John Steffensen fires another verbal tirade at Athletics Australia

[John]

JOHN Steffensen has accused Athletics Australia of racism after being overlooked for an individual 400m spot at the Olympic Games.
The Commonwealth Games champion last night launched a Twitter attack and threatened to boycott the Olympics after rising teenage star Steve Solomon was given the only available position.

And he did not let up this morning, appearing on Channel 9 and accusing AA of discriminating against him.

"I've put up with being racially vilified by this federation, being discriminated against on many teams," Steffensen said.

"It'd help if I was (a) different colour, then a lot of decisions with my federation would be totally different, but I've never brought that up, I've always kept quiet on that."

"But it is the fact, it's the way it is, but I live with it and I keep running and I keep representing my country and I keep winning Australian trials."

Steffensen last night suggested he might withdraw from the Games, giving up his position in the 4x400m relay team.

"I dnt want no handouts cause I didn't earn my spot!! But if they put another ath ahead of me then I'm pulling out the games!!" he tweeted.

It was always going to be a tough decision for the AA selectors as Steffensen and Solomon both had B-standard qualifying times, but had failed to run the A-standard which would have guaranteed selection.

Steffensen defeated Solomon in the Olympic trial in March before getting injured in the final of the Stawell Gift, with that hamstring injury coming back to haunt his London preparation.

While he has struggled, 19-year-old Solomon has excelled and won a bronze medal at the world junior championships in Barcelona on Friday in a personal-best time of 45.52sec - just 0.22sec outside the A-standard time.

Steffensen received confirmation of his non-selection via email from AA chairman of selectors Dion Russell.

The 29-year-old again indicated this morning he was reconsidering his future after the Games snub.

"Do you think I do this for fun? You think I waste my time running at training for fun? For this? No, they can have athletics, I don't need to do this no more, I'm happy with my life," he said.

"I followed the rules, I run trials, I win trials, I didn't make the qualification. You never heard of me this last six months. I didn't say nothing. I was going to run the relay and go home and do the right thing by the sport."

"So now I'm saying something because they're not doing the right thing by me and at age 30 and the amount of years and effort I've put into the sport and the medals and everything I've done for the sport, I deserve a little bit of respect."

There are many who are predicting Solomon could become one of the best 400m runners in the world. "This kid is a gun," leading coach Nic Bideau said.

Former Olympian and Channel 9 commentator David Culbert hasn't ruled out Solomon being a factor in London.

"He certainly has all the goods to make the final, he's that good," he said.

Solomon was defeated by the Dominion Republic's Luguelin Santos, who has won a number of races on the European circuit this year and, despite only being 18, is considered a medal threat in London.

Steffensen, who turns 30 next month, has never been selected for an individual 400m berth at the Olympics even though he has been to the past two Games as a member of the 4x400m relay team.

http://www.news.com.au/news/john-ste...-1226426123488

[kitkat1]

Don't know John Steffensen's particular circumstances but racial villification would be a hard allegation to sustain against Athletics Australia which has appointed to black British men as head coach/high performance managers out of the last three men to be in the role. They are Eric Hollingsworth (2009- current) and Keith Connor (late 2000 to mid-2005 from memory), both of whom have held the role for at least four years.

[hornblower]

plus they have selected several aboriginals over many years...

[sady]

I can understand the frustration he is going through.

A bit over the top.

[mortac8]

All he had to do was run the A standard...

[sady]

Sounds like the OC have nominated 2 athletes.

If the OG are their own identity then AA maybe should have followed protocol then maybe ???

[Neospeed]

Don't know John Steffensen's particular circumstances but racial villification would be a hard allegation to sustain against Athletics Australia which has appointed to black British men as head coach/high performance managers out of the last three men to be in the role. They are Eric Hollingsworth (2009- current) and Keith Connor (late 2000 to mid-2005 from memory), both of whom have held the role for at least four years.

Eric Hollingsworth is black? I must be color blind LOL.

[kitkat1]

More coloured than Steffensen (and for that matter darker skinned than some of the blonde Aborigines protesting for Land Rights.) albeit Steff is from South Africa OK.

[T-Slow]

I know he irritates people with his antics, but when you beat someone at trials and they take some younger guy, I'd be pissed too. The amount of time, energy given to training (not to mention other opportunities forsaken) for a 30 year old athlete must be respected. Yes, if he ran the A standard that would have been ideal, but sometimes it's physically impossible, in this case possibly because he ran a lucrative pro race with a markedly different velocity curve than his specialty because the money may have been too good to pass up. Is that the likely scenario KitKat?

[Youngy]

Eric Hollingsworth is black? I must be color blind LOL.

Are you serious Neospeed? You need to get your eyes checked. Eric has the same skin colour as Steffensen. Point KK is making is that if there was any semblance of truth to Steffensen's racial vilification claims, neither Keith Connor or Eric Hollingsworth would have got a look in as head coach.

This is typical of Steffensen - when he's running well, he's happy, enjoys the limelight and the accolades.

BUT when he's struggling (46.45 last start suggests he's a long way from decent shape) he creates confrontations and accuses everyone else of conspiring against him. AA and especially its CEO Dallas O'Brien have worked overtime helping this bloke and as soon as he misses out to a 19 year old who is in much better shape, it's AA's fault and Dallas is a liar.

When pressed for one example of this alleged racial vilification, he claims "no-one wants to know about that stuff" so he offers nothing.

On the contrary if there have been incidents of him being disadvantaged on account of the colour of his skin then WE all want to know about it. The media would be all over it.

An out of form Steffensen is an out of control Steffensen. He refuses to acknowledge the reality of his current predicament. There's a guy 11 years his junior in much better nick and that's why Steve Solomon has been selected for an individual spot.