Her personal motto is "never surrender the dream", but Sally Robbins, a 26-year-old Australian rower, has been denied the chance to make amends for one of the biggest chokes in Olympic history by being overlooked for the Beijing Games this summer.

With 400 metres to row in the final of the women's eights at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens - and Australia comfortably in the silver-medal position - Robbins dropped her oar, laid back and collapsed on to a team-mate's lap. Having looked certain to finish in the medals, Australia came last.

It was the second time that Robbins had collapsed close to victory. In the final of the quad at the 2002 World Championships in Seville, she also dropped her oar with Australia in first position. They finished fourth.

The Australian media, public and her rowing colleagues were merciless in their criticism, accusing Robbins of mental weakness and letting down the country. She was given the nickname "Lay Down Sally" after the Eric Clapton song.

"Fatigue set in and I just couldn't move," Robbins said, but she was slapped by a team-mate at the Welcome Home parade in Sydney and the Melbourne Herald Sun ran a headline: "It's Eight, Mate, Pull Your Weight." Those who defended her pointed out that Australia had qualified as the slowest of the finalists and the extra effort to get into the medal reckoning in the race had probably proved too much.

After two years of being mocked, Robbins announced in 2006 that she was going to attempt to qualify for the Beijing Olympics. She has been trialling in the double scull, an event that arguably takes more out of the rower than the eight, but this week she missed out on the final selection. Ironically, one of the two women to be chosen ahead of her was Catriona Sens, the former team-mate who slapped her.