News for March 16, 1997

Injured Watt in new selection showdown

Another selection controversy looms for Kathy Watt after the former Olympic champion announced yesterday she was pulling out of next week's national track cycling championships in Launceston because of injury.

Soon after her announcement, the Australian Cycling Federation (ACF) confirmed that all prospective Australian team members probably would have to attend a national training camp as part of the selection process for the world track titles in August in Perth.

Watt is expected to refuse to go to the camp, as she did before last year's Olympic Games, because of her long-running feud with national track coach Charlie Walsh.

"It is likely she would have to attend a national camp, but surely that is fair in any sport in the lead-up to a world title." ACF chief-executive Graham Fredericks said.

Her coach Carey Hall declined to comment on the training camp or whether Watt would attend, but there seems little chance of Watt going there. Watt's rival Lucy Tyler-Sharman was unconcerned by her rival's no-show.

"I think it's hilarious, and not entirely unexpected. I was always going down there just to do good times", Tyler-Sharman said. "I'm far more concerned with what goes on week by week here (at the Australian Institute of Sport track program in Adelaide) rather than what that camp (Watt's) is doing."

Watt's refusal to attend the pre-Olympic training camp last July in Houston was a key factor in Tyler-Sharman gaining the 3000m individual pursuit track berth ahead of her. Watt, who beat Tyler-Sharman last March at the nationals in Perth, launched legal action after her non-selection for the pursuit. She won her court appeal on the day of the Games opening ceremony, eventually finishing eighth in the Olympic pursuit.

Hall said a lingering injury in Watt's right hamstring prevented her going to Launceston. She injured the muscle in August at the state road titles, forcing her to miss the October world road championships.

Hall said Watt aimed to be fully fit for two World Cup track events - in the US in May and in Adelaide in August - so she could prove her form for the pursuit. The ACF executive committee is likely to approve a new version of the national selection policy, which attracted widespread criticism at the Olympics because of the fiasco over the women's pursuit berth. It will be then up to the Australian Sports Commission to approve the policy.

Cycling titles could get boost from McGee's record bid

Olympic Games bronze medallist Bradley McGee can give cycling a badly needed boost when he makes an attempt on the Australian hour record in Adelaide tonight.

Cycling is still dogged by controversy over Kathy Watt, the late announcement of a national selection policy and today's challenge for the presidency of the ACF, currently held by Ray Godkin.

With the Australian track championships due to start in Launceston, Tasmania, tomorrow, the sport desperately needs a dose of positive publicity - which McGee will provide should he break the hour record.

The target facing him when he lines up on the track at Adelaide's Superdrome is 47.227km, set by European-based professional Neil Stephens of the ACT in 1987.

McGee, 21 and from NSW, may be too young and inexperienced to challenge for Englishman Chris Boardman's world hour record of 56.373 km, but his proximity to that mark will certainly reveal his potential as a future challenger.

It's a sign of McGee's ability and courage that he is even attempting the record - one of cycling's most presitgious, yet painful, titles.

Should he succeed, the mood of celebration will carry over Bass Strait to the national titles which he will also contest.

McGee's presence in Launceston will fill the void left by Victorian kilometre champion Shane Kelly and former world sprint champions Gary Neiwand (Victoria) and Darryn Hill (Western Australia)m who have racing commitments in Japan.

Another absentee will be 1992 Olympic road race gold medallist Watt, the national pursuit champion, who withdrew from the titles on Thursday, due to a hamstring injury.

Watt's decision to pull out put paid to her top-billing showdown with WA rival Lucy Tyler-Sharman, who lost her place in the 1996 Olympic pursuit event when Watt challenged it in the courts.

A record ride by McGee could also help stem publicity over the ACFs alleged delay in unveiling its selection policy for the 1997 world titles, to be held in Perth in August.

It could even muffle public debate over NSW Olympic Council general-secretary Kerry Ruffles' challenge for the ACF presidency. Godkin should hold his post, but the challenge could be interpreted as a sign of a growing call for a change in ACF direction.