Six would never fit into three. In choosing who would miss Australia’s women’s marathon team for Paris, athletics bosses had the three runners they ultimately chose stressing that they would be a late casualty.
The final choice of Sinead Diver, Genevieve Gregson and Jess Stenson prompted criticism from supporters of culled runner Lisa Weightman, including on social media from her husband Lachlan McArthur and from her former Australian team roommate, the former hurdling great and ex-Athletics Australia board member Sally Pearson.
Australia’s marathon mums Jessica Stenson - with eight-month-old daughter Ellie - and Genevieve Gregson - holding one-year-old son Archer - will be joined on the Australian team by Sinead Diver, also a mum. Credit: Joe Armao
McArthur challenged Stenson’s selection in his social media post, also asking that a photo of Weightman with Stenson on a podium after a race that was on Stenson’s X page (formerly Twitter) be removed. It was.
Stenson admitted the events of recent weeks were stressful, but would not be drawn into the spat.
“I actually haven’t engaged much with what’s been happening. I decided just to step back and focus on training and my family. I know there has been some commentary out there, but I don’t actually know the specifics of it,” said Stenson, who had her second child just seven months before she ran her marathon qualifying time earlier this year.
Weightman had run a quicker time in the qualifying period than Stenson, but times alone are less consequential for selectors in the marathon compared to other disciplines because of variations in courses run, and the conditions on the day.
Selectors favoured the championship performances of Stenson, the Commonwealth gold medallist who has finished ninth and 11th at two world championships.
Gregson and Diver admitted that, had they been in Weightman’s shoes, they too would have most likely appealed the decision.
Despite being told about a month ago that she was on the team, Gregson feared an appeal would re-open the selection process again and she would lose her hold on a place in the team of three.
Izzi Batt-Doyle and Eloise Wellings also qualified for selection, but it was Weightman who appealed and then considered court action to challenge for a place on the team, which delayed the formal announcement of the team.
Sinead Diver, Genevieve Gregson and Jessica Stenson have all been selected to run in the women’s marathon in Paris. Australian Olympic marathon team announced at Lakeside Stadium Albert Park. 3rd June 2024, The Age news Picture by JOE ARMAOCredit: Joe Armao
“It was going to be heartbreaking, no matter what,” said 34-year-old Gregson.
“When I heard that a girl had appealed, I kind of thought ‘yeah, that’s what happens’. I never felt safe, more just because I respect my opposition and I don’t necessarily think that anyone is a standout over the other.
“I thought the appeal would open up the floor for any of us to be switched out, so that’s why it’s been pretty stressful.”
The three women chosen to represent Australia are all mothers.
For Gregson, Paris will be her fourth Olympics but first as a marathoner.
She switched to the long-form event after rupturing both her Achilles tendons and collapsing while competing in the steeplechase at the Tokyo Olympics, a moment of despair that resulted in her being taken from the track in a wheelchair.
“I think when you’ve ruptured your Achilles on a steeplechase and you’re sitting in a pit, the last thing you think you’re going to do is run another steeplechase,” she said.
“So that kind of decided for me, but at the same time I knew in my heart I was not ready to retire from running. It is everything that I do, that I love.
Genevieve Gregson ruptured her Achilles tendon and needed assistance to leave the arena when she competed in the steeplechase at the Tokyo Olympics.Credit: Wires
Her late-career switch to the marathon even has her looking well beyond Paris, with hopes of competing at both LA and then the Brisbane, which would make her a six-time Olympian.
“I don’t think any of the girls are out there to, like, tear each other down. I think the only time when it got personal was on Twitter, but other than that an appeal process may feel personal,” Gregson said.
“I don’t feel like that’s Lisa sitting behind her husband going ‘say this’. I think it’s just a hard situation. There’s so much emotion involved. I know [my husband] Ryan is my biggest supporter in the world. I’d like to think that we’d have those conversations at home and just squash it there. But again, I’m not in Lisa’s position. I’m not in that family household. I can imagine how heartbroken they would be. And I guess we’ve just got to, you know, see it as a moment where he maybe had a lapse in judgment and that’s all it was.”
Diver, originally from County Mayo in Ireland, will compete at the Olympics for a second time following her 10th-place finish on debut in Tokyo. But she, too, feared she would miss out, despite posting the fastest qualifying time when she ran an Australian record of two hours, 21 minutes and 34 seconds in January.
“It wasn’t a given – just because I had the quickest time – that I’d be on the team, and I certainly didn’t feel, that I deserved it more than the other girls.
“I knew that, between the six of us, there was only very minor differences. So it could have been any three, and I was so nervous right up until I got the call,” she said.
Anna Meares, Australia’s chef de mission for Paris, admitted it was “a brutal luxury” to have so many athletes qualified.
Brett Robinson and Patrick Tiernan were picked for Australia men’s marathon team, with Liam Adams a chance to be added in the coming weeks.
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