Deadline extension a boost for athletes and swimmers

ATHLETES and swimmers chasing Olympic qualifying standards were given a new lease of life last night when the Olympic Council of Ireland extended the deadline for A standard qualification to July 20 but warned that there will be no further extension.

A special meeting of the Executive of the OCI was called last evening to consider the cases put forward by the Athletics Association of Ireland and Swim Ireland for athletes who have all come close to the A standards required to get them to Athens next month.

But while they agreed to extend the deadline ­ the original deadline expired at midnight last Saturday ­ they did not add discus thrower Nick Sweeney to the team of 48 named earlier this week. He achieved the A standard at a meet in Massachusetts on Sunday but his throw has yet to be ratified by the IAAF.

The new deadline will provide athletes like Gary Ryan, Peter Coghlan, Gareth Turnbull and Karen Shinkins, for whom a special case had been made by the AAI, to pursue their standards.

In their statement after last evening’s meeting they said the new deadline would now be 5pm on Tuesday, July 20.

“This deadline will not be extended under any circumstances,” he said. “Any A standards achieved by that date will be subject to ratification by the relevant international federations before final acceptance by the OCI. As previously indicated athletes with B standards will not be accepted.

“In the case of discus thrower Nick Sweeney the OCI were advised this afternoon that the IAAF were not yet in a position to ratify his throw of July 4 consequently the OCI were not able to make a decision on his application.”