Irish athletes ready for Athens heat

OLYMPIAN Jamie Costin is adamant that Irish competitors won't be at a disadvantage in the heat and humidity of Athens next month.

"Four years ago it was a similar situation, it was 38º in Sydney," said Costin who competes in the 50k walk. "I've been working on acclimatising for a good while now. We've been well aware for the last three or four years that it was going to be so hot anyway.

"It's the same conditions for everybody. OK, we're Irish and we're fair skinned, but we're well used to it now as athletes at this stage."

Costin's claim is borne out by the national record holder for the high jump, Adrian O'Dwyer from Kilkenny. O'Dwyer recorded his personal best at a meet in Algiers amidst temperatures of 40º celsius.

The Athletics Association of Ireland and the Olympic Council of Ireland have been busy doing their part in preparing athletes for the Athens heat.

But Sonia O'Sullivan noted that competitors have the most vital role to play.

"We've been given a lot of concrete information and we've been given access to a lot of people that we can talk to about it," O'Sullivan explained. "So it's up to ourselves to go out there and use the information as best we can.

"The weather hasn't been fantastic this summer, here or in London, so I personally have been in Madrid last week to acclimatise a little bit and I'll be back there again next week. The more you can be in the heat, the more acclimatised you will be when you get there."

This year's team is smaller than ever due to the strict qualification standards imposed by the OCI, but our understanding of what constitutes Olympic success should still be less black and white, according to Costin.

"People are knowledgeable enough about athletics to understand that, if you get a personal best or get to a semi-finals, it's a great achievement. Naturally, some people will ask you if you win and if you say no they'll go 'oh, right' or whatever," said the 27 year-old.

"I think all of us have to be aware of what our own goals are. It's not realistic that all of us will win medals. It's not realistic that all of us will reach finals. If one of us finishes 13th in our event then that means we are the 13th best in the world.

"We're a small country and the last time Sonia was the only who won a medal. The team didn't do that well, for whatever reasons. This year I think we're all better prepared and it's a good thing that ye can all find out today what each of us are trying to achieve. Four years ago, ye wouldn't have been aware of that."