Radford's Rio hopes dashed

PHOTO/FILE

Rotorua swimmer Kane Radford's hopes of competing in the Rio Olympics have been all but dashed.

Swimming New Zealand selectors have tonight announced they will not nominate any open water swimmers to be considered for selection to the Olympics.

Ten places for the Rio 10km Open Water event were selected at last year's world championships with a further 10 direct places decided at the FINA 10km Marathon Swimming Qualifier in Portugal last weekend.

New Zealanders Radford, Phillip Ryan and Charlotte Webby finished 19th, 34th and 31st respectively to miss out on direct qualification.

FINA, the world's ruling body, offer one additional quota place for the leading swimmer from each of the five global regions - the Americas, Africa, Europe, Asia and Oceania - representing nations not already qualified.

With Australia qualified, New Zealand was the next highest nation from Oceania competing in Portugal, with Radford and Webby therefore earning an invitation spot for New Zealand.

However the selectors were not satisfied there was sufficient evidence that either of the swimmers was capable of achieving the published nomination criteria which is that an individual swimmer must be capable of achieving a top 16 placing at the Games with the potential to win an Olympic Diploma (top eight placing).

This is the over-arching criteria established by the New Zealand Olympic Committee for selection of all New Zealand athletes across all sports.