The 2008 Pre-Olympics thread

[DaveyCakes]

Burnett has won medals at world events too.

yeah Synchronised swimming is the other non testiculur sport. A couple of male only sports too, if we're in the humour for quizzes?

Decathlon...Okay, I know its an event, not a sport..

[Dodge]

Good news for magee being called up.

bradley wiggins also broke his collarbone last week much to David O'Loughlin's joy. mightn't keep him out of the olympics but might make it soft enough to break again closer to the event

[Dodge]

Sorry it was Brad McGee who broke his collarbone. Still though

Jessica Keurten has unsurprisingly turned down the chance to represent Ireland in the Olympics. And with her probably our best medal chance gone

[pete]

Jessica Keurten has unsurprisingly turned down the chance to represent Ireland in the Olympics. And with her probably our best medal chance gone

I presume she was unhappy about her recent positive drug result?

[passinginterest]

Good news for Andrew Bree. Looks like he's been totally cleared of any wrong doing and he's free to compete in the Olympics.

In a statement, FINA said that they were 'convinced that the use of levmethamfetamine was not intended to enhance his performance,' and that Bree had gone to 'all possible lengths to check that the medical product that he was using contained no such banned substance'.

Full story from RTE.

[zenokelly]

It's the final swansong for the rest of the swimmers this week in Holland. They're all young so hopefully a couple of them make it, especially Cooney who is 18.

http://www.independent.ie/sport/othe...g-1398588.html

[Dodge]

The Swimmers just missed out (despite a rake of Irish records). One of the girls may be brought in as she has the B standard.

Emma Davis finished an excellent 15th in the World Triathlon championship and is now guarenteed a spot in the Olympics.

The Mens lightweight Four have come back to some sort of form (after a disaster last year) and finished in the top 6 in the last 2 world cup events. They have a qualifying regatta coming soon and must finish inside the top 2

[zenokelly]

The mens 4*400 team started their bid today with 3:04.71 in the first of 2 races that will hopefully qualify them for the Olympics, though it wasn't the best of starts!

They're average over the two races will need to be in the top 16 teams in the world since 1st January 2007 to ensure qualification. The second of the two is next week in Tailinn.

This has been worked on for months and all about the "project" can be found on this website. http://www.project400.net/

In my opinion they are more than capable of making the Games and possibly the final and after all the hard work they put in, good luck to them.

By the way, on a side note, Paul Hession, who has qualified for the olympics in the 200m has had an awesome start to the season, finishing 2nd in the Golden League meeting in Norway (this is the highest standard grand prix), and 2nd in a 300m race in Prague only beaten by Jeremy Warriner who is the current world champion over 400m.

With Paddy Power he is now 11/2 to make the final of the 200m. I think you should have a few quid on that, was 10/1 two weeks ago when I backed him!

[Dodge]

Wariner saying he's not running the 200m at the US trials helped too. Its still a big ask for Hess to make the final though. He may be top european though

[pete]

By the way, on a side note, Paul Hession, who has qualified for the olympics in the 200m has had an awesome start to the season, finishing 2nd in the Golden League meeting in Norway (this is the highest standard grand prix), and 2nd in a 300m race in Prague only beaten by Jeremy Warriner who is the current world champion over 400m.

With Paddy Power he is now 11/2 to make the final of the 200m. I think you should have a few quid on that, was 10/1 two weeks ago when I backed him!

Heard him on the radio this afternoon. He is targeting semi final as minimum but wants to give himself a chance at the final. He did seem to be a bit concerned about stamina through the heats.

[Dodge]

Last rowing qualifier underway.

Lightweight Four won their heat this morning and go straight into Wednesday's Final. It should be between Ireland, Spain (who fiished only a second behind them) and Germany (who won the other heat) for the 2 Olympic spots.

The lightweight men’s double finished 2nd in their heat yesterday. 3 spots on offer here and a good race could see them sneak it. They should definitely make the final anyway


In the heavyweight men’s pair, they also finshed 2nd and agian race in the semis tomorrow. They race in the Semi's tomorrow, with again only 2 spots on offer for the Olympics. It'd be a shock if we gained one of these

[passinginterest]

Looks like O'Loughlin will be competing in the cycling:

David O'Loughlin is set to represent Ireland at this summer's Olympic Games in Beijing.

O'Loughlin will compete in the Men's Individual Pursuit after intense lobbying with the International Cycling Union.

His nomination is expected to be formally confirmed by Cycling Ireland in the coming days.

from The Indo website.

[Dodge]

Great news for O'Loughlin if it comes to pass.

Not such good news for the rowers in todays semis with neither crew making tomorrow's finals.

The lightweight mens four have been drawn in lane 3 so fingers crossed they finish in the top 2

[Dodge]

Lightweight Mens Four finish 2nd and become the 2nd Irish boat to qualify for the Okympics. They were a medal chance 4 years ago but flopped in final and haven't really recovered since. They've made the final of both World Cup events so far this year so they are making a comeback.

O'Loughlin's place in the Individual Pursuit was also confirmed today

B]QUALIFIERS AS AT 18 June[/B]

Athletics
Male
100m, 200m – Paul Hession
400m – David Gillick
1,500, 5,000m, 10,000m – Alistair Cragg (will choose event(s) at a later date)
Marathon – Martin Fagan
20K walk – Robert Heffernan
50K walk – Jamie Costin
20k/50K walk - Colin Griffen (will choose event at a later date)

Female
100mH – Derval O’Rourke
400m – Joanne Cuddihy
3,000m SC – Roisin McGettigan, Fionnula Britton
20K Walk – Olive Loughnan
Hammer – Eileen O’Keefe

Badminton
Mens Indicidual - Scott Evans
Womens Individual - Chloe Magee

Boxing
Light Flyweight – Paddy Barnes
Bantamweight – John Joe Nevin
Light Welterweight - John Joe Joyce
Middleweight - Darren Sutherland
Light Heavyweight - Ken Egan

Canoeing
K1 Slalom – Eoin Rheinisch

Cycling
Men’s Road Race – 2 places
Men’s Mountain Bike – Robin Seymour
Men's Track Individual Pursuit - David O’Loughlin

Fencing
Women's Sabre - Siobhan Byrne

Rowing
Mens heavyweight 4 – team TBD
Mens Lightweight 4 - team TBD

Sailing
Mens 470 – Gerald Owens, Philip Lawton
Mens Keelboat Star - Max Treacy, Anthony Shanks
Women's One Person Dinghy - Laser Radial - Ciara Peelo
Open Finn – Tim Goodbody

Shooting
Men’s Trap – Derek Burnett

Swimming
Breastroke events – Andrew Bree

Triathlon
Womens- Emma Davis

Competitors who are making their olympic debut in Italics

[cavan_fan]

So with Kuerten out what are our top chances.

Not going to get anything in the athletics, swimming etc.

And this time can anyone who wins pls not drug themsleves/their horse/their bike.......

[Dodge]

Read the thread...

[zenokelly]

Most of our track & field athletes qualified for the games are taking part in the European Cup over the next 2 days - the women in Leiria, and men in Tallinn.

Fionnuala Britton (in the 3000m, not her favoured steeplechase), Roisin McGettigan (3000 s/c) and Joanne Cuddihy are going today in Leiria, with Derval O R and Eileen O Keefe in the hammer going tomorrow, results etc. are here

http://www.leiria2008.org/leiria/2nd...age/index.html

While in Tallinn Hession is in action today in the 100m, and Gillick is running tomorrow over 200m.

http://www.ec2008tallinn.org/

Tomorrow is D-day for the 2 4x400m teams also. The men need to run at least 3:04.30 to have a chance of qualifying but realistically probably need low 3:03's to cement a place in the world's top 16 that will qualify them.
While the women will need to run sub 3:29.5 to stand a chance.

[zenokelly]

Paul Hession ran a decent 10.3 (wind +2,1) in the 100m with no competition really (he won the race 14 hundreths ahead of his nearest challenger).

Fionnuala Britton (running the steeplechase in Beijing) ran a disappointing 3000m in a time of 9,23,34 considering she ran 9:40 last week over the 3000m chase.

Roisin McGettigan ran an encouraging 9,39,95 in her 1st steeplechase of the season to finish 3rd. She should be able to build on that towards Beijing and is capable of making the final.

Cuddihy pulled out of the 400m. I'm not sure if it was because she suffered a reocurrence of an injury that kept her out for two weeks prior to last week, or if she was resting for the 4x400 team's qualifying attempt tomorrow.

[zenokelly]

Eileen O Keefe in the hammer continues to impress with a throw again over 69m at the European Cup on Sunday. Eileen along with Hession in the 200m are our only real possibilities of reaching a final in T&F in Beijing, and to a lesser extent, Roisin McGettigan in the 3000m s/chase, imo.

Their was disappointment for the 2 4x400m teams who didn't do enough to get a time that would put them in the top 16, thus, that would've qualified us for the Olympics. The men were only .13 outside the time!

The men may have 1 more chance in Salamanca in 10 days to attempt the time, but it remains to be seen if they will go there.

[DmanDmythDledge]

Five part TV series beginning next Wednesday on RTÉ 2 about this year's Irish Olympians.

Ireland's Olympians Ireland's Olympians is a brand new five-part TV series, and accompanying hardback book, from RTÉ Sport. Produced with the co-operation of the Olympic Council of Ireland and the Irish Sports Council, the series will feature in-depth interviews with leading Irish athletes and international experts across a wide range of sports - including Derval O'Rourke, David Gillick, Eileen O'Keeffe, Kenny Egan, Paul Hession, Joanne Cuddihy and Alistair Cragg.