Australia Sailing says it rejected sailors’ bid for Rio because they did not meet nomination criteria

FOUR of Australia’s most promising female sailors have had their bid to compete in Rio rejected, with the sport’s governing body instead choosing to send no one.

Tess Lloyd and Caitlin Elks at the 2014 Sailing World. Picture by Jeff Crow.

FOUR of Australia’s most promising female sailors have had their bid to compete in Rio denied.

Skipper Tess Lloyd, 20, and crew Caitlin Elks, 23, were one of two teams tipped to take Australia’s spot in the 49er FX competition at the Games in August.

Lloyd, Elks and the second team - Olympic silver medalist Olivia Price, 23, and crew Eliza Solly - are noted as “women to watch” on the official 2016 Australian Olympic Team website.

Despite both teams showing great promise, the governing body Australia Sailing announced in May that it would not be sending a 49er FX team to compete in Rio.

London 2012 Olympic Games silver medallists Olivia Price and Nina Curtis.

An appeal to the Australian Sailing Tribunal by both teams was rejected this week.

Lloyd and Elks have now appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in a final bid to get to the Games.

Australia Sailing said in a statement on Wednesday that no 49er FX crew had achieved the “minimum performance standards” set out in its Olympic team nomination criteria.

It said the Tribunal found the nomination panel had the option not to chose a team and had given proper regard to select crews that would give Australia its best chance of success.

“Given the challenging conditions our team will face in Rio, it is also the responsibility of the nomination panel and Australian Sailing to ensure that those athletes that attend the Olympic Games can be fully supported in order to achieve their best performance for Australia,” the statement said.

Australian sailors Caitlin Elks and Tess Lloyd.

Reaching Rio would have been the ultimate comeback story for Victorian Lloyd, who in 2012 was struck in the head by a windsurfer during a regatta in Queensland.

Lloyd, then aged 16, had brain surgery and was in an induced coma for three weeks.

Doctors told her she would never sail again and had to relearn how to walk and talk during long months of rehabilitation.

Ten months after the accident, Lloyd and her then-crew mate Solly won their first major regatta together at Sail Melbourne.

“My dream is also to go to an Olympics,” Lloyd said in 2012.

“I’ll aim at Rio and the one after that.”

Lloyd and Elks are currently the 11th ranked 49er FX team in the world.

The decision not to send a 49er FX team to Rio has sparked outrage in the sailing community, with a Facebook page opposing the decision attracting more than 2400 likes in two days.

Sailing was Australia’s fourth most successful sport in the 2012 London Olympic Games with three gold and one silver medal won.

It is the first time women have been allowed to compete in the 49er class in the Olympics.

Australian girls Olivia Price, Nina Curtis and Lucinda Whitty receive their silver medals at the 2012 London Olympic Games.

Originally published as Australia Sailing says it rejected sailors’ bid for Rio because they did not meet nomination criteria