Sailing: Tobin wins coveted Olympic place

Board sailor JP Tobin will be going to the Olympics. Photo / Richard Robinson.

Yachting New Zealand have avoided a potentially messy and drawn-out battle with the early Olympic nomination of Jon Paul Tobin in the highly contentious RS:X class.

Tobin was yesterday confirmed as New Zealand's sole representative in the boardsailing discipline, ousting defending Olympic champion Tom Ashley in the race for national selection.

The selection of the 34-year-old, who has twice been denied a spot at the Olympic Games by Ashley, ends the tight selection battle for next year's Games.

The selectors had the option of waiting until after March's RS:X world championships in Spain to make their decision. However, Tobin's strong and consistent form left the selectors with little option but to pick him if they wanted to avoid the risk of a curly situation developing in Spain.

Serious questions would also have been asked from on high.

YNZ did themselves no favours by keeping their selection criteria confidential, leaving themselves open to speculation that selectors would take a subjective approach to their decision-making and place too much emphasis on Ashley's past deeds.

The vague selection criteria appeared to be making some sports administrators nervous. Sailing is no stranger to Sports Tribunal hearings and there were genuine fears the selection of Ashley would lead them down this path again.

But New Zealand Olympic Committee secretary-general Kereyn Smith said the committee had not put any pressure on the YNZ selectors to make a decision now.

"We had no discussions at all about the nominations that they were going to make other than the fact that it was occurring and what our expectations were around the evidence of performance, etc," said Smith.

YNZ Olympic selection convener Terry Nicholas said the selectors gave serious consideration to letting the pair battle it out at next year's RS:X world championships, but felt to give the successful candidate the best possible chance of winning a medal in London, a decision needed to be made now.

"In the end it's a matter of preparation now for the Games and by giving the athletes clarity now, it gives them their best runway," he said.

"You can run scenarios through your head all day, but you'll just go on and on. In sport you've just got to sit down and look at what's in front of you, so we made the call."

Those in Team Ashley will likely see it that the selectors have made that call prematurely.

Ashley had been hampered by a hip injury earlier in the year, and with just one place separating the Beijing gold medallist and Tobin at the sailing worlds in Perth, there is an argument he deserved further opportunity to prove himself.

Neither Ashley nor his coach Dave Robertson were willing to talk last night, and asked for time to let the news sink in before commenting publicly.

YNZ's Olympic director Jez Fanstone said he did not know how Ashley had taken the news, but expected the fiercely competitive Aucklander would be hurting.

"Sport's pretty hard, you put your heart and soul into it ... so yeah, I'm sure he is bitterly disappointed," said Fanstone.

Also confirmed in the team were Peter Burling and Blair Tuke (49er), who won silver in Perth recently, and two bronze medal winners, Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie (women's 470), and Andrew Murdoch (Laser).

The women's RS:X and men's Finn and Star class have yet to be nominated. The Star class is yet to qualify for an Olympic spot. The 12 sailors named were the first of an expected 200-strong New Zealand Olympic team for the Games starting on July 27.

The next major Olympic team to be named will be the rowers in March. The last possible teams to be named are the basketballers, who must qualify at tournaments just a few weeks before the Games begin.