Bolt cleared for Ireland visits

ATHLETICS NEWS:THE PROSPECT of Usain Bolt doing some strides and general limbering up at the University of Limerick track has now become a reality. After several months of negotiations, the path has been cleared for the undisputed fastest man on earth to visit Ger Hartmann's sports injury clinic, located at the University Sports Centre.

Bolt is in fact just one of 31 leading athletes to be granted a special visa which allows them enter Ireland, for up to 90 days at a time, through to 2012.

Fellow Jamaican sprinter Asafa Powell is also listed as are several top Kenyan distance runners, all of whom would normally be required to apply for a standard visa for each visit, which can take up to 12 weeks to process.

The quest to get Bolt into Ireland began shortly after the Beijing Olympics, where the 22-year-old famously claimed three gold medals and three world records.

Bolt’s manager and Donegal native Ricky Simms has close ties with Hartmann, often bringing athletes to his Limerick clinic, but lately found the lengthy visa application process had become increasingly prohibitive.

With the backing of the University of Limerick’s head of sport, Dave Mahedy, Simms and Hartmann drew up a list of athletes for submission to the Department of Justice, requesting the special visa status in the run-up to the London Olympics in 2012.

“What the Department of Justice has done is allocated visas to 31 athletes, including Bolt, and his coach Glen Mills,” explained Hartmann, who coincidentally got the news yesterday just as his wife, Diane, was giving birth to their first child, Patrick Tadgh.

“It’s a four-year visa, active from now, which allows them to enter Ireland for up to 90 days on each visit. It’s something Ricky Simms has been very eager to get sorted in the run-up to London 2012. And I believe it is a big coup d’état for Ireland and of course Limerick in that run-up to London 2012.”

Powell’s manager, Paul Doyle, also has strong Irish connections as he’s married to former 400-metre record holder Karen Shinkins, and like Simm’s, was eager to use Hartmann’s clinic in Limerick for the treatment and injury prevention of his athletes in the build-up to London.

Mahedy had the full backing of the university board and president in the quest to get the special visas, and is now looking forward to Bolt’s arrival in Limerick sometime in the near future: “Certain countries do need special visas to come into Ireland. It’s not like athletes from the EU, who can come and go.

“Jamaica was one of those. Usain Bolt couldn’t just arrive at Shannon airport, and away we go. We’d been in touch with the Ministry of Justice, and they’ve been brilliant, a great help. It’s a multi-entry visa, which will allow them to come and go, as long as they don’t stay over 90 days.

“So with that road smoothed out now it’s a real prospect that Bolt will be in Limerick in the near future. It’s very exciting, for Ireland, and for the University, that these athletes want to come here to get treatment.

“This is another huge boost to the university and we’re absolutely over the moon about it, to think the fastest man on earth is coming to Ireland.”

Paul Hession last night finished second in a high-quality 60 metres at the Malmo Indoor Gala in Sweden, his time of 6.69 seconds a nice improvement on the 6.73 he ran in Moscow on Sunday. The Galway athlete was very close to Roberto Donati of Italy, the winner in 6.68, with the American, Josh Norman third, and former world 100 metres champion, Kim Collins, fourth.

The death took place in Dublin yesterday of Lar O’Byrne, one of the country’s best known and popular athletics coaches over many years. He was 80. Byrne was a native of Wicklow but had a long association with Clonliffe Harriers in Dublin.

He is best remembered for his highly successful period as Coach to the Irish Cross-Country Team in ’78, ’79 and ’80, the years when John Treacy won two individual gold medals while the Irish team won the silver medals in Limerick in ’79.

Subsequently he was selected as Head Coach to the Irish Athletics Team for the ’84 Olympic Games in Los Angeles when Treacy won his silver medal in the marathon. and took a particular pride in the fact that a Clonliffe runner, Jerry Kiernan, finished ninth in the same race.