GB Taekwondo - petty politics and disgraceful behaviour?

European Champion Aaron Cook has confirmed he is requesting that the British Olympic Association (BOA) review GB Taekwondo's decision not to nominate him for London 2012 selection.

The fighter will become world number one in next month's rankings, but Lutalo Muhammad, world number 93, is "GB Taekwondo's" preferred -80kg candidate.

Four-time Olympic champion rower Sir Matthew Pinsent, who acted as a mentor to Cook ahead of the Beijing Olympics, said on Twitter ; "There seems to be no doubt that Aaron Cook has fallen victim to small-time sports politics - come off it, Team GB demands better."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/18233018

It's ridiculous considering the sport's financial future (and possibly these people's jobs) rest on the number of medals achieved at the Olympics.

I simply don't understand the logic.

I dont understand the reasoning behind this decision at all. Could you imagine if this had happened in a more high profile sport, If say in Athletics that Jessica Ennis wasnt selected and they chose a club athlete from another club! It would be national news. the governing body of Taekwondo has a lot of questions to answer.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/18253308

The BOA has refused to ratify GB Taekwondo's decision to nominate Lutalo Muhammad.

A four-strong Olympic Qualification Standards panel, including Andy Hunt and Sir Clive Woodward, has summoned the sport's governing body for talks.

"The panel requests a meeting at the earliest opportunity with the British Taekwondo Committee," read a statement.

"With respect to the nomination in the Men's Under-80 kg weight category, we seek further information and clarification about the process by which the athletes were evaluated by the British Taekwondo Selection Committee."

THE BOA have rejected GB Taekwondo's nominee for the Men's Under-80 kg weight category. GB Taekwondo have 24 hours either to make an appeal or to review their nomination.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/18284174

ps GB Taekwondo's not nominating Aaron Cook would have been equivalent to Tom Daley not being selected for the 10 m diving.

Disgrace by GBT, especially as I have tickets to the final and medal ceremony and would love to see a Team GB gold!!

Hopefully BOA enforce the right decision.

"Statement from GB Taekwondo" http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/18293446

... GB Taekwondo is "more determined than ever" to select the right athlete in the -80kg division for London 2012.

"We believe in the selection policy and the way we have operated is water-tight because it was approved by the BOA and UK Sport, but we will now review that.

"We need to take stock of what the BOA have said and make sure we get it right this time."

Stevenson said: "To be world number one on a rankings system is not what taekwondo is, it doesn't mean you're the best in the world.

"I don't even care or know what ranking I am, and people need to realise this. It's really unfair that GB Taekwondo are getting criticised for not picking a world number one.

"It's numbers on a list, it's not tennis, it's taekwondo and I am really passionate about that."

from GB Taekwondo wrote:
GB Taekwondo say European champion Lutalo Muhammad ... has received hate mail.

"It's tremendously disturbing," said GB performance director Gary Hall.

"Fans of Aaron are turning against Lutalo which is absolutely unjust."

Hall says, having spoken with Lutalo's father, Wayne, some of the mail is "verging on the line of abuse" and they are considering whether any legal action needs to be taken against these people.

... GB's performance director did, however, reveal the public backing of Cook from previous Olympic and Paralympic champions Sir Matthew Pinsent and Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson had not helped the situation.

"How this story got so one-sided, I just think it's potentially the influence of the media machine behind Aaron," he said.

GB Taekwondo, who officially named three athletes for London 2012 last week, will meet on Wednesday morning, in the presence of a BOA representative, to consider the remaining 80kg division.

Hate mail, if true, cannot be condoned, however the statement from GB Taekwondo does suggest they are using it as an opportunity to throw mud on Aaron Cooke and his public supporters in blaming them for it. GB Taekwondo should consider how they themselves have behaved, and how their actions might have led to the hate mail. Basically they needed to explain their decision clearly because at face value it seemed unjust and a petty response to their spat between themselves and Cooke, which caused him to separate himself from them a year ago.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/18332276

"British Taekwondo selectors have again chosen Lutalo Muhammad over European champion Aaron Cook for London 2012.

... The selection has proved controversial as Muhammad is ranked 59th in the -80kg weight class, while Cook heads the list as number one in the world.

It is the third time GB Taekwondo has put forward Muhammad ahead of Cook.

GB Taekwondo selectors were asked to meet again this morning in the presence of an independent observer.
...

[The BOA panel] could be forced to accept the decision if the observer states GB Taekwondo followed selection procedures correctly."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/18343959

It just seems absured that it can ever be the right reasons or procedure to pick a guy in the wrong weight class who's 59th in the world to fighter instead of the world #1 in the correct weight class?

As far as I am aware GBT have still not verbalised their justifications for overly Cook and picking Muhammad either?

I obviously don't know all the details, just like all the rest, but I am coming round to this decision - at least a little bit.

I don't like the fact that the press continually quote these world rankings often without mentioning that Muhammed is ranked something like 7 in the world in his (adopted) category. I appreciate that it's still inferior, but it would help with a bit of perspective.

They're also level on their head to head. I get the impression that he's a natural 80kg fighter but has been forced to fight at the higher weight category due to selection demands - with success, recent European Champion. (Just like Cook)

I'm not saying it's right, or what was done wasn't petty. But I do feel the whole thing was exaggerated greatly by the press (and it seems the Cook media team, that GB Taekwondo mentioned.)

Edit: Incidentally, comments from Sarah Stevenson (who is 'in the system' so perhaps should be taken with a pinch of salt) has stated that world rankings are not really indicative of anything other than the guys who play the most events (one of the reasons why Cook left, he didn't feel he was fighting enough.) So perhaps a simple comparision of rankings is not really enough to condemn the decision.

Yes I was surprised to see that Lutalo Muhammad was 7th in the world in the 87kg class, whereas previously it had only been mentioned by the BBC that he was 93 in the 80kg class. My thoughts are perhaps GB Taekwondo think that Muhammad would be able to transfer more "weight" power into the lower class, than Cooke - and that Muhammads much poorer ranking is due to him not generally competing in that weight class.

However, GB Taekwondo have to be able to demonstrate that the decision is fair given the circumstances. Being Number One in the Olympic weight category and not being picked seems overtly unfair. GB Taekwondo really have to been shown to be acting fairly, and in this instance, they haven't - at least from what can be determined publicly.

Also their comments regarding Aaron Cooke seemed on the hostile and accusatory side. They cannot be seen in entering into a squabble; they must stick to the technical reasons why they chose Muhammad over Cooke.

[Completely separate to this - what a nightmare it will be picking the one and only GB representatives in the track cycling sprints in the mens categories].

I think the technical reasons they put forward is that Muhammed's style is more suited to the new scoring system. (more points for kicks to the head I believe.)

But don't quote me, as I said, I'm no expert.

I suspect whoever they put in for the 80 kg division will now go out in the first round, to be followed by finger pointing and squabbles over who is to blame.

The World Taekwondo Federation are to investigate GB Taekwondo for possibly bringing the sport into disrepute as a result of their selection policy. The BOA Qualification Standards Panel are to delay their meeting as a result of this.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/18355398

Wowzers.

Excuse the ignorance, but if Muhammed is that technically good and world #7 at 87kg, why can't we have Cook competing at 80kg and Muhammed at 87kg??

There are four weight categories but each country is only allowed to pick 2 athletes to go. They had to nominate which categories they were to compete in a while ago (last year sometime? I'm not too sure).

Also, I believe in the Olympics there isn't actually a 80-87kg category, just a 80kg+ category, so he would be in with all the very big heavyweights.

cheers dj

With all the national limits in place, it seems to me that the Olympics is second best in quality to the Worlds. In track cycling the second or third best sprinter in the world will be denied a place at the Olympics. Because of this the appeal of the Olympics for me is in decline.

That track cycling bit was a joke though, basically the yanks having too much influence and us having too little. We pretty much had the sport sown up and took most of the medals so they forced through a change.

Funilly enough swimming, which is basically exactly the same, this hasn't happened as far as I'm aware and the US still have guys picking up several medals at every games.

The track cycling thing was nothing to do with the USA. It's more to do with quotas of participants in the entire sport and the rise of BMX and mountain biking at the Olympics

Maybe I'm misinformed but I personally cannot believe that a new rule preventing British dominance just as we got good at something didn't come about because of political influence/reasons.

Some comments as to what happened during GB Taekwondos third meeting where Muhammad was again chosen over Cooke:

Dr Steve Peters, a non-executive director for GB Taekwondo who has observed each of the selection meetings wrote:... the four-strong voting panel still came out in Muhammad's favour.

We all agreed that if world ranking and success in tournaments were the only selection criteria, then Aaron would be selected as he's an outstanding athlete who could get gold at the Olympics.

All we're saying is that there are two athletes who can achieve this.

Lutalo is improving at a rate of knots and has potential which hasn't been tapped ...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/18365361

Still sounds like absolute Love sacks to me.

BBC online wrote:The British Olympic Association has ratified Lutalo Muhammad's nomination for London 2012 ahead of Aaron Cook.

GB Taekwondo have overlooked the world number one three times in favour of Muhammad, ranked 59th in the world.

The move has been investigated by the BOA and, while they feel selectors acted properly, they were disappointed by the way the issue has been handled.

...

The panel added it reserves the right to reconsider the nomination subject to an ongoing inquiry by the World Taekwondo Federation.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/18373483

Disgraceful.

It seems clear Muhammad has enough strength and potential to make him a good candidate for a spot. However Cook is indeed ranked number 1 , has a slight edge in head to heads , and title winning experience , so it is hard to escape the feeling that his clash with his governing body and determination to do things his way has had a big part in the selection decision.
It should also have been obvious that the decision would be appealed , would have caused a furore ... and that the likely result will be a heap of extra pressure on whoever finished up with the spot...

Like they need extra pressure...

Wonder if the whole business has the potential to upset the other Taekwondo team members as well ?

Bad business all round. If they don't get results now there will be some official heads rolling.

Separate to this if we look at Tennis in the Olympics - each nation can have up to four athletes in any single event:

Number of medal events in tennis - five:
men’s and women’s Singles, men’s and women’s Doubles and Mixed Doubles.

Each country is limited to a total of 12 athletes – six men and six women across all events, which includes a maximum of four athletes in each Singles and two teams in each Doubles event.

From the competitors already entered into the Singles or Doubles, a maximum of two Mixed Doubles teams from any country may compete in the Mixed Doubles event (in effect each nation has a maximum of 12 athletes for four events with four of these athletes also participating in the mixed doubles event).

Compare that to track cycling where it is a maximum of one athlete per event per nation - meaning that the number two or three in the world will have to miss their event.

Compare that to the Taekwondo, where here it is a maximum of less than one athlete per event per nation - meaning that the number one in the world will miss their event (with the help of selection issues) [there are more events than athletes per nation allowed to enter as a whole].

http://www.london2012.com/tennis/about/
For me these Olympics events aren't worth paying much attention to - much better to look at the Worlds where the competition is greater.

In Taekwondo there are eight Olympic events with only four athletes per nation allowed to enter in total.

One would think for a sport such as Taekwondo the Olympics could have been their biggest competition every four years. Yet with tennis it is a minor tournament compared with the annual grand slam tournaments.

But to be fair, if we were to go even deeper, Tae Kwon Do should have never become an Olympic sport.

So, you have to take it all with a pinch of salt.

Why not?

The fact that BOA and World Taekwondo Federation at all ventured to comment or question GB Taekwondo’s non-selection of Aaron Cook is interesting. It is heartening. At least some sports bodies have guts to comment or disagree with others. And at least some British sportsmen get a hearing, or at least an ear.

Hear me through here while I deviate slightly off topic. By comparison I have had a hard deal. I am a masters athlete involved in a long-standing dispute with my masters governing body British Masters Athletics Federation (BMAF). In brief I filed a complaint about the BMAF Team Manager breaking the IAAF Call Room Rules (he spirited a disqualified athlete past the Call Room) and his verbal abuse at the 2006 Linz World Masters Indoors Championships.

The hapless BMAF countered with a risible c*ck and b*ll story amongst other things based on a secret deposition (secret = deliberately kept unknown to me for four years) by the very BMAF Team Manager I had complained about and backed up by his BMAF Chairman who said that spiriting a athlete past the Call Room is not breaking the IAAF Rules! That BMAF Chairman then unilaterally, without notifying his Committee or his eleven BMAF regional clubs, banned me instead for one year for speaking out -“bringing the sport into disrepute.” This was without any hearing or appeal, which really should be impossible for a British athlete. Agreed?

I eventually tried to complain /appeal (there is no appeal) to UKA Athletics/England Athletics (what is the difference?), Sport UK and World Masters Athletics only to be told in various ways that these august bodies either do not intervene in the governance of masters athletics, or “we have no jurisdiction.” Nobody does. So here I am, a British athlete unjustly banned without hearing and appeal, reputation in tatters and with a very bad taste in my mouth concerning British athletics bodies and our vaunted British justice and way of life. Maybe I should have taken up Taekwondo, where my voice would have been heard. And now thoroughly back on topic, I wish Mr. Cook the very best and that he continues to stand up for what he believes is right.

Incidentally, psychiatrist Dr. Steve Peters, non-executive director for GB Taekwondo, is also a record-breaking British masters athlete, a fantastic sprinter. It would be nice if Dr. Peters could engage in my case, perhaps start by making appointments for BMAF officers to his couch? In breaking IAAF Call Room rules and banning a British athlete without hearing or appeal, BMAF certainly have ”brought British sport into disrepute” and could do with a shrink the lot of them. [Pun intended].

Poor decision. I originally applied for tickets for the 80kg final, seeing Cook as a Brit medal hope in a sport I quite like. Didn't get them. Saw the tickets on sale again a couple of days ago - for like, 20 minutes - but hesitated and didn't buy them.

Could be a chance for a last minute reprieve, but looks unlikely now.

Does Muhammed count as a 'Brit medal hope'?

Lutalo Muhammad loses "emphatically" 7-3 to Spain's Nicolas Garcia Hemme in the quarter-finals.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/18916293

Aaron Cooke, the world no1, has fought Nicolas Garcia Hemme twice, beating him on both occassions (last year and this year).

Sarah Stevenson, who came out in support of British Taekwondo's decision to select Lutalo Muhammad over Aaron Cooke, lost in the first round to American Paige McPherson 5-1.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/19208068

Maybe 21 year old Aaron Cooke should head to Australia.

After Lutalo Muhammad's quarter final loss, he got the opportunity to fight for a "minor medal". He won two fights in exemplary fashion to win a bronze medal.

So well done to Lutalo.

Sums up the pathetic decision not to take the world #1. GB TKD shot themselves in the foot here, pathetic egos.

OK , Cook still unlucky to have annoyed the wrong people and not been selected.
I do sympathize with him.
However it wasn't Lutalo Muhammed's fault , and given the results in this sport seem to be less than totally predictable , I reckon he has justified his selection with that bronze medal. Respect.

Not blaming lutalo, it's GB TKD that are the disgrace.

Looking at how everyone performed Cook must be sat there thinking he's been robbed of gold, would have been the massive favourite going in and GB TKD will point to the bronze medal which is good enough for Muhammad but wouldn't have been for Cook.

Why can't we just see the best competing, forget all these stupid quotas, a four time olympic champion and multiple time world champion in Hoy was left out of the sprint competition because of it. Also cut the swimming program dramatically, get rid of the medleys altogether and have less relays. Phelps is a great olympian but in the grand scheme of things falls well short of Redgrave and is on an even footing with the likes of Hoy and Ainslie but they have far less opportunities to win gold.

From what Cav said Hoy was left out because he wasnt get the best results in training, Kenny was selected ahead of him on merit and won gold.

That wasn't my point though, why limit the cycling to one competitor per event but have up to three in the athletics and swimming, you end up with some fairly easy preliminary rounds which there isn't in the world championships. There should be parity across the board, anything america or china don't excel at gets cut, team GB dominated cycling but only ended up with 7 golds to show for it while America got 16 in swimming.

Well GB wouldve had more golds had Pendleton not screwed two up.

Very true but I don't like the way swimming distorts the medal table massively in favour of America when in reality they aren't miles ahead of us or China overall.

Returning to the Cook issue, I'd like to know what what the criteria were for assessment (which were subject to independent observation / scrutiny - twice).

Also, forgive me if my memory is faulty, but my recollection is that Cook went into the 2008 Olympics as overwhelming favourite at his weight class, and failed miserably - and I wonder if that was taken into account.

Take swimming out and GB are still behind both in the medal table. Take cycling out as well and we drop below Russia.
Dont forget cycling also gets 4 road golds, 2 mountain biking, 2 BMX and 2 triathlon.

Id agree theres too many pool golds, Id argue theres too many similar track cycling ones too. The history of the Kieran in particular is ridiculous.

There's 34 golds in swimming compared to 18 in the cycling, i'm not going to include the triathlon as it ultimately comes down who has the most left in the tank for the 10k run. The Kierin is now a very diluted version of the original where shoulders and elbows were permitting in jostling for permission, it means fight in Japanese which it no longer is. Getting rid of the time trial, points race and the individual pursuit is ridiculous.

Imperial Ghosty wrote:Looking at how everyone performed Cook must be sat there thinking he's been robbed of gold, would have been the massive favourite going in and GB TKD will point to the bronze medal which is good enough for Muhammad but wouldn't have been for Cook.

Why can't we just see the best competing, forget all these stupid quotas, a four time olympic champion and multiple time world champion in Hoy was left out of the sprint competition because of it. Also cut the swimming program dramatically, get rid of the medleys altogether and have less relays. Phelps is a great olympian but in the grand scheme of things falls well short of Redgrave and is on an even footing with the likes of Hoy and Ainslie but they have far less opportunities to win gold.

um.........are you sure about that? One has 14 golds the other has 5. Swimming is a very popular sport where millions compete and rowing is primarily for a certain class in society. Phelps is millenia ahead of Steve Redgrave who I wouldn't even regard as the best Brit Olympian

Super D Boon wrote:

Imperial Ghosty wrote:Looking at how everyone performed Cook must be sat there thinking he's been robbed of gold, would have been the massive favourite going in and GB TKD will point to the bronze medal which is good enough for Muhammad but wouldn't have been for Cook.

Why can't we just see the best competing, forget all these stupid quotas, a four time olympic champion and multiple time world champion in Hoy was left out of the sprint competition because of it. Also cut the swimming program dramatically, get rid of the medleys altogether and have less relays. Phelps is a great olympian but in the grand scheme of things falls well short of Redgrave and is on an even footing with the likes of Hoy and Ainslie but they have far less opportunities to win gold.

um.........are you sure about that? One has 14 golds the other has 5. Swimming is a very popular sport where millions compete and rowing is primarily for a certain class in society. Phelps is millenia ahead of Steve Redgrave who I wouldn't even regard as the best Brit Olympian

If rowing included rowing left handed only, rowing right handed only, rowing with your eyes shut, then I'm sure Redgrave would have more than 5 golds.

Even without it, there's still a fair argument that a 20 yr Olympic career of consecutive golds is better than 12.