Guernsey marathon runner, Lee Merrien has made it into the Olympic team.
He will join Team GB in the men's marathon.
Merrien was the first British man home in last weekend’s Virgin London Marathon - in a personal best time of 2:13.41.
But his time fell short of the 2:12 qualifying standard, set by UK Athletics, and he was not included in the team earlier this week.
His non-selection led to an outcry and a 'Select Lee Merrien' page was set up on Facebook.
After today's announcement, Lee thanked Cara Soul on his Twitter page, after she set up the Facebook page to support him.
It received almost 3,000 'likes' of support.
He said: "Hi Cara, checkout the UKA website for the full story. Thankyou for your support."
The Guernsey athlete appealed through the formal UK Athletics appeal process but was unsuccessful.
But the selection panel was asked to reconsider if exceptional circumstances existed.
The UKA selection panel therefore reconvened and nominated Merrien to the BOA.
The athlete, currently on holiday in Lanzarote, said: “I am absolutely delighted to have been selected and I’d like to thank the selection panel for recognising the nature of my run at the weekend.
“I am now on a short rest break with my family and then I will resume training as I aim to put in my best ever performance in London.”
He will join Scott Overall and Dave Webb on the men’s marathon team, while the women’s team comprises Paula Radcliffe, Mara Yamauchi and Claire Hallissey.
The race is taking place on Sunday August 12th.
For more, tune in to Channel Report tonight at 6pm - or keep up to date here.
Leave your messages for Lee below...
Posted By: gerald on 09-May-2012
Fantastic achievement, best of luck, hope you set a personal best time then you can do no more than that.
Surprised you even received a mention on here, they dont seem to see past Rugby and Soccer, Count the number of posts attributed to those sports, compared to others.
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27/04/2012
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