Mark Carroll, who has achieved Olympic qualifying times in three different events, has yet to be nominated by the Athletics Association of Ireland for selection for the Sydney Games.
Although 20 athletes have achieved "A" standards, the AAI has so far nominated only a handful of people for ratification by the Olympic Council of Ireland.
These include Sonia O'Sullivan, marathon runners Gerry Healy and Teresa Duffy, and walkers Gillian O'Sullivan, Olive Loughnane, Robbie Heffernan and Jamie Costin. The association stresses that it will continue to make nominations in the weeks ahead, when presumably Carroll, one of the more realistic contenders for acclaim in Sydney, will have his name submitted.
The fact that it has not already happened will be interpreted by some as another indication of the brittle relationship which has existed between athlete and association in recent years.
One of the conditions for selection for the Olympic Games and major championships is that foreign-based athletes compete in the national championships and make themselves available for selection for European Cup competition.
Carroll's problem originates not so much in his decision to absent himself from the recent European meeting in Lithuania, as failing to respond to the letter sent by the AAI seeking clarification of his plans.
The AAI says that as yet, it has had no official word from the athlete on whether he intends to run in the national championships at Santry next month but unofficially, all the pointers are that he will.
The Cork athlete is still in the United States but he expects to travel to Europe later in the week, in preparation for a 1,500 metres race at Barcelona next Tuesday. Three days later, he is due to run over a mile in Oslo and he may then compete over 5,000 metres at Stockholm on August 1st.
Later, there is a scheduled appearance in Zurich and after the national championships, the likelihood is that he will travel to Berlin for the last big Grand Prix meeting before Sydney.
Sonia O'Sullivan is to amend her racing programme to take in an additional run, over 1,500 metres, in the latest in a series of races organised by the Milers' Club, at Watford next Saturday.
Originally, she wasn't scheduled to race again until the Bislett meeting in Oslo at the end of the month, but has opted to run competitively rather than undertake a routine training session on Saturday.
O'Sullivan will not be the only Irish athlete in action in Watford, where Rosemary Ryan, who holds a "B" qualifying time for the 10,000 metres, hopes to achieve an "A" standard in the event.
