At the third time of asking, GB Taekwondo stuck to its decision yesterday to omit Aaron Cook, the world No 1, from the Olympic team in favour of Lutalo Muhammad, who is ranked 58 places beneath him.
The BOA has twice refused to accept Muhammad’s nomination, and must now meet again to decide whether Cook is simply the victim of a massive political stitch-up, or if there is some method to what many view as the madness of a private fiefdom.
The BOA has already broken fresh ground in the way it has opposed the nominations of one of its federations, but it will now be considering the legality of what has been described as “the nuclear option”, which is to toss out Muhammad and select Cook instead.
This would no doubt involve a legal challenge from GB Taekwondo. The BOA would surely also ask: if we selected Cook in this way, could he possibly be accepted by the taekwondo coaches within Team GB? Would it be counter-productive?
The BOA’s course will be heavily guided by its single observer at the selection meeting, Shahab Uddin. However, whether or not Cook is saved — and the odds are now heavily against — he has unwittingly ensured that no wannabe Olympians should ever be treated this way again.
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The Times understands that the patience of senior figures in the BOA has been broken and that, once London 2012 has passed, it will move to ensure that federations, such as GB Taekwondo, are never again allowed to be sole masters of selection.
Yesterday, for instance, it was no surprise that GB Taekwondo again selected Muhammad because the same five people sat on its selection panel. Henceforward, the BOA will be vetting selection policies to ensure no such repeats.
Although the BOA intends to punish its dysfunctional federations by withdrawing their independence, there were warning signs in 2008 when Tyrone “Tiger” Robinson was discarded by GB Taekwondo and his life unravelled so fast that he quit the sport and ended up in Spain last year on charges of serious fraud.
In 2008, Robinson was, like Cook, viewed as a wonder kid, a face of the future. Britain had to win certain bouts to qualify for places for the Beijing Games; Robinson achieved that in the under-58kg category by winning silver in a European qualifying event and yet the selectors picked Michael Harvey ahead of him. Robinson was the European bronze medal-winner and Harvey had rarely fought at under-58kg.
According to Seelan Rengasamy, a former Olympian and former national coach, that was an even worse decision. “Tiger was way ahead of Michael,” Rengasamy said. “But his face didn’t fit and they ruined his career.”
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Robinson’s coach was his uncle, Dennis Robinson. “I knew how GB Taekwondo operated,” he said. “Tyrone’s major problem was me. I had a few heated discussions with them and they took it out on him.”
The Robinsons never appealed because, according to Dennis, they were not informed of the appeals process. Less than a year after the Games, Robinson was cut from the World Class Performance Programme.
Why? “They don’t answer that, they don’t have to justify their decisions,” Robinson said. Three years later, Dennis says that he still has no answers.
And Robinson? “He took it in a bad way,” Dennis said. “It just got him down.”
Dennis Robinson blames himself for Cook’s misfortune. “If I’d carried my argument onwards, maybe this wouldn’t have happened,” he said. “But they’ve done it once, they’ve done it again. What are they going to do at the next Olympics?”
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That, at least, should not now be a problem.