Australia confirms Genevieve Gregson, Sinead Diver and Jessica Stenson as women’s marathon team – MASHAHER

Despite being told about a month ago that she was on the team, Gregson feared an appeal would re-open the selection process again and she would lose her hold on a place in the team of three.

Izzi Batt-Doyle and Eloise Wellings also qualified for selection, but it was Weightman who appealed and then considered court action to challenge for a place on the team, which delayed the formal announcement of the team.

“It was going to be heartbreaking, no matter what,” said 34-year-old Gregson.

“When I heard that a girl had appealed, I kind of thought ‘yeah, that’s what happens’. I never felt safe, more just because I respect my opposition and I don’t necessarily think that anyone is a standout over the other.

“I thought the appeal would open up the floor for any of us to be switched out, so that’s why it’s been pretty stressful.”

The three women chosen to represent Australia are all mothers.

For Gregson, Paris will be her fourth Olympics but first as a marathoner.

She switched to the long-form event after rupturing both her Achilles tendons and collapsing while competing in the steeplechase at the Tokyo Olympics, a moment of despair that resulted in her being taken from the track in a wheelchair.

“I think when you’ve ruptured your Achilles on a steeplechase and you’re sitting in a pit, the last thing you think you’re going to do is run another steeplechase,” she said.

“So that kind of decided for me, but at the same time I knew in my heart I was not ready to retire from running. It is everything that I do, that I love.

Her late-career switch to the marathon even has her looking well beyond Paris, with hopes of competing at both LA and then the Brisbane, which would make her a six-time Olympian.

“I don’t think any of the girls are out there to, like, tear each other down. I think the only time when it got personal was on Twitter, but other than that an appeal process may feel personal,” Gregson said.

“I don’t feel like that’s Lisa sitting behind her husband going ‘say this’. I think it’s just a hard situation. There’s so much emotion involved. I know [my husband] Ryan is my biggest supporter in the world. I’d like to think that we’d have those conversations at home and just squash it there. But again, I’m not in Lisa’s position. I’m not in that family household. I can imagine how heartbroken they would be. And I guess we’ve just got to, you know, see it as a moment where he maybe had a lapse in judgment and that’s all it was.”

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Diver, originally rom County Mayo in Ireland, will compete at the Olympics for a second time following her 10th-place finish on debut in Tokyo. But she, too, feared she would miss out, despite posting the fastest qualifying time when she ran an Australian record of two hours, 21 minutes and 34 seconds in January.

“It wasn’t a given – just because I had the quickest time – that I’d be on the team, and I certainly didn’t feel, that I deserved it more than the other girls.

“I knew that, between the six of us, there was only very minor differences. So it could have been any three, and I was so nervous right up until I got the call,” she said.

Anna Meares, Australia’s chef de mission for Paris, admitted it was “a brutal luxury” to have so many athletes qualified.

Brett Robinson and Patrick Tiernan were picked for Australia men’s marathon team, with Liam Adams a chance to be added in the coming weeks.

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