Were Wendy Houvenaghal's North of Ireland origins a factor....

[T Fearon]

In her non selection for the Great Britain ( but apparently not N.Ireland) cycling team that won a Gold Medal?

[Gabriel_Hurl]

Yes

Is that the answer you wanted?

[T Fearon]

No.I'm devastated as a British citizen I am now apparently treated less favourably than those on the mainland.

Wendy has had to out up with a lot.She was called Hooverbag by Jerome Quinn!

[93-DY-SAM]

Maybe Upperlands finest will deflect to Team Ireland now

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/19147279

[theticklemister]

Sour grapes, je we have a wile pile of whingers up here..... Wendy Hooverbag, Paddy Bradley, John Brennan, Joe Brolly, Nell McCafferty, Gregory Campbell................ The list is endless hahaha

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

No.I'm devastated as a British citizen I am now apparently treated less favourably than those on the mainland.

Wendy has had to out up with a lot.She was called Hooverbag by Jerome Quinn!

Sorry Tony but there are no citizens in Britain, you are a British subject.

But, he doesn't reside in Britain! 

[Orior]

Q. How do you know when you are on a plane full of Derry people?

A. When the engines stop, you can still hear the whining

[ziggysego]

Q. How do you know when you are on a plane full of Derry people?

A. When the engines stop, you can still hear the whining

[never kickt a ball]

London Eye – WendyHouvenaghel
August 6, 2012

London Eye – Wendy Houvenaghel

By Nigel Ringland



Amid all the celebration and jubilation at the success of the Great Britain cyclists at the velodrome over the weekend Wendy Houvenaghel undeservedly missed out.

On Friday she sat in the pen and watched Laura Trott, Joanna Rowsell and Dani King set the fastest time in qualifying, setting a new world record and quicker than anyone else by nearly four seconds.

As other countries, including eventual silver medalists, USA, changed riders for the first round and subsequent medal races on Saturday, Wendy sat alone again, waiting, wondering.

Now lets get one thing straight. Sport at the very highest level can be ruthless and without sentiment.

Back at the world cup event in London in February Wendy rode with Rowsell and Trott in qualifying when they finished second.

They all agreed they'd been surprised by the noise of the crowd and went out too fast – by the way the initial pace was set by Rowsell – but it was Wendy who was dropped for the final.

At the time little did she or any of us realise that would be the last team pursuit she would ride for Great Britain.

At the world championships in Melbourne in April – remember Wendy is a three-time world champion in the team pursuit – she was ignored for both qualifying and the final.

"It's been a pure emotional rollercoaster. I was anticipating coming in for the final and it didn't materialize so I had to just go away and deal with that and refocus," she said afterwards.

Behind the scenes however Wendy was considering whether to carry on at all. With just over 100 days to go until the Olympics was it worth putting in all the time and effort for no reward at the end.

GB cycling begged her to stay on because in order to maximize training there needs to be four girls pushing each other on.

There was also the difference in the Olympic schedule to consider as well with three rounds of racing and not two as normal. Even if you were to race once you would be guaranteed a medal.

Speaking back in April Wendy said, "At the Olympics there will be three rounds of racing and not two with only an hour of recovery time between the semi-finals and medal races. GB has the distinction of having four world-class riders and will look to use to use that to their advantage by sharing the workload. The different format for the Olympics means it's more promising that the four riders will all be used and I think that the frustration and disappointment I felt last week after being left out of the team pursuit will motivate me more than ever to make sure I get into the final line-up for the Games. Our Performance Manager, Shane Sutton, said that I could have stepped in at any stage and the team would have won gold so it's not like I'm not going well. This time they went with the same line-up but I would anticipate all four being used in the Olympics. It's not over yet, there are four or so month's left to go and a lot changes in that time. I'm very much in the hunt. I won't be stepping aside or making it easy for any of the others."

Even the team pursuit coach Paul Manning appeared to agree that all four riders would be used.

In May he explained, "We will consider utilising all four because they are so close it is a genuine prospect we will use them. We just have to see how the competition pans out and ultimately where everyone's form is on the run in, it will be a very tough decision."

So Wendy went to the training camps in Mallorca, not only pushing the other girls on but also bettering their times in training.

She couldn't do anymore.

GB cycling even insisted she turn up and do a pre-Games press conference here at the Main Press Centre last week. You've got to ask why make her do that if they had no intention of racing her.

Yes, Wendy is 37 while the other three girls are in their late teens and early twenties, they tweet, post pictures, they are the faces GB cycling like to project and they are all extraordinary talented athletes, no one is denying that and in their last six rides they've broken the world record on each occasion.

The coaches will point that out, that they made the right decision. But let's make this clear.

Had Wendy raced there would have been no difference in the result in any of the races.

Surely she deserved to race once – in qualifying or at least in the first round – just once so she could celebrate a gold medal with her team mates and bring to and end a career where she has dedicated the last six years of her life to trying to win an Olympic gold.

People will point out that Andy Tennant missed out on a gold in the men's team pursuit in similar circumstances but the margins in that event were much smaller.

The women were three and a half seconds faster that anyone else in qualifying and Wendy Houvenaghel doesn't cost you three and a half seconds.

On Saturday following the first round no one spoke to Wendy as she sat alone, warm-up completed, ready to race. Manning had a long chat with Rowsell before he had a quick word with Sutton.

It was Sutton who then walked over to Wendy and delivered the news. Wendy packed her back and quietly left the arena before the final. What she must have been feeling I can't possibly imagine.

It was cruel and it was brutal and in my opinion unfair.

David Beckham being selected for the GB football team would have been a sentimental decision.

Wendy racing in one of the three rounds would not have been. She is an elite high performance athlete and was here because she was at the same level as her team mates.

Wendy could have raced, she should have raced, and what went on behind the scenes will be her story to tell when she's ready but I think there will be much more to come.

[AQMP]

There's always Team Ireland at Rio...

[sheamy]

The Culnady Knights of King Solomon march at dawn. Damn you, England.

[omagh_gael]

You have to feel for her reading that. Appears to have been fcuked over big time.

[dillinger]

/quote
It's been British Citizen for a while now i beiieve.]

[theticklemister]

well it was written by Nigel Ringland so it is going to be totally subjective

[johnneycool]

In her non selection for the Great Britain ( but apparently not N.Ireland) cycling team that won a Gold Medal?

But is she a katlic?

I think it is very important that we know this.