With the Winter Olympics less than a month away, New Zealand
is yet to name the team that will represent the country in
Vancouver.
New Zealand Olympic Committee secretary Barry Maister said
selectors were working to confirm the team, but were being
held up as they waited for various international sports
federations to provide the number of places available for New
Zealand athletes.
Once the international bodies provided quotas then the
selectors could look at their own criteria to decide who
would be included in the team, Maister said.
"These are factors totally beyond our control. I sit here and
wait for the quotas to come in and that allows us as
selectors to act, but it's very hard to get ahead of
ourselves on this," he said.
"Hopefully we'll get some names out this week, and hopefully
the rest will be on Monday or Tuesday."
Maister said it was not unusual for the team to be unnamed so
close to the event, which begins on February 12, but said it
was a frustrating situation.
"It is very, very regrettable, and we don't like it," he
said.
"The international federations try and push the dates as late
as possible to give the athletes the greatest amount of time,
under the best conditions to qualify. We accept that fully.
The thing is last night we had to place an order for clothing
so you can imagine the difficulty that poses for us. We have
to pre-empt numbers, pre-empt what might be the case,
pre-empt sizes, and all of that."
Maister said he did not believe the delay in naming the team
was a problem for those hoping to participate.
"They're in the groove of trying to qualify and they want as
long as possible under the best conditions to prove their
worth. They're in flight, they're in season, the fact that
the Games are two or three weeks away doesn't worry them,"
Maister said.
However, he said he would not have been surprised if some
were unhappy with the situation.
"They should take it up through their sport to their
international federation - they're the ones that drive the
qualification rules."
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