The beloved Hamish Cargill is back to discuss the debate (and subsequent appeal) surrounding the Australian eventing team, as well as the sales of Wellington boots. We’ve missed the great Hamish around these parts, and it’s a pleasure to hear from him again. Many thanks to Hamish for writing, and thank you for reading.
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Hamish Cargill and Tiger
Selection Trials
Dear Eventing Nation,
Since we last talked much has happened in the world of eventing. Rolex came and went and ‘The Fox’ won another Four Star. It rained a lot in England and Wellington boot sales skyrocketed, then Badminton pulled the plug and stocks in Wellington boot manufacturers slumped. Chris Burton won Saumur so the Queen had a party, but it rained on her parade so Wellington boot sales went through the roof again.
In preparation for the Olympics ‘The Fox’ built himself a bigger mantelpiece, and when Zara snuck into the English eventing team the London Games organisers cheered. Michael Jung won Luhmuhlen, some Aussies nearly won Luhmuhlen, but ‘The Fox’ was too busy with his mantelpiece to win Luhmuhlen. In the meantime, the USA named an Olympic eventing long-list, but decided to confuse everyone by calling it a short-list. And as people started to get excited about the Olympics, it rained some more in England.
Meanwhile, here in Australia…
…the Australian selectors picked our Olympic team, and everyone cried.
There’s no denying the Australian team of Clayton and Lucinda Fredericks, Shane Rose, Andrew Hoy and Chris Burton is a strong one. They’ve all enjoyed great success in English conditions over the years, and with the exception of Chris Burton they all have Olympic experience. That makes five world-class riders sitting on in-form, potential Olympic champions, each with the potential to spoil the private party that Michael Jung and The Fox had planned for Greenwich.
So why the long face?
If the team looks so good, why is Australia upset?
Ironically, it’s our strength in 2012 that’s caused the problem. Blessed with at least 15 combinations capable of winning a medal at the Games, we’re also cursed with 15 riders (and their family, connections and fans) who fully expected to make the team. And when it comes to shoehorning three Olympic teams into one, someone’s going to be unhappy when the music stops.
Team selection is a controversial business. Characterised by a degree of natural bias, it’s made harder by our familiarity with – and the likeability of – most of the riders involved. This makes it a decision that sits somewhere between choosing the best man at your wedding and your favourite child. Pick the right child and you produce the next leader of the free world. Make a mess of it and there’s a good chance one of your kids is going to end up a star on America’s Most Wanted.
Seeing it through their eyes.
For a hard-nosed competitor who’s been motivated by their Olympic dream for years, it’s easy to understand the difficulty involved in breaking a smile and saying thanks after missing out on the team. After all, few people would look forward to riding the unbroken two-year old in the back paddock while others bask in Olympic glory.
On a deeper level, actually seeing the merit in the team that’s been selected without you in it must be near impossible. And in this day and age, with a receptive audience of rusted on believers on social media sites, it’s easier than ever to vent your frustration to the world. While this ability to immediately express your joy and disappointment is generally positive, it can also make for some ugly and ungratifying reading.
A step further takes you into an appeals process. The Australian team is currently in limbo as it waits for appeals by three non-selected riders to be heard. Many potential Olympians have a sense of self-belief that runs on a higher plane, and for them the desire to formally appeal must be overwhelming.
But injustice is often in the eye of the beholder, and it’s difficult to believe a selection panel has anything but the best interests of the sport and medal tally at heart when they choose a team. Even so, the appeals would make for fascinating viewing and I suspect there’s going to be a conga-line of flies clambering up the wall of the hearing room.
Who’s the target?
There’s no shortage of people in Australia unhappy with the selection of Andrew Hoy. The internet forums (which are only ever a conduit for negative sentiment) have almost melted down under the weight of anti-Hoy commentary. This has mostly been a response to the circumstances of his eye-opening performance at Luhmuhlen. At the last minute he’s dragged himself from way out in left field, trampled over the heads of a number of more fancied riders and landed himself a spot on the team. Australian’s love an underdog and a few weeks ago Andrew might have been one – but after such a long absence from his homeland, he’s no longer our underdog, and it seems not everyone wants him.
It seems a little unfair but there’s not a lot of love left in Australia for Andrew Hoy. Despite his phenomenal record, he hasn’t sat on a horse here in the lifetime of many riders, and most of the Australian equestrian population thought he’d already retired to polish the medals he won in another era. In the meantime, a new crop of riders has emerged. After performing consistently over a number of years, many people thought this would be their opportunity to shine. They were our underdogs, and we wanted to watch them in London.
Rightly or wrongly, the Brit-turned-Aussie Lucinda Fredericks hasn’t yet been embraced by the average Australian eventer. Boyd and Phillip Dutton might now be as American as apple pie, but we haven’t been nearly as receptive to Lucinda. While we’ll happily adopt foreigners in the sports we’re weakest in (Australian-born weightlifters are hard to find), when they start edging out popular athletes in our more favoured pastimes we’re quick to question their citizenship.
In Lucinda’s case, the welcome mat’s never been thrown out. This is probably because – unlike Boyd and Phillip – she’s never competed here. But with a husband who’s as Aussie as Vegemite and an accent that’s had a little of its English polish scrubbed off over the years, the only thing that’s stopping her from actually being loved by a fickle Australian public is a glistening gold medal.
Who’s right?
As crazy as I am, I’m not going to wade into a selection debate. All I’ll say is that if he’d knocked even one less rail down at Luhmuhlen, Andrew’s performance would have been hard to fault. While his performances might not be as consistent as some others, a guy who’s competed at six Olympics and has more medals to his name than some small island nations should probably get the benefit of the doubt.
And as much as we hate to admit it, the performances of those we know best tend to be viewed through rose-coloured glasses. So while an Australian team drawn from within Australia would have been strong, only the very brave would ignore the amazing form of a group of riders who live far from us, but only a few hours from Greenwich.
See you somewhere out there.
Hamish
