hopefully from this point on can just
Speaker 2: celebrate them and their achievements. Because the women that are
Speaker 2: on the plane haven't done anything wrong.
Speaker 3: Georgie, it's time for fun fact. Yes, it's time for
Speaker 3: a fun fact. And they're featured.
Speaker 2: In our Bad Sports because we love when tennis players
Speaker 2: have an absolute spat and for whatever reason, maybe it's
Speaker 2: just because they're in France, they get angry at the moment,
Speaker 2: don't they get passionate.
Speaker 3: Here's some fun.
Speaker 2: Facts, but also a good news story. And that mister
Speaker 2: Gucci Yannick Sinner. You know that he's like he uses
Speaker 2: a Gucci bag.
Speaker 4: Oh yes, I do. I thought you met.
Speaker 1: He was like some unknown Aircci thrown.
Speaker 3: I was like or a player Gucci. I was running
Speaker 3: number one thousand in the world.
Speaker 4: I was like the one who the fans dresses carrots for.
Speaker 2: He's a Gucci No you remember him of course as
Speaker 2: the winner of the Australian Open.
Speaker 3: He is the first ever Italian number one.
Speaker 4: Love it, I love it.
Speaker 3: Good on him.
Speaker 1: We'll staying with tennis because I wanted to bring a
Speaker 1: fun fact jemy in relation to the courts that they
Speaker 1: play on French Open synonymous with a clay court, right, yes,
Speaker 1: and as we know.
Speaker 4: Play again, we can't get the violins out. I'm not
Speaker 4: doing it. I refuse.
Speaker 1: But as we now know it Roland Garross. Of course
Speaker 1: it's famous for its red clay. But terra cotta, if
Speaker 1: you will, terra cotta. I love that that is the
Speaker 1: correct shade. But Jemmy, did you know that clay court's
Speaker 1: not always terra cotta.
Speaker 3: But that's the color of clay. Ha ha ha.
Speaker 1: It would appear, yes, except if you're at the Madrid
Speaker 1: Open in twenty twelve. There the clay was blue. They
Speaker 1: used blue clay.
Speaker 3: So like our hard.
Speaker 2: Courts, say Australia called and wants it's hard court color back,
Speaker 2: we are the sky blue.
Speaker 1: Well this is why because apparently the billionaire owner of
Speaker 1: the tournament Indrid, wanted the courts to be blue because
Speaker 1: they had become so popular in hard court use, right yep.
Speaker 1: So they were like, yeah, let's just just just make
Speaker 1: this clay court, let's just make that blue. However, it
Speaker 1: resulted in a more slippery surface because they've got paint
Speaker 1: in the clay, because it's usually like crushed up brick, right,
Speaker 1: like it's genuinely terra cotta.
Speaker 4: Yeah, genuinely.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So they've actually somehow by making it blue, they've
Speaker 1: changed the complete fabric of it and it meant a
Speaker 1: slippery surface, and the play.
Speaker 3: Is hated it.
Speaker 2: Well, they already slide around so much in regular clay,
Speaker 2: so it was more slippery.
Speaker 3: And that's the thing, Like, there's so many nuances.
Speaker 2: To what exact balls they use and why some players
Speaker 2: excelling clay and others are more for grass courts. So
Speaker 2: there's so many differences to these different surfaces, even though
Speaker 2: they're all Grand slams. Yeah, and if you mess with
Speaker 2: the clay, particularly the Spaniards, they're not going to be happy.
Speaker 1: Can you guess one of the players that was particularly
Speaker 1: put out? Think about a player who's not necessarily adverse
Speaker 1: to being a little bit vocal slides around a lot
Speaker 1: like Nova would.
Speaker 3: Have thrown his toys. I'm you dould have thrown his
Speaker 3: toys so far out of the cot.
Speaker 4: He was mad. He was mad.
Speaker 2: Shortstone split on the rig is stunning how white sides.
Speaker 1: The man lives in a split, lives in a split,
Speaker 1: and so for him, he got knocked out.
Speaker 4: So he was like, oh.
Speaker 3: It must be the court.
Speaker 4: It's the court, it's the court. This blue clay, I
Speaker 4: think not.
Speaker 1: I think not, and therefore after that the ATP banded
Speaker 1: blue Clay was never.
Speaker 3: Used to Thank you so much for joining us on
Speaker 3: Too Good Sports. Please leave us a review.
Speaker 2: They're very helpful, and remember to subscribe and check us
Speaker 2: out on social media as well at two Good Sports Podcasts. Georgie,
Speaker 2: I know that you need therapy after Origin, so I hope,
Speaker 2: I hope you have a strong week and that people
Speaker 2: check in on their Origin loving friends.
Speaker 4: Thank you so much, and let's call a sendoff.
Speaker 3: Be a good sport
Speaker 1: Before