KEY POINTS:
Any prospective Olympic representatives grumbling at the difficulty of the selection standards to get to Beijing next year are out of luck.
The qualifying criteria for all sports are out and New Zealand Olympic Committee secretary-general Barry Maister has defended any claims of "too hard" - not that he's expecting many.
Maister, a gold medal winner in the men's hockey team at Montreal 31 years ago, says times and distances and requirements for teams are set in consultation with national sports bodies and there's one priority: raising the bar.
The NZOC has at times set marks tougher than those laid down by the International Olympic Committee through its international federations. On occasions, some New Zealand associations have wanted higher pass marks than their parent body.
"We accept it is really hard for some sports and we understand they all want to have their Olympians and we're very mindful of that," said Maister. "But if someone gets eliminated within the first two minutes, I'm not sure what the legacy is for that sport. We want athletes to go further and won't apologise about maintaining what we think is a tough standard."
The broad expectation from the NZOC is that individuals will reach the top 16 of their event, and that teams progress beyond the first round.
Some sports won't make it. Take table tennis where, as Maister acknowledged, a top 16 New Zealander is unlikely.
Some discretion is used by the selectors - Maister, former Yachting New Zealand chief executive Simon Wickham and former Olympic rower Mike Stanley - and Maister hopes there always will be.
"Otherwise, why have selectors?" If a sport comes up with sound reasons why an athlete who has not met the standard should go, it will get a fair hearing.
New Zealand might have teams in men's and women's soccer, hockey and basketball in Beijing in August next year. Maister said there was the potential for New Zealand to field its biggest Olympic team, yet with fewer sports represented than in recent Games.
There will be 29 sports in Beijing, using aquatics, gymnastics, wrestling, cycling and canoeing as catch-all terms for their various disciplines.
Some athletes have already achieved qualifying times but in sports such as yachting or rowing competitors will be aiming to qualify New Zealand, rather than themselves, this year.
Others, such as swimmers, must perform at specific events; for triathletes, performances at the Beijing and Mooloolaba World Cups this year are critical, where simply being the first New Zealander across the line won't be good enough.
Soccer, hockey and basketball have to qualify through tournament play. The qualifying windows vary among the sports, and Maister raised the possibility that some sports might get a rejigging of their criteria.
"It's much more fluid than sitting here making black and white edicts about what you have to do to get in," Maister said.
"To some sports we've said 'see what you do this year, we'll meet in November, see how you're going and set some new criteria'. In other words, they may not be on the mark but go and do A, B, C and D and we'll look at it again."
Each sport has its own cutoff date and key events which are vital for selection. Sports will be named separately to reflect their individuality. Most have a date set down for their announcement, the majority being between March and late June.
The days of the big, blanket announcement are gone. Some will be named months earlier than others. Some prefer to let athletes know as soon as possible; others prefer to keep an edge to the selection process.
All information must be with the Beijing organising committee, Bocog, by July 5 and ideally Maister wants everything sorted out a week earlier.
But for the athletes, the next few months are all about proving they should be in China next year. And the proving ground is getting no easier.
