New scheme lifts pressure to perform

ATHELTICS: Despite generous State funding, Ireland's runners, jumpers and swimmers failed to meet popular expectations at the Athens Olympic Games.

And now former World 5,000-metre champion Eamonn Coghlan, Renault boss Bill Cullen and Dublin City University (DCU) have figured out an alternative way to push young athletes forward without the associated pressure of having to achieve pre-set times in order to qualify for further financial assistance.

Yesterday six athletes were chosen to share €200,000 from Cullen's Sunshine Scholarship Fund, which will be invested over the next three years to further the athletic and academic careers of six young DCU athletes.

Mark Christie from Mullingar AC, Azmera Gebrezgi from Celtic AC, Tracey Williams from Tallaght AC, Daragh Greene from Dunleer AC, Colin Costello of Star of the Sea, Co Meath, and Barry Murphy of CRC Swimming Club have been handpicked for the scheme.

They have been chosen simply because they are unusually talented. There was no carding system or grant-application form, nor even a particularly democratic selection process. Rather a well-proven track record demonstrating that these are six young athletes at the top of their field. Several of them will probably end up in an Irish vest in Beijing in four years' time.

The recipients will receive on-campus accommodation, physiological screening, medical support and a travel allowance for international meetings but there will be no pressure to win medals or set records. The initiative is designed to encourage the athletes at the developmental end of their careers, when they may not be able to qualify for significant state assistance.

"We started to identify budding athletes of the future," said Enda Fitzpatrick of DCU. "It could have been others but we've chosen these on their potential to achieve. We have tested all of these athletes and we've a good profile on all of them.

"There is no reason why our athletes should not be able to compete with the best in the world."

Coghlan was outspoken in his recent television appearances and in newspaper stories during the Olympic Games on the need to fund the younger end of the athletic pool but insisted pressure be removed from young shoulders.

"This is not necessarily about Beijing but to take off the pressure so that they can pursue their athletic dreams and their educational dreams," he said.

Gebrezgi competed for Eritrea at the World Cross Country Championships in Dublin and never returned home. Since 2002 she has won 15 underage Irish Schools titles. Christie placed sixth in last year's European Junior Cross Country Championships while Williams is a wonderfully talented self-coached athlete and Irish schools 3,000-metre champion.

Greene is an all-round sportsman and has competed for Ireland at distances from 200 metres to 1,500 metres and turned down a number of soccer academies in England.

Costello is the national senior indoor 1,500-metre champion and Irish schools 1,500-metre champion. In 2003 he was Ireland's junior athlete of the year.

Murphy is the only non-track and field athlete and is currently a member of team Ireland. He was a finalist at the European Junior Championships in Glasgow last year and national junior champion in the 50 metre freestyle.