Fionnuala McCormack: People should not be able to just swap countries

There was no disguising Fionnuala McCormack’s frustration at her fifth place finish on her record-breaking 14th appearance at the European Cross Country Championships in Chia, Italy yesterday.

“I think you could probably write the script on this one at this stage,” said McCormack (Kilcoole) afterwards.

McCormack was distraught as the women’s 8,000m race was dominated by Turkey’s Kenyan imports Yasemin Can in 24:46 with her compatriot Meryem Akda in second in 24:56. Norway’s Karoline Grovdal bagged the bronze in 25:26. McCormack was pipped by Romania’s Ancuta Bobacel by one second in 25:27 to 25:28. It was another bitter pill to swallow with Turkey’s Yasemin Can and Meryem Akda having only declared allegiance last March for their ‘new’ country.