gymnastsrock wrote:Maybe this relates, maybe it doesn't. In Canada, they use a points system to select their Olympic gymnasts. For a poor performance at last year's worlds, they were allowed only 2 girls. One girl (Kristina Vaculik), was very young and had just became a senior in 2007 was cheated out of a spot because she hadn't had enough time to earn points. Even though most everyone agreed she was Canada's best athlete for the job, and was a national champion, she finished 3rd in the points and had her Beijing dreams dashed. I guess the point is that even a formula of some sort doesn't always work the way it was planned to.
Our national sport bodies are renowned for their proficiency at keeping our country's best athletes out of they Olympics. Even when they fail, they at least make it as difficult as possible (see thread re: Kelsie Hendry for a PV example).
I shudder to think what would happen if USATF were to use a different selection process. I heard enough politics just about people who were allowed to run at the Trials! I can't imagine how bad it would be if the same were to happen for the Games themselves.