IAAF revise Olympic qualifying standards

Athletics News: Several changes in the entry standards for the Olympic Games have significantly increased the prospects of more Irish athletes securing qualification for Athens next summer.

Already James Nolan joins the list of qualified athletes after a notable reduction in the 1,500 metres qualifying time, and others are now much closer to securing the necessary times in their events.

The new entry standards for Athens, which were announced by the IAAF yesterday following approval at their council meeting in Berlin at the weekend, contain changes in 12 of the men's events, and 11 of the women's event - all of which are reduced by various margins, some quite considerable.

Original entry standards were approved last April, but it was clear the IAAF had run into trouble by setting them unreasonably high. The same standards were used for the World Championships in Paris last August but resulted in several events featuring quite paltry fields, especially the men's 1,500 metres.

The A standard for that event had been set at three minutes 34.90 seconds, but the revised time is 3:36.20. Nolan clocked 3:35.69 in Belgium last summer, which left him short of qualification for Paris, but that time now books his place for Athens as the qualification period goes back to the start of this year.

Crucially, the Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) has agreed to accept the amended IAAF qualifying standards. Two exceptions, however, do remain, in that the OCI qualification period ends on June 31st next year (the IAAF period runs to August 9th), and only A standard times will be accepted. Most other nations accept the slightly easier B standard if no athlete has attained the A standard in the same event.

For Nolan, who is currently training in South Africa, the revised entry standard has put a whole new complexion on next season. Originally he would have been chasing the 1,500 metres qualifying time early in the year when most athletes are still in hard training, but he can now focus entirely on hitting his peak for Athens.

According to Brendan Hackett, coach to Nolan and also secretary of the Irish Milers Club, the decision to lower the standards is greatly welcomed, but hardly surprising.

"This will have a massive impact on middle distance running in countries like Ireland," said Hackett. "There has been a huge problem keeping people in the sport when qualifying standards for major championships were so difficult.

"It had reached the point were we couldn't get anyone to qualifying in the 800 metres, and it was looking too like we would have no one in the 1,500 metres in Athens.

"So James is obviously delighted with the news. But the IAAF had to lower the standard when you remember how few athletes they had qualifying for the event in Paris."

Just 29 athletes contested the three 1,500 metres heats in Paris, which resulted in just five athletes being eliminated before the semi-finals. In fact the numbers qualifying in the event have been in steady decline since the inaugural World Championships in 1983, when 51 athletes qualified.

Although Nolan is the only Irish athlete to immediately benefit from the revised standards and qualify for Athens, several more lie extremely close. The standard for the 20km walk, for example, has been revised to 1:23.00 from 1:22.30 and Robert Heffernan has a time of 1:23.03 from May of this year.

Gareth Turnbull is also likely to join Nolan in the 1,500 metres as his best from this summer is 3:36.60. The difference between trying to run 3:36.20 and 3:34.90 is massive. Jeff Cassin also has a time of 4:01.01 in the 50km walk, where the standard has been revised from 3:57.00 to 4:00.00.

Six of eight field events for men also show reduced standards although they remain largely out of reach for the top-ranked Irish athletes. The javelin standard is revised from 83.50 metres to 81.80, which may yet inspire the veteran Terry McHugh, as the new standard falls within his best of 82.75, set three years ago in London.

The most significant change on the men's side is in the marathon, where the A standard is revised from 2:12.00 to 2:15.00. Already Mark Carroll has achieved that time with his 2:10.54 from New York but running 2:15.00 is certainly not outside the range of Martin McCarthy, who ran 2:18.45 in Berlin in September, or even Irish champion Gary Crossan, who clocked 2:20.27 in Dublin last month.

On the women's side there are two notable changes in the shorter events, with the 100 metres time revised from 11.27 to 11.30, and the 400 metres time from 51.37 to 51.50.

Karen Shinkins is still chasing the 400 metres time with a best of 52.06 this summer, although with a personal best of 51.07 she is well capable of achieving the standard before next June.

Currently nine Irish athletes have secured the necessary standards for Athens, including Nolan, but several more can be expected to join them.

According to the IAAF, standards were revised "to reflect current performance levels, and to facilitate the target figure of 2,000 athletes for the Athens Games".

Britain's Paula Radcliffe has never worried about qualifying times for Athens, although she did suffer a shock defeat yesterday in the 10km stage of the Chiba Ekiden relay in Japan. Both Berhane Adere of Ethiopia and Lucy Wangui of Kenya finished some 30 seconds ahead of Radcliffe, who complained afterwards about feeling "unwell".

Revised standards for Athens

(Original standard in brackets):

MEN - 1,500m: 3:36.20 (3:34.90); Marathon: 2:15.00 (2:12.00); 110m hurdles: 13.55 (13.54); 20km walk: 1:23.00 (1:22.30); 50km walk: 4:00.00 (3:57.00); Decathlon: 8000 (8090); Pole vault: 5.65 (5.70); Long Jump: 8.19 (8.20); Triple Jump: 16.95 (17.10); Discus: 64.00 (64.60); Hammer: 78.65 (79.50); Javelin: 81.80 (83.50);

WOMEN - 100m: 11.30 (11.27); 400m: 51.50 (51.37); Marathon: 2:37.00 (2:32.00); 20km walk: 1:33.30 (1:33.00); Heptathlon: 6050 (6150); High Jump: 1.91 B-standard (1.92); Pole vault: 4.25 B-standard (4.30); Long jump: 6.70 (6.75); Shot put: 17.15 B-Standard (17.15); Discus: 61.00 (63.40); Javelin: 60.50 (62.15).