NEWS
July 8th/9th,
2000 - Susan captains European Cup team.
Our own Susan
Smith-Walsh captained the Irish women's team that competed in the European
Cup, Division 1, on July 8th and 9th in Bydgoszcz, Poland. The team as selected was
regarded as the best women's team ever to represent the country but
withdrawals weakened the team considerably. Even with a full squad
it would have been a daunting task for the team as their opponents were
very strong, the other nations being Poland, Bulgaria, Belarus,
Netherlands, Slovenia, Austria and Croatia. Susan herself had a good
weekend winning the opening event on the track, the 400mH, in a time of
56.16secs and being a member of the 4x400m relay team that qualified for the Olympic Games with a time of 3mins
33.20secs. The standard is 3:36.00
Our other
representative on the Irish team, Elaine
Fitzgerald, had a very good run
in the 1500m finishing fifth in a time of 4mins 17.6secs. This race was
run at a storming pace and Elaine was running in unknown territory from
the gun, but with the determination that is her hallmark she contested
every metre of the race which was won in a world-class time of 4mins
2secs.
For full results
from Bydgoszcz, click the following, Day
1, Day
2
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July 13th, 2000 -
Olympic Council approves athletes
The Olympic Council
of Ireland approved a number of A standard athletes on Tuesday night.
The full list of A qualifiers now is:
Men:
100/200m, Paul Brizzel; 800m, James Nolan, David Matthews;
1,500m/5,000m/10,000m, Mark Carroll; 400m Hurdles, Tom McGuirk; Discus,
Nicky Sweeney and John Menton; Hammer, Paddy McGrath and Roman Lincheid;
High Jump, Brendan Reilly; 20k Walk, Robert Heffernan; 50k Walk, Jamie
Costin.110m Hurdles, Peter Coghlan.
Women: 400m,
Karen Shinkins; 1,500m: Sonia O’Sullivan; 5,000m: Sonia O’Sullivan,
Breda Dennehy, Una English, Rosemary Ryan; 10,000m: Sonia O’Sullivan,
Breda Dennehy; 400m Hurdles, Susan Smith;
20k Walk: Gillian O’Sullivan and Olive Loughnane.
B qualifiers:
Men: 200m,
Gary Ryan; 400m, Tomas Coman, Paul McKee, Paul McBurney; 800m, Darren
Dineen; 1,500m: Brian Treacy, James Nolan, Gareth Turnbull; 5,000m, Seamus
Power; Marathon, Gerry Healy, Jamie Lewis, Noel Cullen; Javelin, Terry
McHugh; Long Jump, Ciaran McDonagh; 50k Walk, Jeff Cashin.
Women: 100m,
Emily Maher and Sarah Reilly; 200m, Ciara Sheehy; 1,500m, Elaine
Fitzgerald, Sinead Delahunty, Breda Dennehy; 5,000m, Ann Keenan Buckley
and Valerie Vaughan; 10,000m, Rosemary Ryan and Marie McMahon. 400m
Hurdles, Adrienne McIvor; Marathon, Catherina McKiernan and Teresa Duffy; 100m
Hurdles, Susan Smith.
The men’s 4 x 100m and 4 x 400m relay teams have qualified as has the
women’s 4 x 400m squad.
July 25th,
2000. Susan and Elaine in Barcelona
Susan
Smith Walsh got her build up to Sydney off to a flying start
with her best 400m hurdles run since last year. Conditions were extremely
windy at the Olympic Stadium but, nothing daunted, Susan finished third in
the women’s 400m hurdles with her "A" standard of 55.69secs
behind the 54.57secs of Ulrike Urbansky of Germany, and there was nobody
happier in the Olympic Stadium. This was her best
performance since last year. “It’s everything I could have hoped for
at this point,” she said. Elaine
Fitzgerald had a disappointing run in the 1500m. She
never got to grips with the pace of the race and was always playing
'catch-up'. Sinéad Delahunty finished third in this race behind the
double Olympic champion, Svetlana Masterkova, in 4:05.08 - a time that was
well inside the IAAF "A" standard set at 4:08.00.
James Nolan posted
his qualifying standard for the Olympic Games finishing fifth in the 1500m
in 3:36.80 - the exact "A" standard for Sydney 2000. Mark
Carroll crossed the line alongside him in sixth place in 3:36.91. Behind
them Colm McLean ran a personal best time of 3:40.42.