BASA: Blackburn's performances are declining

The Bermuda Amateur Swimming Association has responded to leading swimmer Lisa Blackburn’s criticism in the wake of her omission from the World Swimming Championships squad.

Blackburn, who recently won six golds at the CCCAN meet, felt she should have been included in the squad — along with Rebecca Heyliger and Roy-Allan Burch — for the high-profile event in Barcelona this month.

In a press statement, the BASA  president Tim Petty said: ‘It is a disappointment to see that one of the Islands most experienced swimmers has chosen, as opposed to following the appropriate communication channels, to air complaints regarding a selection process in public. The Bermuda Amateur Swimming Association has a rigorous and well documented selection process regarding the qualification for overseas major meets with meet times and, where applicable, standards for wild card qualification.”

“All global meets have specific qualifying standards set as times which have to be achieved to attain qualification. For the FINA World Championships, only Roy-Allan Burch, has made the qualifying standard, consistent with the London Olympic Games in 2012.”

“Miss Blackburn has not made the qualification standard for either of the past two World Championships, nor the Olympic Games in 2012.” 

“Wild cards are available for certain sports and certain events. BASA has a selection process based on supporting developing athletes who are working towards qualifying in the future. It is expected that these athletes are training at an elite level with an elite team, regularly compete at major meets and are demonstrating significant improvement in their performances.”

“Miss Blackburn has continued to perform well when representing Bermuda, but during 2012-13, the competitions have been focused around Masters events (age 25 and over), as opposed to the US Grand Prix circuit, and her times are slower than in previous years.”

“In 2003, when representing Canada, Miss Blackburn posted a time of 2.31 for the 200m breast stroke, a time which would have afforded her selection for the current World Championships. At the Central American and Caribbean Amateur Swimming Confederation Champions (‘CCCAN’) meet last week, she posted a time of 2.49 for the same event, some 17 seconds slower than qualification. Her 100m Breast stroke swim, her best event, a time of 1.14.59 was swum which was slower than the time to win the 15-17 year age group, and some 3 seconds slower than she herself performed 3 years ago to set the Bermuda record. 

“The recent CCCAN meet reported on in the press is a strong development meet for the junior levels, however at the senior level the majority of events swum at the 18+ age group went straight to finals and some had as few as three participants. As such, whilst Miss Blackburn performed well, this should not be regarded as a world class level meet.”

“The wild card selection process was communicated to Miss Blackburn in fall 2012, and a meeting was held to clarify the wild card selection process. It was made clear at that stage that selection for Miss Blackburn was contingent on making the qualifying standard which she has unfortunately failed to achieve. Similar meetings/calls were held with all the Elite Swimmers in fall 2012 to ensure the process was clear.”

“As indicated in the selection of Rebecca Heyliger, BASA is keen to afford improving swimmers the experience to attend major meets with a view that they can continue their progression and qualify for future major international meets. Unfortunately Miss Blackburn’s performances are declining, not improving and therefore she has not been selected for the World Championships in Barcelona based on performances in 2012-13.”