Irish athlete attacks RTÉ pundit over training remarks
Nolan who last night finished 10th in the semi-finals of the 1500m behind Adil Kaouch (Morocco) was furious with remarks made by the Kerry native questioning the UCD runner’s commitment after the first round on Friday.
Nolan who has suffered from hip and hamstring problems slammed such suggestions.
“Word filtered back to me from Jerry Kiernan in the RTE Studios and it really hurt me,” he said. “Basically he was questioning my training techniques and my commitment to training - this is coming from a marathon runner/cross-country slogger and it is a totally different discipline to track and field.
“I did not see any Judo people commenting on Andy Lee’s boxing match last night and that is what it is like to me.
“He does not know the meaning of the word speed and for him to question my commitment - somebody who has trained 700 times a year, twice a day - is ridiculous. He also questioned my injury in my hamstring.
“He knows nothing about it. He did not contact any of the physiotherapists in Cyprus or here - Johnson McEvoy was working on me twice a day as well - and he’s saying I was using that as an excuse for not running well on Friday.
“I ran quite well and who is he to question me. I’m 20th in the world and that’s a bit above where I am at right now. I was delighted to get into the semi-finals. I beat three lads today, one fell I beat two. I’m happy with that.”
However Kiernan stood by his comments on RTÉ last night.
“I wasn’t cruel,” he said. “I can understand his disappointment but I stand over everything I said.”
Meanwhile Derval O’Rourke finished seventh in the 100m hurdles last night (13.46 secs). She was foot perfect at every hurdle - technically superb - and it was only the misfortunes of illness and ill health that beset her in recent times that prevented from performing beyond her best.
“I thought it would take a new national record to go through and I thought I was ready for that. I was in shape to run 12.80 early in the year judging by the way my winter went but then all this happened.
“But this year is going to make me stronger for next year. I don’t think anything else could be thrown at me. It will make me mentally tougher and I am just going to come out in 2005 and run fast.
“Considering everything that has happened I did well out there.”
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