VALENCIA, Spain (AP):

Sanya Richards doesn't want her Olympic hopes hanging on what she considers an antiquated selection process in the United States.

"It's a system that definitely needs to be reviewed and hopefully before I leave the sport, it will be," Richards said yesterday at the World Indoor Championships.

Richards said the United States could fail to field its best athletes in Beijing in August if the selection process, is not changed.

Richards, who won gold in the 2004 Athens Olympics in the 1,600m relay, is skipping the indoor season to concentrate on the Beijing Olympics, having made a full recovery from the health problems that closed out her season.

The trials will be held in Eugene, Oregon, from June 27-July 6.

Richards, a three-time US 400m outdoor champion, failed to qualify, for the outdoor worlds in Osaka, Japan, last year after finishing fourth at the US nationals due to illness. Instead, she ran the 200m and failed to get a medal, settling for a relay gold with the US 1600-metre team.

Perfect outdoor season

That followed a perfect outdoor season in the 400m, which Richards capped with a second straight Golden League jackpot prize of US$1 million (€651,900).

"Anything can happen on any given day and if someone is prepared to represent the country at a high level, I think they should be given an opportunity," Richards said. "The best system would be to have two places and one wild card that is picked by the coach or a committee of people."

Former Olympic 100-metre champion, Maurice Greene, defended the current system.

"That's the life we live. In the United States we have so many great athletes that when you go out to compete, you have to be ready for the day," the former 100m and 200m world champion told the Associated Press. "We're not like other countries where they have only one great athlete in each event. We have six great athletes in every event and that's why our system is what it is."

The system

Greene sympathised with Richards' health problems but believed the system was fair.

"In '95, I went to the World Championships. In '96, I was hurt all year long. So, you want to just let me go (to the Olympics)?" Greene asked.

"I feel bad for her, she wasn't able to go and I know if they had made some changes and adjustments she would have gone there and competed great, because she's a great athlete. But that's just our system."

Richards is not so sure.