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Para-Sport selection for athletics at the 2018 Commonwealth Games

Update 1st June 2017 - The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) have announced the Athlete Allocation process for the Para-Athletics events at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.

Allocation of places for athletes to compete in the Para Athletics events will be allocated by the CGF following the process detailed in the document that is available for download here.

England Athletics (EA) will be recommending to Commonwealth Games England (CGE) that it accepts each invitation allocated to an English athlete. (CGE is the Commonwealth Games Association for England, referred to as CGA in the Allocation System paper.)

Acceptance will be subject to the athlete having made provision of relevant information required by CGE, such as completion and signing of the Commonwealth Games Federation Eligibility form and CGE Team Member Agreement. All athletes must have completed the required anti-doping education process and athletes should have an up to date classification/confirmed sport class.

All those involved in the selection process for the CGE Athletics team must keep confidential and not disclose any information regarding any aspect of the process, the nominated athletes and the team selected unless authorised by EA. CGE and EA will work together to agree a media release and announcement of the team. Athletes informed of selection should not disclose this to any public body until the official announcement has been made.

Athletics Team Leader Martin Rush said, “We believe that the 2018 Commonwealth Games will be a tremendous opportunity for English athletes and we aim to take the strongest possible team to these Games.

“We are pleased that we are able to be able to publish these criteria for our para sport athletes and grateful for the support that has been shown by CGE in looking to make the most of the available places for our English athletes in these events.

“The para sport events are an important and integral part of the Commonwealth Games. The contributions and performances by our para sport athletes in Glasgow were a valuable part of the athletics teams’ successes in 2014 and we will be looking to build on these performances on the Gold Coast.

“I would encourage all athletes who have an ambition of making these games to make themselves aware of the criteria, and wish them every success in their performances in the build-up to the Games.”

More details on the 2018 Commonwealth Games including the selection process for non-para sport athletics events can be found at www.englandathletics.org/commonwealth-games. The Commonwealth Games England website is available at www.weareengland.org.

England Athletics Overview of CGF Para Athletics allocation system

It is essential all athletes and coaches read the full Commonwealth Games Federation ‘AAS’ policy which can be downloaded here. This overview is not a replacement for, and should not be read as a separate document to the ‘AAS’.

  1. The relevant Qualifying period is 31 October 2016 to 31 October 2017
  2. Please refer to the allocation policy for details of the events available
  3. Each event will have a maximum total of eight athletes from across all eligible countries
  4. Each Commonwealth Games Association (in the case of English athletes this is Commonwealth Games England) can have a maximum of three athletes in any event
  5. The Commonwealth Games Federation will send an invitation to Commonwealth Games England inviting specific athletes in a process based on the IPC world ranking database and on a ‘Universality’ clause. (see section 4 of the allocation system)
  6. England Athletics will recommend CGE accept all invitations on behalf of athletes (subject to the conditions as detailed in the allocation system)
  7. EA will confirm selection with para athletics athletes according to the timeline in the Allocation Policy and as soon as possible after 24 November 2017.
  8. EA will recommend CGE accepts all invitations. The Athlete Allocation System indicates CGF and Executive Board will have sole responsibility for any disputes arising from the athlete allocation system. There will therefore be no appeal to England Athletics or CGE.
  9. Queries about this process should be directed to Andy Day, Team Manager Commonwealth Games, England Athletics at aday@englandathletics.org.

Version 2. Updated 1.6.17 (replaces V1 27.4.17)

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