[Bill notes: Carey Hall is the ex-sprinter who "won" the world pro sprint championship in Stuttgart in 1993 only to test positive and lose it next day]
Speaking from Atlanta, Hall said no other Australian Olympian was being put under the same pressure as the individual road race champion from the Barcelona Games. Officials have asked Watt to attend a pre-Olympic camp in Houston next month to determine whether she or Lucy Tyler-Sharman will contest the 3000m individual pursuit. The camp runs from July 3-17 with the Games starting on July 19 and Hall said it would disrupt Watt's Olympic preparation in the crucial lead-up time.
Hall said "no other sport would do this type of thing. It would not happen in swimming or athletics. I just think it needs to be looked at alongside other sports. From July onwards is the most crucial time for the Olympic athletes in their preparations. They are toying with her chance of doing her best and getting a medal at the games."
The Australian Cycling Federation gave Watt a guarantee on April 22 that she would represent Australia in the pursuit in Atlanta. The ACF said at the time:
This decision has been made ahead of time to reassure Kathy. We don't want anything getting in her way as she prepares for the Atlanta Olympic Games.
But the ACF also said that the only thing stopping Watt from riding in this event was:
injury, illness or in the (very unlikely) event of a unique world record performance by another Australian cyclist
Since then Tyler-Sharman has registered a 3m 33s and a 3m 31s in the pursuit at trials during the national track squad's camp in Germany, with the latter time only 2/100s of a second outside the world record.
[Bill notes: the trials were hand-timed, and one watch was probably held by Charlie Walsh, National Track coach, who dislikes Watt intensely and who does not want Watt to ride in the pursuit. There is also a history in OZ track cycling of favoured treatment being given to riders who Charlie prefers despite performances. The Tony Davis/Dean Woods fiasco in the men's pursuit in Seoul was an example. Davis won the National Championships and was therefore selected to ride the event, but he was not one of Charlie's inner crowd so a ridiculous ride-off was arranged a few days before the Olympics. Davis lost, and Woods rode. Disgraceful.]
This prompted the ACF last week to review its earlier stand and ask Watt to attend the Houston camp. Hall said Watt had proved she was the best in the 3000m at the nationals in April, was an Olympic silver medallist in this event, and had not been beaten on Australian soil in the pursuit in seven years.
He said "What more does she have to prove?" [Bill notes: exactly]
ACF spokesperson Darren Elder said yesterday that when the original commitment was made to Watt there was no expectation that any other Australian would go close to a world record time.