KEY POINTS:
Olympic gold medallist John Walker says New Zealand marathon runner Liza Hunter-Galvan's chances at Beijing may have been skittled by her extended battle for selection.
"I feel for the girl now - to try and do a performance, she's had so much distraction, they've really set her up to fail rather than to succeed," Walker told The Dominion Post.
"I don't say that unkindly, I hope she succeeds in the very best possible way, but when you've got all those distractions and you should be getting on with the job of concentrating on the Olympics at this time of the year, that's where your mind should be and it shouldn't be anywhere else."
Texas-based Hunter-Galvan, 39, achieved an A qualifying time last October in finishing fifth in Amsterdam with a personal best two hours 30 minutes 40 seconds.
However, a 51st placing at the Athens Olympics and subsequent poor showings at the Helsinki world championships and the Melbourne Commonwealth Games counted against her as the Athletics New Zealand selectors said they would only be sending potential top-16 finishers.
An appeal, lodged with the Sports Tribunal of New Zealand prompted a selectors to reconsider their decision.
Walker said ANZ and the New Zealand Olympic Committee were right to set the bar high for selection, but he believed anyone who managed a qualifying time earned the right for inclusion.
"If you set a standard or set a time and you pass it and qualify, then you've got to go."
Hunter-Galvan believed she was still on track to put in a top performance.
She told NZPA yesterday her Olympic preparations had continued throughout the selection process and doubt over her spot in the team had even provided motivation.
"One of the things my lawyers and everyone kept telling me was, `keep your training up, keep your training up'.
"Every time I went to run a race, they said, `You have to do well here, you have to do well here.' I think I got more pressure from them than from anyone else."
- NZPA
