The selection criteria from ANZ for international competition is very specific, and is applied to all athletes. Firstly, meet the qualifying time and, secondly, demonstrate the likelihood of a top 16 placing. The problem that LHG had, was that she had a long history of substandard performances, DNFs etc, at top level international meetings. It was felt by the selectors that her qualifying times were attained at soft meets, and that there was every chance she would fall over again, when the real athletes showed up. As it turned out, they were right.
As for the "you failed" sympathy card being passed around, it's a classic out of context quote, being used to deflect attention. The previous line stated that "you failed to meet the performance criteria". The next line was merely reiterating the first. Every athlete who did not perform as expected at Beijing recieved exactly the same notification. No one else burst into tears. The criteria was very specific, and everyone understood it.
The treatment that LHG received was no different to that of any other NZ athlete.
She has used every trick in the book to try and get her test results thrown out on technicalities, and is now trying to use the media to justify her deliberate choices. We've all had tough times in our lives, and we still chose not to cheat our colleagues. Dragging her kids into this merely showed the level of desperation. I'm glad that no one is buying into it.