John Steffensen is boycotting the Delhi Commonwealth Games in protest at his "unfair" treatment by Athletics Australia. The Daily Telegraph, publisher of Steffensen's "exclusive", is crying "poor John". I have to disagree. Athletics Australia got this one right. 

Steffensen requested a medical exemption prior to the National Championships in April. The National Championships doubled as the Commonwealth Games Selection Trials. Steffensen had undergone back surgery 13 weeks earlier, and believed racing at the Nationals would hamper his Commonwealth Games preparation. Steffensen was granted an exemption from the Championships, but not a guarantee of selection in the individual 400m. 

The reasoning for this decision was simple. Four Australian men had run the "A" qualifying standard in the 400m - including Steffensen. Only three can be selected in the individual event. Steffensen's performances were not such as to suggest he had any better claim to an individual berth than any of these other men. Ben Offereins, of WA, had been the standout performer. 

The Selection Policy specifies that the top two places at the National Championships, providing they run the "A" standard, are automatically selected. The third place comes down to Selectors' discretion. Steffensen's request was for an automatic selection, or alternatively, for that third spot to be left open - presumably for him to be selected at a later date. 

Sprinter Matt Shirvington came to Steffensen's defence, arguing that the requirement to compete at the National Championships in April means that athletes are required to "double peak." In other words, by forcing athletes to run fast in April (to qualify), they are sacrificing their ability to race well in October (at the Commonwealth Games). 

Shirvington and Steffensen are correct in this respect: there are difficulties involved in "double peaking." What they are wrong about is suggesting that Athletics Australia have stupidly ignored this issue. They haven't. How best to accommodate high performance periodisation is an issue which Athletics Australia has been grappling with for many years. It is a difficulty that has been for around for as long as Australia's summer has failed to coincide with Europe's summer ... a rather long time.  

To put it simply, the easiest way to structure a training program is to break it up into training phases that lead to one big competition. It has been argued that the structure of the Australian season means that Aussies run best during our summer, but peter out before the big meets in the European summer. 

Because of this, Athletics Australia made a compromise. Athletes who had shown top international form the previous year, such as Dani Samuels (discus), Sally Pearson (hurdles) and Steve Hooker (pole vault), could be pre-selected and exempted from the National Championships. 

The rest, it was decided, would race for their spots at Nationals. Athletics Australia will be the first to concede that this scenario is not perfect, but it is the best of an imperfect bunch of possible solutions. There is strong reasoning behind it. Athletics Australia has been working hard to raise the profile of the sport within this country, and encouraging athletes to compete on home soil. The decision to promote our own domestic season was to encourage growth of the sport. 

It was also supported on the High Performance front. AA has been cognisant of a tendency of Aussie athletes to perform well at smaller meets, but not in cut-throat competition when it counts. Necessitating performance at the National Championships was consistent with a selection policy seeking to differentiate those who can perform under pressure and those who cannot. 

Lining all athletes up against each other is one of the fairest ways of determining who is the most worthy. An alternative solution could have been a selection meet held later in the year, but this would have clashed with the European racing season, and near impossible to get all athletes competing at the same time in the same place. Selectors would have been forced to consider times run by different athletes in different meets and different conditions. 

By comparison, the National Championships, with all athletes competing in the same race, provides a much better indication of comparative speed. 

Making an exception for Steffensen, and holding a special meet (as suggested) six weeks out from the Commonwealth Games would also have been problematic, and in fact presents a much more difficult peaking problem than the National Championships' "double peak".

Many coaches will in fact be putting their athletes through their toughest training block six weeks out, making it much more difficult to run exceptionally fast. Athletes would be faced with the same dilemma of sacrificing a good Commonwealth Games preparation for a good selection race. 

Peaking months out, such as at the National Championships, at least allows enough time for a "double peak," and is likely to be less interruptive to training. The "double peak," while difficult to perfect, is one that Australian athletes should be familiar with. After all, all other sports seem to be managing the "double peak" quite well, so there is plenty of science out there on how it is done. 

Steffensen has to remember that the selection policy was not written to rob him of his rights, but to ensure the best possible team was selected for the Commonwealth Games. It is impossible to write any policy that will make everyone happy. What may seem fair to most may not in practice apply fairly to all. But having a selection policy, and sticking to it, is a good start in keeping its application as fair as possible. 

A little respect from Steffensen for his fellow athletes would be nice. Offereins, Sean Wroe, Joel Milburn and Kevin Young are all exceptionally talented performers who can't be denied their own opportunity to represent Australia merely because Steffensen has a higher profile. 

All credit to Steffensen, who did end up competing at the Nationals and finished second to earn his spot fair and square. But to give it up now in a hissy fit not only misrepresents the decision made by the selectors, but lets down his 4x400m relay team and the Australian track and field team as a whole.