Emily Sarsfield - petition to get the British Olympic Association to accept her "handback" place for Sochi

[CrispyFB]

I'm generally not one to link to petitions at all, in fact I've never done it on MN before! (I don't even know if it's allowed )

But I really feel for Emily Sarsfield, the British Ski Cross champion who narrowly missed qualifying (position 34 when she needed to be position 32) for Sochi. Some people dropped out from the places above so she got offered a "handback" position.

Unfortunately British Olympic policy, at odds with most other countries, does not allow British athletes to take handback places as they seemingly only want medal chances. Which at the Winter Olympics is pretty laughable but anyway. It's soooo not the Olympic spirit though. They've made exceptions in the past but they don't seem to be for this, despite the fact that Ski Cross by its nature is an event where anything could happen - champions out in the first heat etc.

There's still a few days before the offer is relinquished, and there's a petition doing the rounds in the hope that public support might make a difference. It may, it may not, but if nothing else it shows support for Emily.

There's more information on many media (BBC, ITV, newspapers etc) but the best link with the most information at the present time is probably this one if you want to know more: www.connexionfrance.com/Emily-Sarsfield-Sochi-Olympics-TeamGB-Hedda-Edwards-15424-view-article.html

The petition itself is here: www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/british-olympic-organisation-accept-emily-sarsfield-s-invitation-from-fis-to-participate-in-the-ski-cross-event-at-the-2014-winter-olympics-in-sochi - there's probably only a day or so left at most. It's nearly at 7.5K signatures and the person running the petition would love to see it hit 10K.

PS I have no connection to Emily at all, other than seeing her sometimes out and about at Hemel indoor slope where she helps to teach some of the very tiniest little skiers. She always has a smile on her face and seems really great with the children. The FIS have offered her that place, most other countries would have accepted it, she's self-funded, she stands a chance.. the BOA are being unfair.

[winklewoman]

I've just signed, thanks for posting this.

[trixymalixy]

Have signed. Totally bonkers as anything can happen in ski cross.

[KateSMumsnet]

Hello CrispyFB - afraid we don't allow folk to post petitions on the main talkboards, so we're going to move this to our petitions topic.