Victoria Dronsfield was defended after switching to Great Britain

SM winner Victoria Dronsfield was ready to compete for Great Britain.

Then the storm started.

But now she is being defended by Europe's best female 400m runner.

– She shouldn't worry about Richard Quilty's comments, says Martin Rooney to SportExpressen.

On Wednesday, SportExpressen was able to report that Victoria Dronsfield, 23, had been granted clearance to compete for Great Britain.

The injury-plagued high jump talent, who has a father from England, explained that the main reason behind this was to be able to continue training with his coach Fouz Ahmed in Birmingham.

But then everything took an unexpected turn, to say the least.

Four more athletes have been given the green light to move to the Great Britain national team – and then speedster Richard Quilty has had enough.

“No problem”

He said in a sarcastic comment: “It will be exciting for fans to see home-grown talent in the UK national team…or wait now…” He continued: “All the runners on the team I talked to feel the same thing, but they don't dare say it.”

The Daily Mail described the whole thing as a rebellion against “plastic Britons” and in the British media Dronsfield appeared in pictures here and there.

But now Martin Rooney is putting his foot down.

The 400m gold medalist distances himself from Richard Quilty's comments and says Victoria Dronsfield and others are welcome.

– She lives in the UK, doesn't she? She's training there. She has a father who comes from there. No problem, says Ronnie when interviewed by SportExpressen regarding the Sollentuna GP.

– Kelty says things first and thinks later. It's going too fast.

Dronsfield will undergo surgery

Continue:

His comments should be his and not anyone else’s. He doesn't speak for the whole of Britain, so don't worry.

Victoria Dronsfield, who finished seventh at the JVM Championships in 2010 and won world championship gold in 2012, will have surgery on her injured foot this summer and doesn't know when she'll be able to jump high again. She mostly laughed at Richard Quilty's antics, even though she thought so “A bit racist” And Martin Rooney thinks she's absolutely right about that.

Ronnie says: – If you let the media talk down, you will get into trouble very quickly.

– It is important for her to fight, come back and fight for a place in the team.

Notably, Richard Quilty injured the back of his thigh less than 24 hours after coming off and will now miss the British Championships in Birmingham in early July.