OCI will accept only A standards for Games

ATHLETICS:AS IF the task of qualifying for the track and field events at next year's London Olympics were not difficult enough, the Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) have confirmed they will be accepting only A standards – and this time with no exceptions.

It means no more than half a dozen Irish athletes are in line to qualify for London, and while the 2012 Games will surely be the closest Ireland will get to staging the Olympics, and certainly the most accessible for Irish spectators, the number of Irish athletes who compete could be the smallest in a long time.

The “nomination and selection criteria” document for London has now been agreed by the OCI and Athletics Ireland, and was seen by The Irish Times yesterday.

In the clause on eligibility for consideration, “only A standards as agreed by the International Olympic Committee/IAAF will be acceptable”, and, crucially, “the parties agree that they shall not nominate any individual or team eligible to compete . . . unless he/she/they” have achieved the A standard.

This would appear to rule out a repeat of the controversial decision to add three B standard athletes just before the cut-off for the Beijing Olympics, in 2008. It was originally agreed only A standards would be accepted for Beijing, too, yet Athletics Ireland still nominated three athletes with B standards: Thomas Chamney in the 800 metres, Michelle Carey, in the 400 metres hurdles and Pauline Curley in the marathon, all of whom were just shy of the A standard.

Against most expectations, the OCI agreed – one of the reasons given being it might help to nurture athletes looking to qualify for London. Curley was aged 39 at the time (and finished 63rd), and neither Chamney nor Carey advanced from their first-round heats.

However, that decision increased the number of Irish athletes competing in Beijing from 13 to 16, perhaps justifying the inclusion of additional medical and backroom team members.

Many other countries still allow athletes to qualify with B standards, although increasingly fewer of them, particularly in countries intent only on winning medals.

Other clauses in the London 2012 criteria include the qualification period, which will begin on May 1st of this year, and conclude on July 8th, 2012 (with the exception of the walks and marathon, where qualification began on January 1st of this year); the OCI’s exclusive power to select athletes; plus the OCI’s power to de-select an athlete if they fail a final fitness and/or medical test.

The London Olympics run from July 27th to August 12th, 2012, with the track and field programme set for the closing 10 days, so at least there won’t be the early cut-off date for qualification which undermined the Athens Olympics in 2004.

What is certain is the majority of Irish athletes still hoping to compete in London will need to break personal bests or, indeed, national records to qualify. The IAAF will confirm the A/B standards for London on April 15th, but these are expected to mirror the standards recently announced for the 2011 World Athletics Championships, set for Daegu, South Korea, in August.

Many of these standards were toughened up from the 2009 World Championships in Berlin, including the men’s 1,500m, with the A standard now 3:35.00 compared to 3:36.20 for Berlin, and the men’s 10,000m, where the A standard is a seriously quick 27:40, compared to 27:47 in 2009.

The men and women’s 100m A standards are also tougher, at 10.18 and 11.29 respectively, from 10.21 and 11.30.

If times from last summer are considered, only seven Irish athletes would achieve the expected A standard for London: Paul Hession (200m), David Gillick (400m), Robert Heffernan (20km/ 50km walk), Colin Griffin (50km walk), Derval O’Rourke (100m hurdles), Fionnuala Britton (3,000m steeplechase) and Olive Loughnane (20km walk).

The lack of distance running contenders is particularly startling, although Alistair Cragg hopes to challenge for the marathon standard of 2:16 when he makes his debut in the 115th running of the Boston Marathon on April 18th.

On a more encouraging note, Irish athletes who do make it to London can look forward to the best medical back-up available, with the OCI confirming Ger Hartmann, the world-renowned physiotherapist, will be on board, along with team doctor Seán Gaine.

Hartmann’s sports injury clinic in Limerick continues to attract elite athletes from several countries, including Kenya and Ethiopia, but he has committed to the Irish cause up to and including London.

His vast experience includes the five previous Olympics, starting in Barcelona in 1992, when he worked with American nine-time gold medallist Carl Lewis, among others.

Hartmann was part of the OCI’s official medical team in 1996 in Atlanta, but after that was signed up to work with the British Olympic Committee, in Sydney, Athens and in Beijing.

Part of the agreement with the OCI is that Hartmann can still treat overseas athletes on a limited basis during the London Olympics, but that his priority will be the Irish team, not just in track and field but with whatever other sports end up qualifying athletes.

LONDON 2012 Raising the bar for qualifying

Women's 100 metres: A standard 11.29 B standard 11.38*

Last July, Ailis McSweeney ran 11.40 to finally eclipse the Irish record of 11.43, which had stood to Michele Walsh since 1978. However, McSweeney is still short of the B standard, and a long way short of the A standard.

Men's 1,500 metres: A standard 3:35.00

B standard 3:38.00*

Only four Irish men have run sub 3:35, and none in the last decade. Last summer Thomas Chamney ran 3:36.83, the 11th fastest on the Irish all-time list, but he'll need to improve again by almost two seconds to make London.

Women's

5,000 metres

A standard 15:14.00

B standard 15:25.00*

Sonia O'Sullivan won Ireland's last Olympic medal on the track in the 5,000 metres, in Sydney 2000, but no Irish woman has run sub 15:14 in the last six years, and Mary Cullen's best of 15:18.34, which was actually run indoors, still leaves her short of London.

Men's

10,000 metres

A standard 27:40.00

B standard 28:00.00

Only one Irish athlete is credited with running under 27:40, and that's Alistair Cragg, who ran an Irish record of 27:39.55 in 2007. It should also be noted Cragg was actually born and raised in South Africa.

(*Based on A/B standards for 2011 World Championships).

IAN O'RIORDAN