Alana Hadley Ineligible for Olympic Marathon Team

Alana Hadley Ineligible for Olympic Marathon Team

Feb 23, 2015 by James Cameron
Alana Hadley Ineligible for Olympic Marathon Team

Teenage marathon sensation Alana Hadley will not be age eligible for the 2016 Olympic Team. A Facebook post by Alana’s father and coach Mark Hadley states: 

“I wanted to inform you that we have learned in the last 24 hours that Alana’s name has been taken off the USATF list of athletes who have qualified because of a new age requirement for the event that we only recently became aware of. Evidently the IAAF.…puts out the eligibility requirements for competing in the Olympics sometime in the year before the event. For the 2012 Olympics they added a rule that states you must reach 20 yrs of age before the end of the Olympic year in order to compete in the marathon. The USOC/USATF expects the rule to be the same for the 2016 Olympics when it is released sometime later this year. With a January 8th birthday, Alana falls 8 days short of meeting this requirement....Frankly it is hard for us to fathom why a 19-yr-old (at that time) would not be deemed old enough for the Olympic Marathon if she had met the time and all other requirements and made her country's team.” 
 
Alana has kept a video diary on Flotrack. Her latest response is Alana’s reaction to the news: 
 


Alana also explains her feelings and emotions regarding the IAAF rule regarding the minimum age requirement for participating in the Olympic Trials and her new plans according to the news.

For more on Alana's journey as a professional runner, check out Alana Hadley: Growing Up Fast.

UPDATE: 
Alana will be allowed to compete in the Trials race but under the caveat of only being eligible for the National Championship placing and not the Olympic Team selection.