London beckons

A round-up of todays other stories in brief

Focus sport: modern pentathlon

Sometimes know as Mission: Impossible, this is in fact one of the original, and purposely designed, Olympic events. It’s arguably the toughest too, given it’s actually a combination of five events – fencing, swimming, horse riding, running and shooting – all completed in one day, and intended to simulate the demands of a 19th-century cavalry soldier behind enemy lines (without the killing part).

Baron de Coubertin, the founder of the modern games, helped dream up the event himself, believing it encapsulated the true Olympic spirit: the fencing is first up, then comes the 200m swim, which is purely time based; next is the horse riding; and finally the shooting and the running, which have been combined since Beijing in 2008. Competitors must stop intermittently to shoot at the fixed target, 10m away. “The secret is to hold your breath as you fire,” says Irish qualifier Natalya Coyle.

LONDON’S A-TWITTER

Scott Evans @Scott_Evans1

Well now its OFFICIAL.. I have qualified for #London2012 :-) delighted to be part of the Irish squad!!

Telegraph Olympics @Telegraph2012

Olympic beer to cost £7.23 a pint

Olive Loughnane @OliveLoughnane

Just had a woman try to accelerate past me to get to supermarket q before me. In fairness I dont think she knew what she was dealing with!

Usain Bolt @usainbolt

Ppl..Coach Mills is the greatest coach in the world...Thanks for all the supports fans and always believing.. To the world me say

Gavin Noble @gavontwitt

Dont tell any1 but @a press conference today with @tri_ireland I got emotional when talking about the olympics! Almost embarrassed..almost

Annalise Murphy @Annalise_Murphy

On the @aircoach on my way to dub airport! See you Weymouth in 4hrs. Cant wait for Sail4Gold to start on Monday!

Telegraph Olympics @Telegraph2012

London 2012 Olympics: Charles van Commenee categorically denies labelling Jessica Ennis fat

London Spectator: Tennis at Wimbledon

Competition dates: Saturday, July 28th – Sunday, August 5th.

If any of London’s sporting venues seem ready-made for the Olympics then it’s Wimbledon – and it staged the tennis competitions when London hosted the Olympics in 1908, with Great Britain winning all six gold medals.

Officially known as the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, Wimbledon has been hosting tennis tournaments since 1877. So, just three weeks after staging the Grand Slam tournament, the best tennis players in the world will be back seeking Olympic glory.

All the tennis qualifiers will be confirmed on July 9th – but there won’t be any Irish qualifiers. Pity, because the first men’s Olympic tennis champion, in 1896, was Dublin-born John Boland. He was actually just visiting a friend in Athens, who entered him in the singles competition. He also added the doubles title, playing with Germany’s Fritz Traun – and insisted the Tricolour be run up the pole in that medal ceremony Tennis was pulled as an Olympic sport after 1924, in Paris – and remained so until 1988, in Seoul, when the professional players were allowed entry.. Spain’s Rafael Nadal will be favourite to defend his men’s singles, while sisters Venus and Serena Williams triumphed in the women’s doubles in 2008.

Number of medals – Five: men’s and women’s singles, men’s and women’s doubles and mixed doubles.

Number of competitors – 172: 86 men and 86 women.

Getting there – By Underground: Go to Wimbledon or Southfields on the District Line or Tooting Broadway on the Northern Line, then take Bus 493.

By Rail – There is a regular train service from London Waterloo to Wimbledon Station. At Wimbledon train station take the 493 bus.

The race is on for qualification times

Some might say we’ve already surpassed expectations with 17 Irish athletes now holding an A-standard ticket for London – and that includes Fionnuala Britton, who last Sunday night in Rabat secured the 5,000 metres qualifying time, having also qualified in the 3,000m steeplechase and 10,000m. The reigning European Cross Country champion now seems spoilt for choice, although she’s going to focus solely on the 10,000m come London.

But quite a few more athletes are still trying to qualify in just the one event – and that includes David Gillick in the 400m, who has now withdrawn from his first scheduled race of the season this evening at the Geneva International meeting. Injury denied Gillick the chance to run the A-standard of 45.30 last summer, but with a best of 44.77 from 2009, and his 44.79 in 2010, it’s shouldn’t be beyond reach. However Gillick will likely require a few races to get his sharpness back, and with July 8th the cut-off date for qualification, there could be an anxious few weeks ahead.

There is scope for six more Irish athletes to get to London if the women’s 4x400m relay team maintain their position: Marian Heffernan, Joanne Cuddihy, Claire Bergin, and Michelle Carey ran an Irish record of 3:27.48 in Daegu last September, and coupled with the 3:31.25 they ran at the European Cup, ranks them 12th in the world – with the top 16 teams, as of July 2nd, invited to London.

They’re in action in Bydgoszcz, Poland, tomorrow, seeking another back-up time to ensure they remain inside the top-16. The travelling squad will be Cuddihy, Bergin, Heffernan, Carey, Jessie Barr, Catriona Cuddihy (youngster sister of Joanne) and Sanura O’Reilly. (Born in Dublin, but initially with American allegiance, she has been cleared to compete for Ireland ). Kelly Proper competes in the long jump in La Chaux-de-fond, Switzerland while Dan Mulhare is at the European Cup 10,000m in Bilbao.