Hickey says OCI will consider extending deadline for qualification
The original cut-off point was set for midnight on Saturday, however, the situation will be reviewed by the OCI Executive Committee tomorrow night following representation from a number of bodies.
"Representatives of the AAI met with our representatives on Monday night and they put forward a very good case on behalf of athletes who are close to the qualifying standard and could still achieve them," said Mr Hickey. "And just today we had a letter from Swim Ireland making a case for their members who are still looking for qualifying standards."
On Tuesday night, Peter Coghlan failed in his bid for Athens by eight hundredths of a second at the Grand Prix in Lausanne while there is general agreement that the weather conditions in Cork on Saturday afternoon thwarted Gary Ryan's effort to achieve the 200m standard.
"They are among the athletes that we put forward for consideration," said Michael Quinlan, manager to the Irish athletics team. "We were very well received at Monday night's meeting and obviously we are thrilled with this news today."
Chef de mission Willie O'Brien presented his team yesterday at the National Concert Hall with a number of competitors present wearing the new Asics strip that will be worn in this year's Games.
Minister for Sport John O'Donoghue believes the Irish preparation has learned many lessons from the Sydney games. "Overall there was a sense of disappointment," he said.
The Sydney Review was set up by the Irish Sports Council at the request of the Government to undertake an in-depth review of Ireland's preparation and participation. "The Sydney Review process was completed in March of this year and I am delighted to report that the main conclusion reached was that excellent progress had been made based on improved relationships between the key agencies," he said.
"The Irish team for Athens will be the best prepared team ever with top quality support structures and services in place and firm foundation has already been put in place for Beijing and beyond."
He added that over €7.77 million had been made available to 10 Olympic sports under the Athens Enhancement Programme.
Pat Hickey attributed the new, healthy and co-operative relationships between the OCI, the Irish Sports Council and the NCTC to the work of the minister and his department.
"If somebody was to bet with me that we would all be sitting here together today in such a friendly atmosphere four years ago, I would have lost that bet," said Mr Hickey.
The size of the Irish team 20 competitors less than Sydney is part of the fall-out from the 2000 Olympics. The OCI agreed they would only accept A standards and set a deadline that would ensure that qualified athletes would have ample time to put the finishing touches to their preparations.
Thus, the current qualification crux involving athletes like Gary Ryan, Peter Coghlan, Garret Turnbull and Karen Shinkins and swimmers like Andrew Bree, Stephen Manley, Muiris O'Riordan, Julie Douglas and William Craig, who will be anxiously awaiting the outcome of Friday night's meeting.
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