Cragg finishes 17th and then defends Irish performances

Alistair Cragg last night defended the performances of Irish athletes competing at the Olympic Games.

Cragg yesterday failed to qualify from his 5,000m heat – the fastest in Olympic history — finishing 17th of a 21-man field in 13:47.01 in a race won by Ethopia’s Dejen Gebremeskel in 13:15.15.

Afterwards the 31-year-old said he was unaware of criticism of his team-mates in Ireland following a less than stellar five days on the track. But Cragg, the Irish 5,000m and 10,000m record holder, insisted such attacks were unjustified.

“We are here to hope for medals. But we are only a tiny country,” he said.

“I don’t think there should be criticism. Derval O’Rourke has been to three Olympics, that is three A standards. Do you understand how hard that is to achieve? I have been to three games.

“Fionnuala Britton is in the form of her life right now. You have to give Ciarán Ó Lionáird credit, the guy has gone through a tough year and is a very driven guy. Fionnuala is one of the best cross country runners in the world. She is probably the person who should be our rock on the team right now.”

Cragg also dismissed suggestions the expectation for athletic success is too great amongst the Irish public but admitted competitors must not get caught up in the hype in a championship of this magnitude.

“When Sonia won a medal or Kenny Egan won a medal or the boxers get a medal it is taken home and people take it to heart and it really raises the spirits of the country. It is great that people have these expectations but, as an athlete, you have to separate yourself and go: ‘what is the reality, what have I done year in year out? This is where I am’.

“And people don’t see the year in, year out kind of thing. Yes we do want to get medals. I felt if was able to put what I could out there [in my heat] then I could roll the dice in the final.

And he added: “My apologies to Ireland for myself, for my own deal but I think that the public should be realistic of what youngsters can do.”

Cragg, who ran 13:03.53 for the distance in Brussels last September, admitted his preparations had been somewhat fractured following a change of coach earlier this season. However, he remained confident of achieving some ‘magic’ when he took to the start line.

“Back in June I decided I didn’t want to come here and just perform I wanted to come here and do something. You come to the Olympics for magic. You see it happen, like in the 1,500m on Tuesday night of the 10k on Saturday night.

“I just tried to create a little bit of that for myself. It is tough, it is disappointing. It is not deserving of the effort that was put in by everybody in my camp.”