ATHLETICS/Olympic Games: Shortly after four o'clock yesterday afternoon Maria McCambridge got a phone call from Pat Hickey, the president of the Olympic Council of Ireland. The conversation was short and sweet. McCambridge would be added to the Irish team heading to Athens.
With that ended seven days of emotional torment. It was the call McCambridge had prayed would arrive ever since she ran 15 minutes 5.86 seconds for 5,000 metres in Belgium last Saturday. That was
well inside the A standard for Athens, but the Olympic Council had set their cut-off date for qualification at July 20th, from their original July 3rd date. All week they had insisted that last date was set in stone.
On Wednesday morning, McCambridge got word that a final appeal submitted by Athletics Ireland had failed. "Well yeah, I thought then that was it," she said last night. "There was no more hope. But with just everyone rallying around me and the amount of phone calls and support I was getting I just couldn't give up."
Someone then suggested there might be some hope if she personally approached the Olympic Council president. Under IAAF guidelines the final date for Olympic entries is in fact this Monday, August 9th. A meeting was set up for lunchtime yesterday, with McCambridge putting her case to Hickey at the Olympic Council offices in Dublin.
"It was great the way that went. In fact Pat Hickey couldn't have been any nicer. The main thing was that he understood my situation, and that there were no major 5,000-metre races during that extension in the qualifying period.
"It's just been incredible to finally get the news, because it's been such an up-anddown week. But I'm just so excited about it now."
Almost simultaneously, the Olympic Council press office released an official statement confirming Hickey's response. Within minutes McCambridge's mobile phone was hopping. She took as many calls and well wishes as she could but then did what every true athlete would do. She went for a run.
She headed straight for the UCD campus at Belfield, the warm, still evening ideal for a soothing run to clear her head of the rising emotions. It was on these same pitches and hills - more often than not in the wind and rain - that the 29-year-old put in so much of the groundwork over the past several years, spurred on by the thought that some day she might fulfil her Olympic aspirations. After 40 minutes of steady running she headed back to the family home in Rathgar to catch the Golden League meeting from Zurich.
Watching Sonia O'Sullivan take third over 3,000 metres, the athlete she will join in the 5,000 metres in Athens, just got her even more excited. McCambridge has every reason to believe she can be a finalist in Athens.
In response to his apparent change of heart, Hickey said that he first listened to McCambridge's explanation about not being able to get a quality 5,000 metres during the extended period of qualification. With several countries holding their Olympic trials during that period, the season was largely put on temporary hold.
"I was pleased to have met Maria today," said Hickey, "and on behalf of the Olympic Council I congratulate her on her commitment and determination in pursuing her Olympic dream.
"And having considered her situation, we in the Olympic Council have exercised our powers of selection in this instance. "Maria will be a strong addition to our team, and I wish her every success in
Athens."
Later yesterday evening McCambridge talked with Elaine Fitzgerald, the high-performance director with Athletics Ireland, to finalise her now somewhat hasty departure for Athens.
On Tuesday, McCambridge will head for the athletics training camp in Cyprus, and the following Wednesday week, she will head across to Athens. She admits there is an extra spring in her step since running the 15:05.86, a time which made her the third fastest Irish woman ever over the distance. And so in two weeks' time, on Friday, August 20th, she will enter the gloriously completed Olympic Stadium in Athens and line up for the heats of the 5,000 metres.
