Sean Allen
BRANT NEWS

Canada will not send participants to compete in the women’s marathon at the 2012 London Olympics.

That means Brantford’s Krista DuChene will have to wait until 2016 for a shot at her Olympic dream.

“Am I disappointed? Yes,” DuChene wrote on her blog. “Am I devastated? Definitely not.”

The decision not to send DuChene to the Olympics was made weeks ago, but she and fellow marathoner Lanni Marchant had a final appeal of that decision denied by the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada on Sunday morning.

DuChene and Marchant have been through a series of appeals to Athletics Canada and the Canadian Olympic Committee since their times in April’s Rotterdam Marathon were slower than the Canadian standard.

Though both Marchant and DuChene – who finished in sixth and seventh place in Rotterdam – were faster than the Olympic qualifying standard by a wide-margin, Athletics Canada and the COC maintain a higher standard.

DuChene’s coach, Rick Mannen, is disappointed with the decision, but looks forward to continuing training toward the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

“It is a shame that Canada has the two fastest female marathoners in the last six years, running the ninth and 10th fastest female times in Canadian history…and they are not going to represent our country at the Olympics,” Mannen said.

DuChene has said she hopes to represent Canada at the 2013 World Championships in Moscow.