Team manager remains positive

ATHLETICS EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS:WHILE DERVAL O'Rourke now gets to cash in on her European Championship silver medal, Irish athletics team manager Patsy McGonagle is left to reflect on the mixed performances in Barcelona last week, and what might be the key lessons. Ireland's overall placing of 17th among the 50 competing nations certainly wasn't too bad, although McGonagle agreed it could have been a little better.

In the meantime O’Rourke has been invited to represent Europe in the 100 metres hurdles at next month’s IAAF Continental Cup, the competition formerly known as the World Cup in Athletics. It takes place in Split, Croatia, on September 4th-5th and under the new format involves just four continental teams: Americas, Africa, Asia/Pacific, and Europe – with two athletes per team.

On arriving back in Dublin yesterday, O’Rourke indicated she was keen to compete there, not least of all because of the hefty prize money, although first of all she was going to have a short surfing holiday in Kerry.

O’Rourke’s sole silver medal may represent Ireland’s only tangible success in Barcelona, and truth is it was badly needed. Exactly half of the 50 competing nations at the championships managed to win medals, with Ireland ranked joint 21st of the 25 medal-winning countries – alongside Sweden and Bulgaria.

Russia topped the table with 24 medals, followed by Britain with 19 medals, then France with 18 medals. Yet on the placing table, which takes into account the number of top-eight finishers, Ireland ranked a respectable 17th of the 33 nations that actually did place – ahead of several strong athletic nations including Sweden, Hungary, Finland, Greece, Switzerland and Latvia.

“It was something of a mixed bag, obviously,” said McGonagle, on arriving back in Dublin with the Irish team. “I think from the point of view of the overall depth of performance it was quite good. The medal was a big positive, but I think we do have to be disappointed it wasn’t more than one medal.

“I’m aware that the general public like a medal, and that the bar has to be raised, year on year, with respect to athletes and team management. We need to be delivering a little bit more every time, so I certainly wouldn’t be ecstatic about it. I really do think there were at least two medals here, and with a bit of luck three.

“But every athlete that was here deserved to be here. I’ve no issues about the size of the team, and the benefits that has for the sport. But at the same time maybe it is time for some of our older athletes to move on, and that conversation has been held with one or two of them already. We have two years to the London Olympics, and we all know this is probably the last opportunity we will have to make decisions about changing anything. One year out it is going to be too late.

“You’d need to be going with some hope, probability or possibility that you’ll medal in London. You have to because that’s the only thing that keeps you going and the only thing that keeps everybody interested. And there are London ‘medal-zone’ athletes in this team. We just need to be right on the day in London. I think, for example, that Robert Heffernan is a medal-zone athlete, I think that Derval O’Rourke is a medal-zone athlete. And I still think David Gillick is a medal-zone athlete.”

Part of the challenge in getting ready for London is how to deal with the next European Championships, given they’ll now be staged every two years, starting in Helsinki in 2012 – just one month before the London Olympics start.

“When I first heard about that, staging them every two years, I was not in favour,” said McGonagle, who will remain Irish team manager up to and including London. “I’m a traditionalist, probably, and see championships for what they are. But from an athlete development point of view and maybe a qualification and as an opportunity and all that it will probably work out fine. It’s very difficult to call it until we have a run through on it. It is a shortened championship too. But it would be an absolutely great relay opportunity which would not be easy to get otherwise.

“I just think we’ll have to work back from London. Make that the priority. It creates some difficulties, for athletes like Derval O’Rourke, but it creates opportunities too, for athletes not quite at Olympic level yet.”

So bottom line then: was Barcelona a success or failure? “Basically, we are always learning,” reckoned McGonagle. “Athletes are learning and we’re learning, and we bring all that learning forward. So yes, it was a good championships. There’s a lot of depth, there’s a lot of different events. There were 33 athletes and that’s a big team. In the past we brought too many and some people just weren’t up to it. I think we were very positive in that we required medical fitness to compete, and stood by that. And I think we are getting tougher, getting more real and I think that we’re getting more performance-related. I think we have moved on.

“If you look at both the women’s 4 x 100 and the 4 x 400 teams qualifying for the World Championships next year, that gives a lot of female athletes in Ireland, from 100 metres to 400, maybe 14 or 15 athletes, the opportunity to try to be on that team. That’s bound to help the individual discipline. So I am coming out of these championships positive.”

HOW THE IRISH FARED

(PB= personal best. SB = season best. NR = national record. DNF= Did not finish)

Men’s 100m

Jason Smyth (PB: 10.32 (2010)). Heat: 4th in 10.43. Semi-final: 4th in 10.46.

200m

Paul Hession (PB: 20.30. SB: 20.46). Heat: 2nd in 20.69. Semi: 4th in 20.67. Final: 6th in 20.71.

Steven Colvert, (PB: 20.90 (2010)). Heat: 7th in 21.14.

400m

David Gillick; (PB: 44.77. SB: 44.95). Heat: 1st in 45.84. Semi: 1st in 44.79 SB. Final: 5th in 45.28.

Gordon Kennedy, (PB: 46.48. SB: 46.57). Heat: 6th in 46.63. Semi: 8th in 46.72.

Brian Gregan, (PB: 46.26. SB: 46.65). Heat: 5th in 46.90.

800m

David McCarthy, (PB: 1:46.82 (2010). Heat: 5th in 1:49.53. Semi: 6th in 1:49.14.

1,500m

Thomas Chamney, (PB: 3:36.83 (2010)). Heat: 9th in 3:43.60.

Rory Chesser, (PB: 3:40.08 (2010). Heat: 10th in 3:44.01.

5,000m

Alistair Cragg, (PB: 13:07.10. SB: 13:21.66). Heat: 6th in 13:37.66. Final: DNF.

Mark Christie, (PB: 13:37.36 (2010)). Heat: 11th in 14:12.68.

20km Walk

Robert Heffernan (PB: 1:19.22. SB: 1:20.45). Final: 4th in 1:21.00.

Jamie Costin, (PB: 1:22.45. SB: 1.22.55). Final: 20th in 1:26.05.

50km Walk

Robert Heffernan, (PB: 3:50.08 (2010). Final: 4th in 3:45.30 (NR).

Colin Griffin, (PB: 3:51.32. SB: 4:06.05). 11th in 3:57.58 (SB).

4x400m

(Gordon Kennedy, Brian Murphy, Brian Gregan, Steven Colvert). Semi-final: 6th in 3:07.21.

Women’s 100m

Ailis McSweeney (PB: 11.40 (2010)). Heat: 4th in 11.52. 6th in 11.32 (wind-assisted).

200m

Niamh Whelan (PB: 23.30 (2010)). Heat: 4th in 23.78. Semi-final: 6th in 23.31.

400m

Joanne Cuddihy (PB: 50.73. SB: 51.94). Heat: 4th in 52.58.

800m

Roseanne Galligan (PB: 2.02.39 (2010)). Heat: 7th in 2:01.76 (PB).

100m Hurdles

Derval O’Rourke (PB:12.67. SB: 12.96). Heat: 1st in 1.88 (SB). Semi: 1st in 12.75(SB). Final: 2nd in 12.65 (NR).

400m Hurdles

Michelle Carey (PB: 56.19. SB: 57.63). Heat: 5th in 57.58 (SB).

Brona Furlong, (PB: 57.75 (2010)). Heat: 7th in 58.13.

Justine Kinney, (PB: 57.13 (2010)). Heat: 8th in 57.39.

3,000m Steeplechase

Fionnuala Britton (PB: 9:41.36. SB: 9:42.44). Heat: 6th in 9:44.84. Final: 11th in 9:44.25.

Stephanie Reilly (PB: 9:48.94 (2010)). Heat: 10th in 10:13.94.

High Jump

Deirdre Ryan (PB: 1.92m. SB: 1.87m). Qualifying: 1.90m (SB).

Long Jump

Kelly Proper, (PB: 6.51m. SB: 6.41m). Qualifying: no mark.

Pole Vault

Tori Pena, (PB:4.35m. SB: 4.15 (NR)). Qualifying: 4.15 (=NR).

20m Walk

Olive Loughnane, (PB: 1:27.45. SB: 1:28.36. Final: DNF.

4x100m

(Amy Foster, Niamh Whelan, Claire Brady, Ailis McSweeney) –Semi-final: 4th in 43.93 (NR).

4x400m

(Marion Andrews, Joanne Cuddihy, Brona Furlong, Michelle Carey) – Semi-final: 5th in 3.30.11 (NR).