Time running out for Olympic hopefuls

SOME of Ireland’s Olympic hopefuls have been going through a rough patch in recent days.

World race walking silver medallist Gillian O’Sullivan is battling with a back problem while Cathal Lombard has pulled out of the Golden Gala in Rome tomorrow night after his disappointing run in Gateshead on Sunday, when Mark Carroll and Sonia O’Sullivan also performed below their best.

Lombard heads off to St. Moritz to begin the final leg of his Olympic build-up and Carroll will join him there after running the 5000m in the Golden Gala.

For Gary Ryan and Paul Hession, the BUPA Cork City Sports on Saturday is a last opportunity to secure the 200m time that will book them a place alongside Paul Brizzel in Athens.

“They both ran very well on Tuesday night in Italy and they could do it at The Mardyke,” Performance Director, Elaine Fitzgerald, predicted yesterday.

She also revealed that there will be a 4x400m relay to help the men’s team in their Olympic quest.

Sonia O’Sullivan’s poor display at windswept Gateshead on Sunday, where she finished 10th, was dismissed yesterday by partner, Nic Bideau. He stressed she was in a block of heavy training and, on reflection, should not have run that race at all.

“She went to the race without giving it proper consideration,” he said. “She just was not in the frame of mind. It just was not important.”

Sonia had been training hard all week and had hard sessions the previous Tuesday and Thursday evenings before taking a flight to the Gateshead meet on Saturday night.

Bideau insisted that a race has got to be important before Sonia will get herself up for it, and racing against Kelly Holmes was never going to get her excited.

“At this point Sonia is not interested in running fast times or going for records. She goes out there to win races and she proved that in Manchester. She really wanted to beat Berhane Adere and she went out and did it.

“The race in Cork on Saturday is important to her but she will not be going for records or anything. She just wants to win,” he said.

The women’s 1,500m in Cork is shaping up nicely. Freda Davoren, who finished two places ahead of O’Sullivan in Gateshead, is competing, along with Roisin McGhettigan and Sinead Delahunty, who has shown a welcome return to her best form in recent weeks.

The Mardyke has long been a happy hunting ground for sprinter Gary Ryan and the Nenagh Olympic athlete, who is frustratingly close to qualifying for Athens, will be hoping he can make the standard in Cork.

He will be joined by young Paul Hession, who had a surprise win over Paul Brizzel at the Dublin International last weekend and still has hopes of making the Olympic standard.

Both Ryan and Hession raced in Italy on Tuesday night when Gary Ryan ran 20.78 and Paul Hession clocked 20.80. The A standard for Athens is 20.58.