Email victim Webb wants explanation

Published on Thursday 15 November 2007 12:02

EDINBURGH hammer-thrower Shirley Webb has asked for a meeting with Scottish Athletics after being dumped by e-mail while working as an ambassador for Glasgow's Commonwealth Games bid.

The athlete was praised for her exuberance as a key member of the team that helped win the 2014 bid last Friday. But, despite throwing herself into the celebrations, Webb had learned on the evening before Glasgow's win that she had been dumped from Scottish Athletics' 35-strong squad of lottery-funded athletes.

A brief e-mail informed the 26-year-old that, after a season blighted by illness, she would no longer be supported in 2008.

"It came as a surprise and I don't know why I've been dropped," said Webb. "I got a brief e-mail telling me about it while I was in Sri Lanka, and I e-mailed back requesting a meeting, but I haven't heard anything since then. I really don't know why it's happened. I was under the impression I'd met the criteria."

Nigel Hetherington, Scottish Athletics' performance manager, said today. "Shirley has not been retained, but that's not to say that in the next 12 months she can't prove herself and go to the Games in New Delhi in 2010.

"There are three criteria: performance, progression and consistency. Shirley didn't measure up against a couple of key areas. We review our squad on a yearly basis. She knows what she has to do."