British 3000m steeplechaser Phil Norman has said his omission from the Team GB squad for the Olympic Games has left him “mentally exhausted”.
The 34-year-old from Barnstaple was 0.15 seconds off the standard set by UK Athletics (UKA) to be picked for Paris 2024, but was eligible for selection based on his world ranking.
His time of 8:18.65 – the fastest in the event by a British runner in 32 years – put him high enough in the rankings to be invited to take part in the Games, but UKA’s policy is to decline such invites where the athlete has not met their standard.
Norman ran at the last Olympics in Tokyo and made the final of the 2022 European Championships.
After being omitted from the squad, Norman appealed against the decision, but his request was turned down.
He is one of a number of British athletes who have not met the UKA’s standard to go the Olympics, but are eligible based on their world ranking.
The policy means that Team GB will have no female throwers in Paris, with Jade Lally, Anna Purchase and Amelia Campbell not selected in discus, hammer and shot put respectively.
“The whole process has left me mentally exhausted,” Norman said in a statement.
“It has made me ill, and it’s not only impacted me but also those close to me, mainly my wife.
“The result is a huge blow to athletes who have dedicated so much of their life to this sport and it shows complete disrespect to them, their achievements and an utter disregard to athletes’ well-being.”
Norman, who received no central funding, balanced training for the Olympics alongside working full time.
An online petition set up by the runner has had more than 7,000 signatures.
“What needs to change is the treatment of athletes and the undermining of their performances,” he added.
“Policies need to change to be directly in line with that of World Athletics and in this case the Olympic Charter.
“I am aware that I have not been able to change anything for myself but, my hope is that it can help future athletes.”
UKA defended their selection criteria for the Games, which start on 26 July, with a spokesperson saying that the World Athletics ranking qualification system was “not a direct invitation to the athlete to take part”.
“It is a different qualification route for athletes, allowing national federations to select athletes through this route if they consider it appropriate to do so,” the spokesperson added.
“UKA’s view is that those athletes should only be selected on similar principles to those selected through the direct qualification standards, i.e. those who are capable of making top eight in their event.
“The UKA standards reflect this and in most cases, those used for this year’s selection were the same standards we used for the World Athletics Championships last year.
“In selecting teams there will always be a line with some people unfortunately on the wrong side of it, and we do understand the disappointment of those who fall into this category.”
Great Britain will have 64 competitors in athletics in Paris this summer after a selection process which has been backed by the head of Team GB.
It includes medal contenders such as 1500m runner Josh Kerr and heptathlete Katarina Johnson-Thompson, who are both world champions, reigning 800m silver medallist Keely Hodgkinson and world indoor pole vault champion Molly Caudery.
“What we’ve seen is that UK Athletics have developed their selection standard over the first half of 2023,” Team GB’s chef de mission Mark England told BBC Sport.
“That was announced in July 2023 and every athlete had the opportunity to see what those standards were, to agree to what those standards were.
“The coaches and support infrastructure also saw that, so what we’re now seeing is the outcome of that selection standard, which is 64 very, very talented athletes who have made the Games.”
