The process by which Laser Radial sailor Aisling Keller was excluded from this summer’s Olympic Games “leaves a lot to be desired”, according to an editorial in her home town’s newspaper.
The Lough Derg Yacht Club racer secured Ireland’s Laser Radial spot in Tokyo with a strong performance at her class’s Worlds in Japan two years ago.
But Nenagh native Keller was denied a chance to compete for that place when last year’s Olympic trials were cut short amid the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Instead, Irish Sailing opted to select Rio 2016 silver medalist Annalise Murphy — a recent returnee to the class after an abandoned run in the 49erFX.
As previously reported on Afloat.ie, Keller and fellow hopeful Aoife Hopkins were respectively “upset” and “devastated” by the decision.
And the Nenagh Guardian editorial says Keller has every right to feel hard done by.
“Now, Annalise might well be our best chance of winning a medal,” the paper writes, “but being handed the opportunity was blatantly unfair, when over the last twelve months, a competition could have taken place on these shores for both, or indeed Aoife Hopkins and Eve McMahon who were also in the running.”
The editorial makes no bones about the situation as it sees it: “Where competitors for Olympics are based on selection rather than out and out competition, it is open to bias and influence and it is hard not to feel that Keller … just didn’t have the right connections with the right people compared to others.”
Irish Sailing said at the time of its announcement that “Annalise’s performance in the 2020 Worlds made her a clear favourite to win the scheduled trials. By nominating her now, the Irish Sailing Board has ensured that team preparations can focus on the Olympics rather than preparing for domestic trials”.