“Especially when those who have rightly qualified are being banned from competing by British Athletics. This is disheartening and makes young athletes reluctant to make the sacrifices required to reach this level. If this continues, I truly believe it will spell the end of athletics in our country – or at least for the field events.”
UKA says high standards boost performance – but athletes disagree
There is also a sense that the policy has resulted in those in field events being subjected to disproportionately high standards. For example, a time of 9.93 seconds was required to reach the men's 100 metres final in Paris, while the UKA Olympic standard is 10.02 seconds. Similarly, the men's 400 metres had a qualifying standard of 45.00 seconds, while it actually required 44.41 seconds to reach the final. A significant proportion of track athletes did not reach the individual final, but there was great success at the relay eventsgood for half the medals, and a lot of positive feedback for the work of head coach Paula Dunn.
UKA says the policy is designed to maximise top-eight finishes and medal chances. Many within British athletics fear it will have the opposite effect, particularly when you consider the long-term impact and missed experience for younger athletes such as Norris, Purchase and Kenneth Ikeji, who at 21 has already thrown a distance that is the third-best shot put result in British history and would have finished sixth in Paris.
“Team GB should be taking the entire team that gets an Olympic invitation, rather than destroying the Olympic dreams of a few athletes,” said Darren Steer, a former thrower who is representing the Olympics. for Norris on an unpaid basis. “Most other countries take as many people as they can. Our children say, 'Where are the GB athletes?' It's a tragic injustice.
“People see what's happening and they get disillusioned. People walk away from the sport.
“I love the sport – I really want it to be a success, but it needs a big change.”
Norris said he was initially angry about the situation and, like any affected athlete, would have found a way to finance his participation if cost was the issue. “My whole family would have gone,” he said. “I love the sport — it's not a career choice.”