Snowsill appeals Olympic exclusion

Published Jun. 5, 2012 1:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

Olympic triathlon champion Emma Snowsill will appeal the decision to exclude her from the Australian team for the London Games.

Snowsill, who has been injured or ill for much of the past year, missed out on a place on Monday when the Australian Olympic Committee announced a team that includes the 2008 Beijing bronze medalist Emma Moffatt, Emma Jackson and Erin Densham, who has won two recent triathlons.

Showsill said in a statement she regrets if her appeal will affect others, but ''I feel it is a matter of importance that I take all avenues available to me to achieve my dream of competing at a second Olympic Games.

''Whatever the outcome, I will attempt to take all endeavors to see that the process is resolved as quickly as possible to hopefully serve as small a disruption to the team's preparation,'' the athlete wrote on her website on Tuesday.

No date has been set for the appeal that will be heard by a three-member Olympic Appeals Tribunal.

Densham won consecutive qualifying events - the Mooloolaba World Cup race and the opening World Championship Series race in Sydney - to work her way into contention and put Snowsill's place in jeopardy. Densham then all but clinched a spot with a second-place finish last month in San Diego, where Snowsill finished 17th.

Snowsill struggled with a gastrointestinal virus after returning from her training base in South Africa just ahead of Mooloolaba event on March 25 and had to withdraw. She was 14th in Sydney, one spot ahead of Moffatt.