McGonagle: Heffernan/Paco is in the past

Ireland’s Olympic team manager yesterday rejected any association or coaching arrangement between Irish Olympic race walker, Robert Heffernan, and former Olympic silver medallist, Francisco ‘Paco’ Fernandez, who is serving a ban for his involvement in a drugs scandal in Spain.

Patsy McGonagle expressed disappointment at a newspaper report which described Fernandez as Heffernan’s “mentor” and pointed out that, as the Irish training camp is based in the Spaniard’s home town of Guadix, it was probably inevitable that the pair would meet.

“But there is no professional association whatsoever,” McGonagle insisted. “Obviously there was a relationship some years ago because not only were they competitors but they were both coached by Robert Korzianowski and I would be very surprised if the friendship built up during that time did not exist. However, there is no question and there never has been of Fernandez coaching Robert Heffernan — or any of the Irish walkers.

“Our camp leader in Guadix is Liam O’Reilly and the only coaching advice he [Heffernan] is getting is from Liam O’Reilly. Liam is one of our Olympic Team Coaches — a member of our support staff for the Olympic Games — and he is out there as camp leader. He is in touch with me on a regular, if not daily basis — keeping us informed on what’s happening and looking after the welfare of the athletes under his care. The training camp in Guadix is a training centre used by numerous international teams. Sierra Nevada is an altitude training option which is also used by triathlon teams. It happens to be a very good performance centre at altitude and that’s why we use it.”

He went on to utterly refute any professional association with Paco Fernandez and said he wanted to state “absolutely and categorically” that the group have been consistently tested since they arrived and that was as normal at training camps.

O’Reilly said they were disappointed and appalled by the claims. He said: “Someone is trying to create an involvement that doesn’t exist. Robert’s whole life is dedicated to this. I, too, have put my own life on hold — I’m not being paid for this — and we are all doing the best we can for the sport.

“I think what appeared was a terrible reflection on journalistic standards. All the positive effort and hard work has been ignored simply because he [Robert] knows somebody who has done something wrong. In Robert we have somebody of impeccable character — I should know because I say that as a retired member of An Garda Síochána doing a doctorate in teaching — someone who could possibly win a medal for his country at the Olympic Games. Then somebody comes along and tries to insinuate or imply that he is doing something wrong. I think that is unacceptable.”

The report came the day after Heffernan turned in one of the most impressive performance of his career to go within .02 of a second off his personal best time for 3,000m at the Cork City Sports on Tuesday night. He told of how he had been approached by a journalist after himself and his wife, Marian, who is a member of the women’s Olympic 4 x 400m relay team, had appeared on TV3’s Ireland AM. Heffernan said: “It was all very negative stuff. I told him I knew Paco and I was friendly with him. He [Fernandez] won eight medals at championships so he is the best at the game and if he offers me advice I take it — I would be foolish not to — but he doesn’t coach me and he is going to e-mail the federation to clarify things.”