Cycling Australia today named five cyclists it intends to nominate to the Australian Olympic Committee for selection in the Australian team for the 2008 Olympic Games.

The pre-nominations relate to track sprint events only. The pre-nominations have been endorsed by Cycling Australia's High Performance Management Committee (HPMC).

The five sprint athletes who have secured pre-nomination are;

• Ryan Bayley (Alexander Heights , WA 09.03.1982)

• Daniel Ellis (Ngunnawal, ACT 07.10.1988)

• Mark French (Elwood, VIC 13.10.1984)

• Shane Kelly (Ararat, VIC 07.01.1972)

• Anna Meares (Gracemere, QLD 21.09.1983)

The final place in the sprint group nominees was decided today after Shane Kelly and Ben Kersten took part in a timed trial at Melbourne's Darebin Velodrome. The pair were timed over a distance of 625m with Kelly recording a time of 39.198 seconds and Kersten stopping the clock at 39.934 seconds.

Subsequent nomination to the AOC is subject to the following conditions:

1. From this date through until 25 June, the final date for submission of names by the selectors to the HPMC the athletes will be assessed on an ongoing basis to be free of any illness, or injury, or any other reason which will in the opinion of CA's medical and coaching staff adversely affect the athlete's ability to adequately prepare and subsequently perform at maximum capacity at the Olympic Games.

2. The athletes must comply with the CA National Team Agreement and any existing conditions of team membership.

3. The athlete must comply with the direction of the head track coach through until the end of the Olympic Games. This includes relocating to Adelaide and then Europe for pre-Games preparations.

The nominees have qualified for selection as per the 2008 Australian Olympic Team Nomination Criteria but selection of the Olympic Team will be conducted solely by the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC). Selection may also be contingent on the outcome of any appeals lodged against non-nomination.

The timeline for Cycling Australia's nomination process is below:

• 23 June 2008 - Monday (5pm AEST) Deadline for recording a performance and/or times and submission of information pertaining to results and performances.

• 25 June 2008 - Wednesday (5pm AEST) Deadline for National Selectors to lodge final nominations for the Olympic Team with the Cycling Australia CEO

• 26 June 2008 - Thursday (5pm AEST) Deadline for HPMC to review and endorse the nominations of the CA National Selection Committees

• 27 June 2008 - Friday (10am AEST) CA to commence advising Shadow Team members of the nominations (public release of full list of nominees)

• 1 July 2008 - Tuesday (5pm AEST) Closing date for athletes to lodge an appeal against non-nomination

• 2 July 2008 - Wednesday (5pm AEST) CA will nominate athletes to the AOC for selection in the 2008 Australian Olympic Team, including nominations subject to an appeal

• 4 July 2008 - Friday (10am AEST) Final date for nomination of athletes to the AOC. AOC will formally confirm team selections within 48 hours, subject to outstanding appeals

The Cycling Australia and Australian Olympic Committee nomination criteria for the 2008 Olympic Games can be downloaded in pdf format from the Selection Policies section of the Cycling Australia website: www.cycling.org.au

For further information (media only) please contact:
Gennie Sheer, Sheer Rhetoric - Communications Director, Cycling Australia
Tel: +61 (0) 418 863 533
Email:gennie.sheer@cycling.org.au
Cycling Australia website www.cycling.org.au