Olympics 2021: Former taekwondo world champion Carmen Marton floored by Tokyo selection snub

She claims she fulfilled the criteria yet former taekwondo world champion Carmen Marton won’t be going to Tokyo - and the former world champion is far from happy.

Carmen Marton will have to watch the taekwondo from home after missing sleection.

Former world champion Carmen Marton has hit out at Australian Taekwondo selectors for leaving her out of the Tokyo Olympics despite meeting the qualification criteria.

The triple Olympian had her final appeal heard by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) this week but was not selected.

She had won two appeals prior, one with the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) and one with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

This week CAS upheld her appeal but in its ruling declined to award her a position on the team, instead referring the matter back to Australian selectors.

They stuck with Stacey Hymer for the 57kg class.

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Carmen Marton will have to watch the taekwondo from home after missing sleection.

“It still isn’t clear why I wasn’t selected, it is so frustrating as an athlete,” Marton told News Corp.

“I had fulfilled the qualification criteria. I have commited the past five years of my life to the sport.

“A lot of sports have discretion in their selection process and it leaves too much uncertainty and opens it up to bias and political agendas. The system still has many flaws.”

She has called for the AOC to be more active in national sport selection policies which, she says, should have transparent and objective criteria.

“The AOC have a duty of care to ensure selection panels are trained in high level decision making and have the relevant skills and resources to fairly and competently fufill their duties,” she said.

The Melbourne-based athlete became Australia’s first taekwondo world champion when she won the lightweight gold at the 2013 world titles.

Marton believes she had a realistic chance of winning a medal in Tokyo.

Marton is upset over her rejected appeal.

“That’s what kills me,” she said.

“After Rio I said, ‘I’m not done yet, I’m not satisfied.’ It’s my adult dream to do well at the Olympics.”

She was so committed to improving her performance that Marton completed a sports science degree to progress her training as well as taekwondo specific strength and conditioning.

In what is a small consolation for Carmen, her brother Jack will debut in Tokyo.

The Australian Olympic Committee and Australian Taekwondo declined to comment.

Originally published as Olympics 2021: Former taekwondo world champion Carmen Marton floored by Tokyo selection snub