Medals in danger of evaporating through apathy

When is a bronze medal not a bronze medal?

The answer could be:  in track cycling

New Zealand's faint chances of securing a Commonwealth Games track cycling medal in the women's sprint and 500-metre time trial have diminished further after a lack of entries prompted organisers to provisionally drop the awarding of bronze medals.

Only gold and silver will be awarded for two of the Games' premier cycling events in Melbourne, unless more nations enter competitors before the finals are held at the Vodafone Arena.

So far only six riders are entered for Saturday's sprint and seven for Thursday's time-trial so under Commonwealth Games policy only the top two rungs of the podium can be occupied.

Cycling officials, desperate to attract more entries, were to plead for support at a team managers' meeting today.

New Zealand has two entrants in both events -- Elisabeth Williams and Fiona Carswell.

Australian sisters Anna and Kerrie Meares are expected to contest the final to potentially leave the New Zealanders, current World Champion Victoria Pendleton (England) and Kate Cullen (Scotland) to make up the numbers unless a fifth nation steps forward with a sprinter.

The same six are entered for the time-trial, with the addition of Scotland's Katrina Hair so another nation is also required.

"We're hoping another nation will come forward but the problem is they will not want to be embarrassed," BikeNZ high performance manager Michael Flynn told NZPA.

The quality of the sprint was tarnished by the non-appearance of Athens Olympic Games gold medal winning Canadian Lori-Ann Muenzer who cited a lack of finance and sponsorship for her withdrawal.

Meanwhile, Australian track coach Martin Barras defended the quality of the competitors in both events.

"It was the same thing at the last Commonwealth Games (Manchester 2002), to be honest, it's not going to be a large number.

"This competition for the girls very much is a matter of how good the girls are at the top.

"Originally we were looking at getting Lori-Ann on top of the Meares sisters and Victoria.

"Then we would have the defending Olympic champion (Muenzer), defending world champion (Pendleton), defending Commonwealth Games champion (Kerrie Meares) and the world record holder for the 500m (Anna Meares) in the same event.

"Lori-Ann pulling out takes a little bit away from that," he said.

A lack of competition has also threatened the New Zealand shooting teams' potential medal haul with only a gold possibly up for grabs in the women's double trap contested by defending Commonwealth champions Nadine Stanton and Teresa Borrell.

They face a tough ask against Australia and England.

Shooting team spokesman Tony Waymouth hoped there would eventually be enough competitors confirmed to allow three medals to be awarded. The field is expected to be finalised before tomorrow's opening ceremony.

- NZPA