OCI looks for 'full clarification' of relay selection

ATHLETICS IRELAND has been asked for “full clarification” of the selection process surrounding the women’s 4x400 metres relay team for London before the Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) will decide what, if any, appeal process might be set in motion.

In a further twist, the OCI are themselves unclear as to why Athletics Ireland first named Catriona Cuddihy among the six-woman team last Tuesday, only then to replace her with Joanna Mills, who successfully appealed this original selection over the weekend.

Cuddihy was told that Athletics Ireland would make no further comment on the matter, and that her only course of counter-appeal was to the OCI. However, while the OCI has confirmed that notification of that counter-appeal has been received, they can’t proceed until Athletics Ireland first clarify the exact details of their selection criteria, and indeed the subsequent appeal process.

“The athlete’s legal counsel has been in touch,” said a spokesman for the OCI, “but without full clarification from Athletics Ireland on what exactly went on we can’t proceed with any appeal, if only because the OCI may not even have a role to play here.

“What we need first is for them to explain the exact procedure, and method, behind the selection of the original relay team, and why this was then overturned on appeal. Because we can’t do anything until we have that full explanation. We don’t know if they’ve broken any of their own internal rules, or if there is any legal issue here, or what exactly the due process here is. So at this stage we can’t even say if we’ll be getting involved at all.”

This Friday, July 13th, had been noted as the deadline for submission of Irish entries to the London Olympic Organising Committee (LOCOG), and with that in mind any potential appeal would need to be agreed before then.

To complicate the matter further, Joanne Cuddihy – older sister of Catriona, and the key member of the relay team – herself questioned exactly why Athletics Ireland went ahead and named the team last Tuesday, when the athletes themselves didn’t expect it to be agreed until after this weekend’s National Championships in Santry.

The OCI do get to rubber-stamp the Olympic selections of all the national federations, but at the time had no reason to question the six names submitted for the women’s relay ream: “Those six names were submitted to us last Tuesday, in good faith,” explained the OCI spokesman. “We accepted what was put forward, on the basis of the Athlete Agreement that’s been in place for the past two years.”

As for the doubts surrounding Derval O’Rourke’s participation in London after a back injury forced her late withdrawal from the National Championships, there remains an equally uncertain wait.

Plans to race the 100 metres hurdles in France this evening has definitely been shelved, and her coach, Seán Cahill, last night updated the injury diagnosis.

“Derval was with the phsyio for a couple of hours today, and her movement was definitely a little better than it was Sunday,” he explained. “What it looks like is that there is a micro-tear somewhere around the groin area, although it doesn’t appear to be too serious.

“We’re lucky that Derval has been with the same physio team all year. They know her body well, and are adamant they can get her back to full training as soon as they possible.

“But the reality is we won’t really know the full extent of the problem until she gets back to full training, and gets over a full flight of hurdles, and that’s something we won’t be doing until this weekend.

“We’re a little more informed about the extent of the problem than we were on Sunday, when she couldn’t really move her back at all without some pain.”

“But she was definitely that slight bit better today, which suggests that hopefully she can make a full recovery in the next couple of days.”