How Lisa Weightman’s snub from Australia’s marathon team could alter women’s sporting history

Australia’s women’s marathon team for Paris is now set in stone after four-time Olympian Lisa Weightman changed her mind about appealing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Australia’s women’s marathon team for Paris is now set in stone after four-time Olympian Lisa Weightman changed her mind about appealing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

In one of the toughest Olympic selection scenarios Weightman was overlooked by Athletics Australia despite having recorded the third-fastest time in the qualifying period.

Instead Commonwealth champion Jess Stenson was given the third spot in the team after a brilliant comeback last month - just over six months from the birth of her second child - in Daegu where she ran under the Olympic qualifying time.

In a dramatic day Weightman changed her mind twice about appealing.

Sinead Diver is part of the Australian team. Picture: Getty Images

After citing the cost of a legal challenge to her non-selection was too much, the Melbourne runner’s lawyer informed AA just minutes before the 5pm deadline that she was intending to plead her case to CAS, the highest arbitration body in world sport in Switzerland.

However, three hours later that challenge was withdrawn after further consideration.

This means the women’s marathon line-up for Paris will be Australian marathon record holder Sinead Diver, three-time Olympic steeplechaser Genevieve Gregson and Stenson.

After citing the cost of a legal challenge to her non-selection was too much, the Melbourne runner’s lawyer informed AA just minutes before the 5pm deadline that she was intending to plead her case to CAS, the highest arbitration body in world sport in Switzerland.

However, three hours later that challenge was withdrawn after further consideration.

This means the women’s marathon line-up for Paris will be Australian marathon record holder Sinead Diver, three-time Olympic steeplechaser Genevieve Gregson and Stenson.

While Stenson’s time of 2hr24.01sec, which was also a personal best, was 46 seconds behind Weightman’s - 2:23.15sec set in Osaka in February - the AA selectors used their discretion to find in favour of the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games gold medallist based on her impressive international record in major races.

Lisa Weightman is a four-time Olympian. Picture: Getty Images

Six Australian women met the entry standard of 2:26.50sec within the qualifying period, led by Diver (2:21.34sec) and Gregson (2:23.08sec).

Weightman, 45, was aiming to create history by becoming the first Australian track and field athlete to compete in five Olympic Games.

After her initial non-selection, Weightman appealed to the National Sports Tribunal who were receptive of her argument and urged AA to appoint an independent selection committee.

However, that request was rejected with a 14-page document provided to Weightman outlining the reasons why she’d been overlooked.

The decision has divided the track and field community with Olympic gold medallist Sally Pearson, a good friend of Weightman’s, launching a scathing attack on AA in an online column.

“I can’t believe what is happening in the sport I love dearly,” Pearson wrote on news.com.au.

“I’m disappointed with the national selection panel, but I’m more shocked at the integrity of Athletics Australia and how this has become a total farce.”

It could be Lisa Weightman’s fifth Olympics. Picture: AFP

Pearson included a statement from Weightman in the column who revealed she’d been told her grounds of success at CAS were good but the cost of mounting a case, believed to be around $50,000, was simply too much.

“I have received legal advice that I have a sound basis to appeal to the Court of Arbitration of Sport (the only avenue available to me),” Weightman said.

“However, success in that forum would be expensive and uncertain and still likely result in the matter being returned to AA for re-determination.”

Weightman said being denied a fifth Olympic berth was “altering the course of Australian women’s sporting history”.

Her best placed finish at the Olympics was 16th in London in 2012. She also finished 16th at last year’s world championships in Budapest.

Stenson, 36, has made two Olympic appearances - 38th in London and 22nd in Rio in 2016 - while she finished ninth at the world championships in London in 2017.

The Australian Olympic Committee is expected to officially announce the marathon team early next week.

Originally published as How Lisa Weightman’s snub from Australia’s marathon team could alter women’s sporting history