At three months to go before the first race of the Sydney 2000 Olympics, the Irish Sailing Association will today announce the final three boat line-up for the national squad. No surprises are expected but the news does mark the end of a significant period of training and competition.
First to reach the ISA nomination standard was Baltimore's Maria Coleman competing in the Europe single-hander. Having originally declared for the 1996 Savannah Games, she instead opted to take up the role of training partner for Denmark's Kristine Roug.
When the Dane won Gold at the Olympics, Coleman was credited for having made a significant contribution to the result and was given total access to all facilities for 2000 by a grateful nation. Over the last 15 months, the West Cork sailor has never finished worse than tenth in any major regatta and has had a similar world ranking. Next up was Ireland's second single-hander who is a veteran from the 1996 games. Malahide's David Burrows was confirmed as the Finn class representative 12 months after a gruelling selection series. Three boats competed for the place and while Colin Chapman may yet be a candidate for Athens 2004, the true decider was between Burrows and John Driscoll.
Ironically, both were rated in the top ten of the Eurolymp rankings, a rare first for Irish sailing, but with only one place available at Sydney, the loser was obliged to bow out. Driscoll did so with grace. The third boat for the team was a relative late starter for Sydney 2000 although the calibre of the two crew was unquestioned. Cork Olympic veteran Mark Mansfield returns to the Star keelboat class for the third time.
Previous crews have been Tom McWilliam in Barcelona in 1992 and David Burrows in 1996. This year, former World and European Fireball Champion David O'Brien will achieve his Olympic dream to represent Ireland in Sydney.
Like the other two boats, the move to Australia and intensive preparations on Sydney Harbour is the final stage before the games.
Just last weekend, Laser sailor Jon Lasenby dropped out of the running for Sydney when he narrowly missed his final nomination result. Similarly, after three years campaigning, the 470 pairing of Tom Fitzpatrick and David McHugh ended their project two weeks ago when in spite of a surge in performance at recent major events, they too were obliged to give up and plan how to work off their significant personal debt.
Behind the celebrations of the confirmed team announcement, the loss of recognition for those two crews is just one part of the bitter pill of reality. The choice to pursue the quality route was deliberate and recognised the need to allocate resources, both financial and human more effectively. In 1996, no less than three crewed boats plus three singlehanders sailed for Ireland, stretching the available funding and pool of management/coaching personnel. Would the incentive for younger sailors to embark on an Olympic campaign be too small or are such candidates that doubt their ability the wrong material in the first instance?
