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Nervous wait for bobsleigh team

Nervous wait for bobsleigh team

02/09/2010 11:15:03 AM

Australian bobsleigh athletes Astrid Loch-Wilkinson and Cecilia McIntosh are in for a restless night as they wait to see if they have won an appeal to compete in the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games.

The Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) took their case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Monday (local time) arguing that the Australian two-man bobsleigh team should be added to the competition.

The CAS adjourned the matter and will announce their decision at noon on Tuesday.

"I won't sleep well tonight," McIntosh admitted. "But competing at the Olympic Games is what I have wanted since I was 10 years old."

Loch-Wilkinson added: "We think we got a fair hearing and hopefully the decision will go in our favour."

The AOC appealed after the International Bobsleigh Federation (FIBT) omitted the Australian pair after they achieved the minimum qualification standard.

During the hearing in Vancouver, the AOC argued the FIBT erred in not selecting a team from Oceania because all continents in the five Olympic rings should be included in events as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) encourages 'universality'.

As a result the AOC put to the CAS that an extra sled should be added to the field of 20 so that Oceania is represented.

"Our preferred option is to have the Australian girls added to the competition," said AOC director of sport Fiona de Jong.

The second option is for the two-man team from Ireland to be omitted.

Ireland was represented at the hearing by Patrick Hickey who is an IOC member and president of the Olympic Council of Ireland.

Hickey said a loss at the CAS 'would be worse than the (Thierry Henry) handball that knocked Ireland out of the (FIFA) World Cup'.

Hickey continued: "But at the end of the day we will all sit down and have a beer."

Loch-Wilkinson and McIntosh have been training on the Olympic course this week at Whistler and have their bags packed waiting to enter the Olympic Village.

 
Photograph Copyright : Getty Images

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