A trans-tasman stoush is brewing over Olympic kayaking spots as fuming Australian officials plan to appeal the decision to re-run the Oceania selection races.
New Zealand officials felt vindicated yesterday after the Oceania championships jury upheld their appeal, thereby handing K1 500m paddlers Troy Burbridge and Erin Taylor an Olympic lifeline.
The three-person jury, headed by the Japanese delegate from the International Canoe Federation (ICF), overturned the original decision by race officials to dismiss New Zealand's protest against unfair conditions last Wednesday.
Burbridge and Taylor both complained of being badly hampered by weeds on their boat rudders when comfortably beaten by Australians Tony Schumacher and Alana Nicholls in their respective Oceania selection races in Sydney.
The jury ruled the races be rerun by May 18 at the latest.
Australian high performance director Richard Fox labelled the decision ‘‘bizarre'' and immediately fired off a ‘‘please explain'' email to the ICF.
‘‘We're frustrated by the process and disappointed by the way it was managed,'' said Fox, adding there was a ‘‘strong possibility'' they would appeal the decision.
‘‘We're writing to the ICF, and whether that constitutes an appeal will depend on their clarification.''
Fox was baffled why the jury waited until the five-day Oceania championships had ended to give their decision, meaning the races could not be rerun at the regatta.
New Zealand's original protest asked for the races to be rescheduled as soon as possible after the Sydney International Regatta Centre was cleared of weeds.
New Zealand manager Grant Restall described the jury's decision as ‘‘a bit of a relief''.
The appeal was filed after discussions with New Zealand coaches and Olympic gold medallists Paul MacDonald and Ian Ferguson, who were convinced they had a strong case.
Restall said the results of Sunday's K1 500m finals justified the decision.
Burbridge won the men's B final in a time of 1min 41.95sec, with Schumacher finishing sixth in 1min 43.33sec.
Taylor finished fourth in the women's final in 1min 54.41sec and Nicholls paddled 1min 54.97sec in finishing third in the B final.
The jury did not stipulate a date and venue for the re-runs, leaving Australian and New Zealand officials to thrash out the details over the phone.
Restall assumed they would be held in Australia again, with early-to-mid-April the most likely date.
‘‘It will take both parties to agree where and when, so we're looking for direction from the ICF,'' Fox said.
‘‘We've got our closed selection trials next week and we don't want the re-runs interfering with them.''
New Zealand has already qualified three paddlers for Beijing: Ben Fouhy in the K1 1000m and the K2 1000m pair of Steven Ferguson and Mike Walker.
Because they have already qualified, the national selectors could nominate any of the three to contest the K1 500m in Beijing if Burbridge missed out.
