Angry dad unloads after daughter Mara Stransky misses out on Australian selection for Paris 2024 Olympic Games

The parent of an Olympic sailor has unloaded on social media after his daughter’s non-selection for the Paris Games causing drama within Sailing Australia. Read the post inside.

Australia's Paris-bound ILCA 6 class sailor Zoe Thomson, whose selection earned the ire of a top-quality rival sailor’s father.

The parent of an Olympic sailor has unloaded on social media after his daughter’s non-selection for the Paris Games.

Andrew Stransky’s decision to question the selection process in a Facebook rant following Tokyo Olympian Mara Stransky’s omission has upset members of the Australian Sailing Team.

Mara raced a Laser Radial, now known as an ILCA 6, in Tokyo but Stransky revealed in his post that his daughter had been overlooked for Zoe Thomson from Western Australian.

The Olympic selection and nominational process for sailing is confidential and the decision to select Thomson is still to be confirmed or ratified by the Australian Olympic Committee or made public.

Australian sailor Mara Stransky pictured training with the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron in 2020. Picture: Getty Images)

Stransky’s now deleted Facebook post claimed Australian Sailing Team had placed undue pressure on his daughter and compared a string of Mara’s results to Thomson’s.

“The AST heaped the pressure on her, compounded by the fact Zoe’s WA coach is one of the three Olympic selectors,” Stransky said.

“Mara never complained though she just trained harder.

“As a parent though I feel like having a little complain.

“Zoe’s results in the selection events 35th at The Hague, 30th in Argentina and a flash in the pan second at Palma.

“She came 20th at the Olympic test event, the worst result of any Australian Seiler.

“Mara placed 10th at The Hague, 17th in Argentina and ninth at Palm (cruel inches away from taking the overall win), she also dominated Sail Melbourne, defended her Australian championship title and Zoe has never beaten Mara at the Marseilles coaches regatta.

“Anyway, there are the facts laid bear and I bow my head to a most gracious high-performance sailor, Mara Stransky.”

Australia's Paris bound ILCA 6 class sailor Zoe Thomson. Picture: Australian Sailing Team

It is understood members of the High Performance team and ILCA 6 squad saw the post before it was withdrawn.

Australian Sailing High Performance Director Iain Bramble refuted the claims made in Stransky’s post.

“We have a very resilient group of athletes. It has been unfortunate that this has gone on. The post is not accurate,’’ Bramble said.

Thomson last week finished with a silver medal at the Princess Sofia regatta in Palma, Spain - a major European event raced by sailors who will be competing at the Olympics.

She also produced a baseline performance which is a minimum result that must be obtained to be eligible for selection.

Australia's Paris-bound ILCA 6 class sailor Zoe Thomson

It is also kept confidential to all but the sailors concerned and support staff to prevent rival nations being aware of the importance of particular regattas.

Stransky, who has beaten Thomson at numerous events over the years, did not achieve a baseline performance from the specific events identified by Sailing Australia as the most important.

Fellow squad member Elyse Ainsworth, the top Australian at the last ILCA 6 world championships in 13th place, did achieve this baseline so was also up for selection with Thomson.