OCI to decide on extra athletes for Athens

110m hurdler Peter Coghlan has bettered the Olympic B standard seven times so far this season and Athletics Ireland High Performance chief Elaine Fitzgerald believes the Crusaders athlete "should be selected for Athens".

Speaking ahead of tonight's crunch Olympic Council of Ireland meeting to discuss the validity of both the AAI's and Swim Ireland's late push for the inclusion of a further seven athletes in the 48-strong Irish Olympic party, Fitzgerald admitted that Irish athletes "were never happy about the original OCI qualification deadline of June 30".

"The early deadline meant serious planning and in some cases those plans hae just not worked out," said the former national 1500m champion.

Discus thrower Nick Sweeney, Coghlan and sprinters Rob Daly and Gary Ryan await their fate, but 36-year-old Sweeney is undoubtedly the best-placed to earn a shot at his fourth Games.

"Nick is an obvious one, having already achieved the A standard, albeit a little late. He is a very talented athlete and been ranked in the top ten at least four times in his career."

"The ideal outcome tonight," said Fitzgerald, "would be that athletes with B standards who are showing form and progressing should be given an extended period in order to achieve the A. This would take the pressure off them and allow them to get further quality training in and be at their best in Athens."

Ryan has run 20.72 for the B standard (20.58 being the A), and clocked 20.78 in wet conditions last weekend in Cork.

Coghlan is just eight-tenths off the A standard, having posted a season's best of 13.63 seconds in Lausanne three days ago. Daly's 46.19 400m run last month in Geneva is an Irish best for 2004, but 0.24 seconds off the B requirement.

Under IAAF rules, the cut-off point for track and field qualification is August 9.