Blackburn to appeal after World Championships snub

Bermuda swimmer Lisa Blackburn is furious after her 2013 FINA World Swimming Championships snub — and plans to appeal the decision.

Despite her performance at the Central American and Caribbean Amateur Swimming Confederation Championships in Costa Rica, where she picked up six golds, Blackburn has been overlooked for the Barcelona event this month, with Rebecca Heyliger getting the wildcard nod to compete alongside Roy-Allan Burch, who met the qualifying time.

Blackburn told the Bermuda Sun: “My name should be on that list to go to the World Championships. I am the top-ranked female swimmer in Bermuda, and I’m being left at home.”

She added: “Based on the selection criteria that was provided to the athletes, the first criteria is that you need to be the top scorer on the FINA points chart. I am that female athlete and I have not been selected to the team, they have opted to select another female representative.

“We also have two positions available based on the world governing body FINA’s selection criteria and Bermuda has opted not to send two females, which leaves me to stay at home, and that’s not right.”

The Bermuda Amateur Swimming Association’s decision also signals the end of her Rio 2016 Olympic dream. In order to be able to represent Bermuda at the Olympics as a wildcard selection she would need to be in attendance at the World Championships.

She said: “In 2012 I was not able to go to the Olympics because Bermuda did not select me to go to the World Championships in 2011.  Bermuda had no female representatives at the Olympic Games in 2012 and we need to have female representation at the Olympics in the sport of swimming.”

She plans to launch her appeal as soon as possible, saying: “I have a very small window for me to appeal the process and the decision that’s been made. There’s a limited amount of time, but hopefully something can be done about it because my name should be on that list.”