MELBOURNE National judo champion Rebecca Sullivan has become the first Australian athlete to win an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to gain selection for the Sydney Olympics.
Sullivan, 27, successfully appealed to CAS over her non-selection and will replace long-time 52kg division rival Angela Raguz in the team for the Olympics starting on September 15.
"If I had missed out on these games it would have been devastating for me," Sullivan said on Monday. "I always thought I was the best athlete for the position." Judo Federation executive director David Evans expressed surprise at the court's decision.
"Our original nomination (of Raguz) was done to the best of our knowledge, the court obviously saw it differently," he said.
(Reuter)