Irelands most likely Olympic 2012 Medals

knockcon

All fair comments. I just felt that in Melbourne he seemed to be riding within himself with the aim of assuring qualification. So I'll have a similar top ten to yourself except I'm gonna put irvine in at the expense of olive loughnane. I'll also bump barnes up to 3rd.

knockcon

Dan man wrote: »

This thread has just passed the 1,000 posts mark!!

Great stuff . Well done all. Particulary Dan and dodge.

Dan man

I wonder will we hear any news on the Joe Ward situation today. I heard June 11th being mentioned as a possible date for when the Tripartite Commission are to award their invitation places for the boxers.

Dan man

The Irish Independent are cofirming what I already suspected....Anna Merveldt seems to be fairly sure of her Olympic starting place in Individual Dressage...it's merely a formality now as there's no chance that the Colombian team can avail of all of their quota places. We might as well put her down as Ireland's 58th Olympic qualifier at this stage. Here's a link to the article:

http://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/olympic-spot-for-merveldt-3134126.html

Dodge

Have a feeling they're only reportig what you've posted Dan. Good work

AIBA is expected to meet today. Strangely enough Katie Taylor's plea for the best boxers in ther weight category to get the nominations could help Joe Ward if they decide to go that route. The fact the touted Afghani boxer lasted less than 2 minutes won't help her cause.

Dan man

Thanks, imagine if they were getting their information from this thread!!
Don't think so, but it's quite funny to imagine this is the case anyway!

Skid

Dan man wrote: »

I wonder will we hear any news on the Joe Ward situation today. I heard June 11th being mentioned as a possible date for when the Tripartite Commission are to award their invitation places for the boxers.

I hope a decision is made on this soon, it is very unfair on the hopefuls to continually delay the invitation selection.

Obviously I hope Joe Ward gets the nod, but it must torture on him and the Bosnian boxer and others in contention for the invitation places.

Dan man

The latest on the boxing invitation places is that the boxers will learn their fate in the next few days....not today then but in the "next few days". Who knows what day they'll be announced then, could be tomorrow, could be next week. It's really frustrating, can't imagine how Joe Ward is feeling.

Cosmo Kramer

If anyone is in the area there will be an interview with Chris Bryan tomorrow morning at 9am on Clare FM. Perhaps he will give an indication as to where he feels the vacancy needed to get him to London is likely to come from.

Dodge

Bryan tweeted

"Final NF confirmation for the Olympic 10km is on the 18th of June, so I'll def hear before then. Hopefully ASAP"

Dan man

Cosmo Kramer wrote: »

If anyone is in the area there will be an interview with Chris Bryan tomorrow morning at 9am on Clare FM. Perhaps he will give an indication as to where he feels the vacancy needed to get him to London is likely to come from.

I'm sure the vacancy he is hoping for is the re-allocation of New Zealand's unused continental quota place. As there were no other Oceanian swimmers at the qualifying event the rules state that the place will be re-distributed to the highest placed non-qualifier from that event...this is Chris, but he'll still be waiting anxiously to see if New Zealand, as expected, decline their qualifying spots. I'm sure Chris will give an indication tomorrow if this is the situation he's awaiting tomorrow....he probably won't want to be too confident though until it's been confirmed.

K_1

Just to be pedantic with that list, Eoin Rheinisch is in K1. K2 is a two person boat.

Great work though Dan!

Dan man

K_1 wrote: »

Just to be pedantic with that list, Eoin Rheinisch is in K1. K2 is a two person boat.

Great work though Dan!

Not sure if your crediting me with the list but just in case I should point out it was Dodge's list. Thanks anyway!

swim2

Just listening to the interview.
It turns out Chris had shingles coming up to the race, so to come 15th is a great result for him!!
He is hopeful that New Zealand wont send a swimmer and that he would get the spot. But there is confusion over the rules with FINA, which means the spot may have to go to someone from Oceania, as in the person from Guam who finished lower in the race.
He isnt assuming anything

feargale

Summary of Clare FM's Chris Bryan's interview:
New Zealand are extremely likely to decline their allocated place.
Q1. Should it then go to C. Bryan or to the next best from Oceania < ranks 55th > ? One referee thought Oceania, another wasn't sure. C. Bryan, having dissected the rule-book, is confident that the rules favour him.
Q2. If that fails, will the Brits bother to take up their allocated place ? In Portugal they achieved lowly 36th and 40th places.
We should know the answer on 18th June, but by 2nd July at the latest.
P.S. IMO the host country partakes in every event, even if it means a 100m. sprinter on a zimmer-frame - right or wrong ?

Dan man

Yet another case of a sport's qualification criteria being very ambiguous and open to interpretation. I have a suspicion when they are doing up those qualification systems they deliberately make them ambiguous so the sport's governing body has a choice of who they want to send . Both Bryan and the swimmer from Guam have a good argument that the spot should go to them....one part of the qualification system states that in the Maraton Qualification Event (the qualifier that has just taken place) that the best ranked athlete from each continent will qualify.
This was the New Zealand swimmer but should this then go to Guam because they declined their place?
Well I think Chris has a superb chance as it does not say this should happen in the rules.
The only guidelines in the qualification system for unused quota places is that it goes to the highest non-qualifier from the qualification event.
Who knows though what FINA will decide but I hope in future they tie up all of these loose ends in terms of the qualification systems not covering all of the possible scenarios.

FitzjamesHorse

I think theres always two ways of looking at the Olympics.
At one level its about Excellence. At another level its about 205 nations gathering together.
If the Olympics was merely about people being there on merit or being competitive there would only be around 150 nations competing. The Marathon would have about ten runners from Ethiopia, Kenya etc and the sprints have ten from USA and Jamaica.
Its about balance and we have to face the fact that the Olympics is one of the few occasions when people from some countries get a chance to showcase their talents.
In some cases "Eric the Eel" it is a good and in a way....touching. In other cases "Eddie the Eagle" perhaps, it is a bit embarrassing.
In the specific case of Chris Bryan, I hope that there is a way that both he and the swimmer from Guam get to London.
The problem for any host nation is that they do for the most part have a "right" to compete in every event and its certainly a chance to raise standards (Britain and Basketball perhaps) but also a chance to look rather outclassed (I believe Britain has not taken up its full quota in Wrestling).

Dodge

Host country doesn't have an automatic right to enter in every event

In Mens boxing for example they had 5 sports reserved over the 10 weight categories ( they didn't need them in the end). So there's 3 weigths with GB boxers. As has been mentioned they've only one wrestler (despite having 3 host spots reserved)

They did take up their spots in the team events and will be esy pickings in basketball, volleyball, handball and water polo.

On Chris Bryan, i think he'll get in if the NZer pulls out, but we'll find out soon enough

swim2

Here is a bit more from FINA. It isn,t clearly written
QUALIFICATION PATHWAY
FOR MEN AND WOMEN
1. 2011 FINA World Championships
20 Marathon Swimmers (10 Men & 10 Women) - [FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]The ten (10) best ranked athletes from the 10km event will obtain a quota place.
[/FONT][/FONT]2. FINA Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier 2012
18 Marathon Swimmers (9 Men & 9 Women) [FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]- The nine (9) best ranked athletes will obtain a quota place. Only NOC/NF that have no swimmer qualified through the 2011 World Championships may elect to send a maximum of two (2) athletes per event to the qualifier. Each NOC/NF can qualify a maximum of one (1) athlete per gender.
[/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]Continental Representation
[/FONT][/FONT]10 Marathon Swimmers (5 Men & 5 Women) - [FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]The best ranked athlete in the FINA Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier 2012, not yet qualified, from each of five (5) Continents will obtain a quota place.
Should an NOC/NF have previously qualified one (1) or two (2) swimmers, the quota place will be allocated to the next best ranked athlete, not yet qualified, in the ranking of the FINA Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier 2012 event to ensure that each of these competitions yields a competitor. [/FONT][/FONT]

This suggests that there will be one 'quota place' allocated to the best ranked continental athlete.
These 15 quota place are initially allocated. Regardless if you are 1st and have the automatic spot or 27th and receive the continental place they are all of the same value 'quota' places.

So then there is a section to deal with this quota places which are all of same value regardless of how they were aquired.

Reallocation of unused quota places
REALLOCATION OF UNUSED IF QUOTA PLACES

[FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]The unused IF quota place(s) will be reallocated to the next best ranked athlete from the 2012 FINA Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier 2012, not yet qualified. [/FONT][/FONT]

REALLOCATION OF UNUSED HOST COUNTRY PLACES

[FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]Should the Host Country decide not to use its host country places, the place(s) will be reallocated to the next best ranked athlete in the same gender from the 2012 FINA Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier 2012, not yet qualified. [/FONT][/FONT]

Dan man

With just under a month left before the qualification deadlines come to pass Ireland has qualified 58 athletes for the London Olympics. Here is an indication of other possible qualifiers before the deadline arrives:

ATHLETICS (a good chance 5-10 additional members):
Track and field events probably provide our best chances of adding to the current number of Olympic qualifiers.

• Jason Smyth (100m) - he has the B-standard and his time of 10.24 secs isn't too far outside the 10.18secs A-standard time.
• Steven Colvert (200m) - as Paul Hession already has the A-time of 20.55secs it means that Colvert will need to hit that time also which means an improvement from his current best time of 20.69secs.
• Mark English (800m) - this 19 year old sensation has already run the B-standard a couple of weeks ago and is just 0.17secs off the A-time of 1:45.60mins.
• Mark Christie (5,000m) - he needs to run a big P.B. in order to dip inside the A standard of 13:20.00mins but I think he has at least an outside chance even if unlikely.
• Ben Reynolds (110m Hurdles) - his best this year of 13.81secs is still well outside the A standard of 13.52 secs and the B-standard of 13.60secs may still be a little out of reach for him at this stage of his young career. However, I would give him an outside chance given his young age and possibility to make a big leap forward.
• Ciara Mageean (1,500m) - she has the B time from last year and current form would suggest she might not be able to upgrade to the A standard in the remaining weeks before the cut-off point. She might be relying on being sent on the B-time from last year but with Ciara you never know. She has loads of talent and she could yet put in a very good time if she is on form.
• Jessie Barr - 400m Hurdles - she has the B-standard time and is edging nearer to the A-standard time (although she is still quite a way off). She needs to improve from 56.16 secs to 55.50secs but she has a good chance of being sent with the B-standard as she could well be selected as part of the 4x400m relay squad anyway.
• 5 additional members to join Joanne Cuddihy in the 4x400m relay team (in order of likelihood the team could be any 5 of Michelle Carey, Claire Bergin, Marian Heffernan, Joanna Mills, Jessie Barr and Caitriona Cuddihy).

There are others with small chances too and some with the pedigree to achieve the standards such as Mary Cullen, Kelly Proper, David Gillick and Roisin McGettigan but appear to be running out of time to mount a serious challenge.
There are about 10 solid chances, and 5 are likely to qualify as part of the relay team and even a pessimistic onlooker might suggest at least one of the others listed above could make the team.

SWIMMING (1):

• Chris Bryan - 10km Marathon Open Water Swim (awaiting the decision of the possible re-allocation of an unused quota place)
• There may be an outside chance that other swimmers could still get the qualifying times but I think it's fairly unlikely (perhaps Aisling Cooney in the backstroke would be the best chance but I think the team is likely to remain unchanged)
  
  

BOXING (1):

• Joe Ward (Men's Light-Heavyweight) - he's awaiting the decision on who is awarded the invitation place in this weight category
  

EVENTING (2):

• Ireland has 2 riders in 1st and 3rd place on the reserve list and it is highly likely that both will be awarded quota places once the re-distribution of unused quota places process is completed

CANOEING (1):

• Jenny Egan (Women's K1 200m Sprint) - she is awaiting the re-distribution of unused quota places and has a slim chance of being awarded a quota place, most likely in the 200m event.

My estimation is that we will gain in the region of 7-12 more qualifiers for the Olympics to add to the current squad of 58. The women's 4x400m realy team is almost a certainty and that would immediately bring the number to 63. The 2 eventers on the reserve list will likely raise the number to 65 and I would think that either through a change of the B-standard policy stance or late qualifiers will push the total near the 70 mark. Therefore between 65-70 seems to be a reasonable estimation and if it doesn't fall within this bracket then it will be on the high side rather than the lower end of that range. Looks encouraging.
I don't see any hope for Caroline Ryan in the women's road race cycling but I could be wrong.

FitzjamesHorse

Dan
I wish I was more optimistic about the 4x400 Relay.
Im really surprised that some big nations have not qualified or shown their hand.
Seemingly four countries have 3 qualifiers in the Individual event (Britain, Jamaica, Russia, USA) and another (Ukraine) has 2 qualifiers.
Italy and Germany just 1 qualifier.
Now Id be amazed if I saw just one Italian or German on the starting line.
And as far as I can gather traditionally strong nations like France, Cuba, Sweden, Nigeria, Canada and Australia dont have a qualifier at A standard.
I suspect our girls might get swept away in a rush of events over next threeweeks or so.
I hope I am totally wrong.

Dan man

FitzjamesHorse wrote: »

Dan
I wish I was more optimistic about the 4x400 Relay.
Im really surprised that some big nations have not qualified or shown their hand.
Seemingly four countries have 3 qualifiers in the Individual event (Britain, Jamaica, Russia, USA) and another (Ukraine) has 2 qualifiers.
Italy and Germany just 1 qualifier.
Now Id be amazed if I saw just one Italian or German on the starting line.
And as far as I can gather traditionally strong nations like France, Cuba, Sweden, Nigeria, Canada and Australia dont have a qualifier at A standard.
I suspect our girls might get swept away in a rush of events over next threeweeks or so.
I hope I am totally wrong.

You should be more optimistic, there is little chance they will drop 4 places in the rankings, those nations like Sweden and Australia are not going to surpass us and most of the other nations you mention like Cuba, Ukraine, Germany and Italy are already ranked ahead of the Irish team so they cannot overtake us. I'm extremely confident that they will qualify, trust me it looks really good.

Here are the latest standings:
http://www.iaaf.org/mm/Document/06/44/08/64408_PDF_English.pdf

Dodge

I think all the canoeing places have been dished out, meaning Egan misses out. Cycling too is nearly all set. She'd need Tripartite invitation and maybe her track medal will squeeze her in

Apart from invitation/technicalities we're really only looking at the Track and Field athletes being added now. Gillick has had 2 awful races (3 seconds off standard, 44 seconds off his best) so must be a doubt. Proper would need to jump an irish record just to get the B standard. Unlikely

I think Amy Foster could get in at 200m though. She's close enough to make a great effort if she gets the right conditions. Barr too is improving quickly. Huge PB already this year. Hopefully she gets the nod.

Rose-Anne galligan and Mary Cullen are both clss athletes. Hopefullt they can shake off their injury problems and get the standard.

FitzjamesHorse

I hope youre right Dan.
I suppose Im putting too much stock on a Nations "reputation" for being good. No big nation has a divine right to be there. And I think just being in the best 16 in the world is a huge achievement.
Not seen mention of Orla Drumm. Any chance?

Dan man

Dodge wrote: »

I think all the canoeing places have been dished out, meaning Egan misses out. Cycling too is nearly all set. She'd need Tripartite invitation and maybe her track medal will squeeze her in

Apart from invitation/technicalities we're really only looking at the Track and Field athletes being added now. Gillick has had 2 awful races (3 seconds off standard, 44 seconds off his best) so must be a doubt. Proper would need to jump an irish record just to get the B standard. Unlikely

I think Amy Foster could get in at 200m though. She's close enough to make a great effort if she gets the right conditions. Barr too is improving quickly. Huge PB already this year. Hopefully she gets the nod.

Rose-Anne galligan and Mary Cullen are both clss athletes. Hopefullt they can shake off their injury problems and get the standard.

Athletics won't be the only sport to yield more qualifiers, we are bound to pick up more places in eventing.
There are no tripartite positions in women's road race so I think Caroline Ryan has no chance of making London. I think you're right about the canoe sprint though.
Gillick almost certainly won't make London, and Kelly Proper is very unlikely to qualify also.

Dan man

FitzjamesHorse wrote: »

I hope youre right Dan.
I suppose Im putting too much stock on a Nations "reputation" for being good. No big nation has a divine right to be there. And I think just being in the best 16 in the world is a huge achievement.
Not seen mention of Orla Drumm. Any chance?

Orla Drumm has a chance over 1,500m, not likely but she has a chance. Those I listed have the best chances IMO.
And yea I think you are putting too much emphasis on reputation...I'm a huge follower of athletics and I can tell you that those countries like Nigeria, Cuba, Germany and Italy are not so strong anymore in terms of 400m. Besides, all of which are already ahead of the Irish team so they can't affect our qualification chances as it stands. Ukraine have 3 qualifiers too for the individual 400m and they too are ranked above us so can't overtake us.

Dodge

FitzjamesHorse wrote: »

And I think just being in the best 16 in the world is a huge achievement.

it is

I've gone throught the likely challengers at the top of this page

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056181796&page=64

Dodge

Dan man wrote: »

Athletics won't be the only sport to yield more qualifiers, we are bound to pick up more places in eventing.

yeah, sorry when I said more qualifiers, I meant apart from those we know about wating on invites/re-allocation (ie eventing, Chris Bryan, Joe Ward, maybe ven Arthur lanigan O'Keeffe (outsider))

Truman Burbank

Dan man wrote: »

Orla Drumm has a chance over 1,500m, not likely but she has a chance. Those I listed have the best chances IMO.
And yea I think you are putting too much emphasis on reputation...I'm a huge follower of athletics and I can tell you that those countries like Nigeria, Cuba, Germany and Italy are not so strong anymore in terms of 400m. Besides, all of which are already ahead of the Irish team so they can't affect our qualification chances as it stands. Ukraine have 3 qualifiers too for the individual 400m and they too are ranked above us so can't overtake us.

No way, I mean you can't be serious?
Have you thought about entering Mastermind? Like, seriously

Truman Burbank

FitzjamesHorse wrote: »

I hope youre right Dan.
I suppose Im putting too much stock on a Nations "reputation" for being good. No big nation has a divine right to be there. And I think just being in the best 16 in the world is a huge achievement.
Not seen mention of Orla Drumm. Any chance?

Following this thread, I've been amazed at the positivity all along for the women's relay team. It's incredible for all involved that it's come(ing) to fruition. I never quite understood either what happened to the big nations this time around. What went wrong for them? What went right for us? Is this a case of individual grassroots follow-thru, obviously with highly dedicated coaches, or did they set out (like Marathon Mission say) to create a relay team nurturing potential team mates along the way as an entity??

Dan man

Truman Burbank wrote: »

No way, I mean you can't be serious?
Have you thought about entering Mastermind? Like, seriously

Host: And for your specialist subject?
Dan: World Athletics 1992-present!!

Anything Olympic related and I'm interested...I'm sure most of you are the same.

Dan man

Truman Burbank wrote: »

Following this thread, I've been amazed at the positivity all along for the women's relay team. It's incredible for all involved that it's come(ing) to fruition. I never quite understood either what happened to the big nations this time around. What went wrong for them? What went right for us? Is this a case of individual grassroots follow-thru, obviously with highly dedicated coaches, or did they set out (like Marathon Mission say) to create a relay team nurturing potential team mates along the way as an entity??

Certainly not...the AAI aren't too great at organising these things, in fact they've been really poor in terms of attempting to get relay teams to London. When the women's team broke the National Record they decided to focus solely on that team instead of giving the other sprint teams a chance also....they probably would not have qualified but there's no chance if they don't race.
The reason our 4x400m relay team are in the top 16 is because other countries aren't so strong at the minute...only 5 countries have more than 1 qualifier for the Olympics so with Joanne qualified and a few other runners of a reasonable standard we always had a chance.

Dan man

By the way, Irish 400m runner Brian Gregan has set a new PB of 45.91secs today, just 0.01 secs of the B-standard time of 45.90secs. He's highly unlikely to get the really tough A-standard time of 45.30secs but this was his season opener so he should get quicker. I had thought I read he was injured so didn't include him in the list, but I guess he's in good shape. If he can get the B-time at least then he'll give himself a chance as no other Irish runners have the A standard. It would still rely on the OCI and AAI relenting on their policy of only sending A-standard athletes.

Truman Burbank

Dan man wrote: »

Host: And for your specialist subject?
Dan: World Athletics 1992-present!!

Anything Olympic related and I'm interested...I'm sure most of you are the same.

For the general knowledge rounds just answer 'Puccini' and 'A Flock of Seagulls' alternately, it's bound to be correct at some stage.

Truman Burbank

Dan man wrote: »

Certainly not...the AAI aren't too great at organising these things, in fact they've been really poor in terms of attempting to get relay teams to London. When the women's team broke the National Record they decided to focus solely on that team instead of giving the other sprint teams a chance also....they probably would not have qualified but there's no chance if they don't race.
The reason our 4x400m relay team are in the top 16 is because other countries aren't so strong at the minute...only 5 countries have more than 1 qualifier for the Olympics so with Joanne qualified and a few other runners of a reasonable standard we always had a chance.

Love your opening conviction there. I'd like to know, when the dust has settled on This Olympics, why The AAI weren't in the driving seat on this, it seems like the opportunity fell on their lap, and what their future plans for qualification (if any) are. And I'd also like to know why "other countries aren't so strong at the minute".

Dodge

In fairness I'm sure AI would love to do more for relays but funds aren't exactly abundant. To be fair they have funded the 4x400 a little too

Dan man

It's not so much that the other countries have suddenly become really weak...the current rankings of the Irish team would have also qualified them for the Beijing Olympics (as 14th best qualifier) and their National Record would have been enough to finish in the top 10 in those Games. I think it was a similar situation in Athens 2004. Before this, there were no entry times for the relays if I recall correctly.
The Irish deserve huge credit if they qualify and their ranking times are really decent. Nigeria and Germany used to be very strong but as I said they are ranked ahead of Ireland anyway so that's got nothing to do with why Ireland are in the top 16. Poland are not as fast as a few years ago, but these things tend to go in cycles.

Ireland's national record is much quicker than the Swedish record also so it's not strange that we're ahead of them. The Irish national record is strong and to date would have been enough to qualify for all Olympics since this ranking system was introduced.

K_1

Dan man wrote: »

Not sure if your crediting me with the list but just in case I should point out it was Dodge's list. Thanks anyway!

Oops i see a list and assume you wrote it, sorry dodge!

Great work both of ye anyway :P

feargale

For the general knowledge rounds just answer 'Puccini'
"Poitini" if the quiz is in Connemara.
'

knockcon

Our Olympic boxers look to be in reasonable touch at an international event in France. Some very strong performances including 2 wins from 2 for Joe ward. I'd say the lad is just itching to find out his fate. Michael conlin had three wins from three. JJ nevin did suffer a defeat though. Hopefully it's just the run out he needs pre-Olympics to dust off some cobwebs.

Dan man

knockcon wrote: »

Our Olympic boxers look to be in reasonable touch at an international event in France. Some very strong performances including 2 wins from 2 for Joe ward. I'd say the lad is just itching to find out his fate. Michael conlin had three wins from three. JJ nevin did suffer a defeat though. Hopefully it's just the run out he needs pre-Olympics to dust off some cobwebs.

John Joe Nevin actually lost 2 of his 3 fights, losing to both the German and French fighters. That's the worrying thing about Nevin, he's capable of beating anyone but he gets beaten too often. Having said that it's not a disaster or anything as it's only preparation for London and he was up against very good opposition in Schmidt and Azzedine but I'm sure he's disappointed with his performance.
Michael Conlan got another superb victory, beating the Olympic silver medallist Oubaali from France and on French turf....he also beat the French fighter at the Worlds in Baku to qualify for London. Three wins out of three, excellent stuff against decent opponents. I think he's a great shout for a medal in London.

Dodge

New RTE series; "London Calling"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IG0n0NTlDa0&feature=youtu.be

Dan man

Joe Ward is more hopeful than optimistic over his chances of getting the invitation place for London:

http://www.westmeathindependent.ie/news/roundup/articles/2012/06/13/4010867-decision-imminent-on-wards-olympic-fatebr/

Skid

The Irish Times Sports Facebook page is reporting

Very disappointing news that the hopes of participating in the London Olympic Games in July are all but gone for Irish light-heavyweight champion Joe Ward.
Johnny Watterson has the story in The Irish Times today.

https://www.facebook.com/irishtimessport

No more detail, presumably the story will be in Thurday's Print edition.

A great shame for Joe Ward if this report is correct.

Dan man

Skid wrote: »

The Irish Times Sports Facebook page is reporting



https://www.facebook.com/irishtimessport

No more detail, presumably the story will be in Thurday's Print edition.

A great shame for Joe Ward if this report is correct.

That's very sad if it is the case. I presume they're right in what they are saying if they are ready to go out with the story.

Not a big shock but still gutting.

Dan man

Here's the report...there still seems to be a small glimmer of hope:

http://m.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2012/0614/1224317876692.html?via=othersport

The following quote offers some sort of encouragement, however slim or misplaced it might prove to be in the end:

One glimmer of hope is the International Federation can also make a recommendation for inclusion. However indications are the heavily-politicised decision-making process may also end in disappointment. Apparently there are two unofficial lists in circulation in Lausanne from the IABA, one which has Ward’s name included and the other which does not. It was suggested by the source Ward’s expectations should not lean too heavily on being nominated by the governing body of the sport.

They mention IABA in that quote when they actually mean the AIBA. Also, it is worth remembering that the Tripartite Commission could never consider Ward for the wildcard place, the avenue he would benefit from would be if the AIBA offered him the invitation place that the Tripartite Commission cannot distribute to a so-called developing nation. Hopefully that is what the "two lists" remark is referring to, one list for Tripartite Commission places and the other list for the places that had to go back to the AIBA because the Tripartite Commission was unable to allocate the spot.

Hope we get total clarification soon, this fiasco has gone on far enough.

Dodge

https://twitter.com/openwatersource/status/213134922578268160

New Zealand officially refuse quota place

Dan man

Steven Colvert was within 2 hundredths of a second off qualifying for the Olympics as he ran 20.57secs for the 200m in Slovenia. The A-time of 20.55secs seems to be within his grasp now especially when you consider he was running into a slight headwind (-0.7m/s).

Cosmo Kramer

Great stuff from Colvert alright. You'd have to fancy him to finish off the job from there between now and the cut off.

Dan man

Cosmo Kramer wrote: »

Great stuff from Colvert alright. You'd have to fancy him to finish off the job from there between now and the cut off.

He's off to a meet in Sweden this weekend for another crack at it and he'll have a golden opportunity at the European Championships in Helsinki if needs be (depending on suitable weather conditions of course) so you'd have to give him a big shout of making the Olympic team.