Costin awaits flight home

JAMIE COSTIN was joined by family members at the KAT hospital in Athens yesterday as he awaited an air ambulance flight to Dublin for treatment on his injured back.

The Irish Olympian sustained back injuries in a traffic accident at Porto Heli as he returned to the hotel where he was staying in Ioannina, some 300 miles south of Athens, on Tuesday.

He was transferred to KAT hospital on Tuesday night where he underwent an extensive examination. The OCI chief medical officer Dr Sean Gaine persuaded Greek doctors against potential career ending surgery. The situation will instead be reassessed by Irish experts later this week.

"Dr Sean Gaine, the OCI's Chief Medical Officer, has been excellent here," said Irish Athletics team manager Michael Quinlan. "He has been in constant touch with his colleagues and the specialists back home at the Mater Hospital and it was on his recommendation that it was decided to bring him home for treatment. He already has everything in place and the Olympic Council of Ireland has arranged for an air ambulance to take him to Dublin. When he will travel depends on when the flight details can be organised, as Athens airport is very busy at the moment. Dr Gaine will have him fitted with a special brace to ensure no further damage can be done.

"Two of his sisters, Orla and Mairead, were on holiday on a Greek island and they arrived in Athens by ferry yesterday morning. Another sister, Nicola, came in from Dublin. I have just left the hospital and he is quite comfortable and in good form. He is obviously getting relief for the pain as the injury to his back is a painful one. A broken toe was also diagnosed, but they were not sure if this was an old injury."

Jack McGouran, the OCI Press Officer, said Dr Gaine was very happy with the way things were going and estimates that the Waterford athlete will be home within 24 hours.

Police are still investigating the circumstances surrounding the accident which took place at Porto Heli just after he had dropped Robert Korzeniowski off at his hotel. The pair had been training together earlier and he was driving Korzeniowski's courtesy car. They have been close friends for a number of years and the triple Olympic champion (20k and 50k in Sydney and 50k in Atlanta) spent a week in Waterford with him earlier this year. Korzeniowski, who will defend his 50k title next week, heard the crash and rushed to the scene to find Jamie jammed in the car between a water tanker and a wall.

Robert Heffernan will carry Irish hopes in the 20k walk, the first event at the Olympic Stadium on Friday morning. Ironically he too was almost involved in a car accident as the vehicle assigned to transport him to the Athlete's Village was in a collision on Tuesday. However, Heffernan missed the connection and, instead, took a coach to his Athens headquarters.