Yachting New Zealand decides to keep decision criteria hidden – Sailing news
New Zealand’s sailing board, Yachting New Zealand, announced the Kiwi team to represent the country in next year’s Olympics, on Wednesday, December 21. Also, the organisation has decided to stand by their decision and not reveal the sailors’ Olympics selection
criteria to the public. After the selection was announced, assumptions were circling around about the selection criteria.
One of the reasons to question the selection method was the choice of Jon Paul Tobin over 2008 Beijing Olympics gold medallist, Tom Ashley, in the RS:X Men class. As many people must have expected, Ashley would lead the team, being the defending Olympics
champion, but the selection committee had some other plans in the pipeline.
They selected JP Tobin in place of Ashley for the 2012 London Olympic Games as a part of 12-member Kiwi squad. Tobin’s selection was definitely a logical choice because he performed better than Ashley in the recently concluded 2011 Perth ISAF Sailing World
Sailing Championship. He finished on fifth podium place in RS:X Men class, one place ahead of Ashley.
Usually, two elements are included in the selection criteria of sports, one subjective and the other, objective. Subjective criterion is based on the physical condition of a sportsman, whether he is capable or not of participating in a mega event. On the
other hand, objective criterion includes the performance of a particular sportsperson in key events.
As far as the selection of Tobin is concerned, it is quite clear that the man is in good shape, both physically and performance wise. He has also nudged Ashley three times in the major regattas this year, which includes the ISAF Worlds.
Speaking to the media, YNZ chief executive, David Abercrombie said, “You've got to weigh up the objective and subjective elements, and part of that process is around physical health. If you have your top athlete and he's injured or unwell going into a world
championship and someone ranked behind him beats him in the regatta, you have to have the ability to review that process.”
He added, “At the end of the day, JP had been the most consistent performer throughout the year, he finished one place ahead of Tom in the worlds, which was a significant event, and he's been selected.”
Besides the subjective and objective elements of selection, it is ambiguous what other factors impressed the selectors to choose Tobin. However, Ashley is not disheartened by the decision. Instead, he accepted the decision and wished Tobin luck for the Olympics.
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