SERITA Shone has spoken of her shock and surprise at the decision which ultimately led to her quitting bobsleigh last month.

The 25-year-old from Weymouth retired from the sport after being overlooked for a development driver slot within the Great Brit-ain set-up.

Shone, who battled back from life-threatening injuries sustained in a training crash three years ago, thought she had done enough to gain selection following her performance at the national trials.

British chiefs chose to go with Shone’s close friend Nicola Mc-Sweeney instead, something that made the situation even more difficult to come to terms with.

According to Shone, she was then offered the position of brakeman due to a dearth of talented women in that department.

However, because of what she had gone through in October 2011 – Shone was at the back of the two-man bob when she was involved in the high-speed accident – she decided she didn’t want to put herself at risk of the same thing happening again.

Her decision not to brake was something she had informed the selectors of going into the trials, though she felt that shouldn’t have been held against her when it came to picking a development driver.

“In my mind, I should have been selected on the basis that my strengths represented how we work best in the sport,” she told Echosport.

“Apparently, due to a lack of experience, which in my mind defeats the object of a development position, was the reason I wasn’t selected.

“Apparently, one of the roles of a development driver is that you must be willing to brake as well. This was not communicated to me from the start of the trials.

“But because I had said when I decided to drive that I didn’t want to brake again, due to not wanting to be in a similar position as I was when I had my accident, it supposedly meant I wasn’t as selectable as the other girl and they gave her the position.

“I find it really odd because I was better in the tests, and it should be about the driving and pushing ability of an athlete.

“In fact, I was the fastest of the development drivers and in the top two female drivers in the whole team in the push tests.

“I definitely showed my physical capability which is why it’s a shock for me.

“Given that they decided they had one slot to fill, I felt it should have been me because I showed them I have the physical assets to be competitive and win medals, despite my inner battle with pain, mobility and problems related to the injury.”

Shone is of the opinion that had she not broken her back in that training run she would have had a “very good shot” at being involv-ed in this year’s Winter Olympics.

“In an ideal world, I would have loved to have said yes to braking, but if for some horrible reason I was to have the same accident again behind a novice driver I don’t know how my body would stand up to that,” she added.

“I’m not a cat with nine lives and I’ve got to look after myself as much as I can. I’m willing to do most things and I am a risk taker, and even getting back into the sport was a decision I made that people didn’t understand.

“People asked my why was I putting myself in that position again, but because it was a driving position and I was at the front of the bob and in control, I believed in my skills and had confidence that I would be as good as I thought I would, and I have proven my driving ability on a number of occasions.

“I’ve had a couple of crashes as a driver after my serious accident which showed that I was confident enough to push my limits to continue improving, but neither I nor my brakeman was injured, so I am not scared or afraid to take on the challenge.

“But not agreeing to brake, which was not part of the criteria communicated to me before the trials started, is something I believe should not be held against me or make me less selectable.

“They could have asked one brakewoman to specifically work with me, which is normal procedure when selecting just one driver. It seems that they were looking for a way of not selecting me.”

Despite leaving the sport, Shone takes some special memories with her into the next chapter of her life – she is on the way to becoming a fully qualified PE teacher and will continue to act as a mentor for Sky Sports.

“I don’t want to be fighting battles my whole life, I want to go out and achieve things and give my all, rather than having pointless arguments about political factors that affect decisions,” she said.

“I had to make a decision of what’s best for me. There may be some options for other things in the future but I need a few months to get my thoughts together and make some decisions.

“I wanted to take the opportunity to thank people for everything they did because without their support, financially, emotionally and physically, I wouldn’t have even been able to try.”

Commenting on the selection process, British Bobsleigh & Skel-eton Association CEO Richard Parker said: “High performance sport is an incredibly tough environment and selection criteria and decisions are challenging.

“I understand that this can be an emotive issue for athletes, and especially when they miss out after working hard it can be hard to process.

“Sadly, Serita did not match the criteria required for selection.”