A DOUBLE Olympic gold medallist from Poole has been snubbed from next summer’s list of Torch-bearers.

Sailor Rodney Pattisson MBE, who triumphed in the Flying Dutchman class at the 1968 and 1972 Games, and won silver in 1976, has failed in his bid to carry the Olympic flame when it comes to Dorset in July.

Parkstone Yacht Club thought the 68-year-old – who was the Olympic flagbearer at the 1976 Montreal Games opening ceremony – was the ideal candidate for one of 8,000 places nationwide.

But the London Organising Comm-ittee has rejected the nomination.

Mr Pattisson, from Hamworthy, said: “My thoughts on the matter are really the converse of Grou-cho Marx’s well known quote.

“I would of course want to become a member of a club that will not have me. My Olympic sport will be happening in my county, where I have lived most of my life and learnt to sail.

“If 1,350 people in Dorset have been selected to run 200 yards each, I would have liked to think that being the most successful Olympian in Dorset, I might have been included.”

Describing the decision as “a bit extraordinary”, the former triple World Champion said he is upset for himself and the yacht club, joking: “I wonder how they chose them – I have no criminal record.”

Fellow Parkstone Yacht Club member Peter Allam, who won bronze in 1984, has also been turned down for the honour ahead of the sailing events in Weymouth.

A LOCOG spokesman said teams of selection judges were looking for nomination stories that had the power to “motivate and inspire the watching world”.

They were judged anonymously and could be for contributions to sport, art, culture or community.