Troubled waters for Olympic prospects as O’Leary quits

IRELAND may be without one of their strongest medal contenders for next year’s Olympic Games following a row which engulfs Irish sailing.

Anthony O’Leary, the head of the Sailing Olympic Committee, resigned yesterday after the Irish Sailing Association made changes to the selection procedure for the Olympics, despite Irish sailors been mid-way through the original qualification process.

The row concerns the “Star class”, a discipline in which Ireland have competitors ranked fourth and tenth in the world. The top ranked, Mark Mansfield, who is among Ireland’s best hope for a medal in Athens next year is angered by the process: “I am currently looking at all my options, but I am deeply upset about this. The ISA put a selection procedure in place in February, 2002, and we have been working all year with the target of getting to the Olympics in mind.”