DAVID MATTHEWS yesterday dismissed suggestions that his Olympic preparations have dropped behind schedule after a disappointing run in Cork last weekend. Matthews will be confirmed as Ireland's sole contender for the 800 metres championship in Atlanta when BLE's Management Committee tonight submits a draft of its squad for approval by the Olympic Council of Ireland.

As yet, Matthews is nowhere near the form which earned him a high international rating last season but with a month to go to the start of the Games, he is not about to push the panic button.

"The only thing which really matters is that I'm running well in Atlanta on July 27th and forget about the blips - I will," he said.

"In training today, at the start of a repetitive session, I ran two minutes 18 seconds for 1000 metres. That's two seconds faster than I've ever run before and only about two tenths of a second off Enda Fitzpatrick's Irish record.

"It's true I haven't always produced it in competition this season and Cork last week was a case in point. After making all the right moves, I just didn't have it when it mattered most, over the last 100 metres.

"That was down in part to a combination of a hamstring problem and a heavy cold and it had no resemblance to the kind of form I was showing in training today."

On his own admission, Matthews needs to be running close to 1-44 when he sets down in Atlanta and that may only be achieved by gaining entry to a couple of fast races in the intervening period.

The problem is that with so few credible performances to his credit this season, he is likely to find it difficult to get invitations to run against the type of athletes capable of producing that kind of pace.

Most of the big name 800 metres athletes are likely to be in action at the forthcoming meetings at Oslo and Lausanne but at this point, it is far from clear if the Irish champion will be offered the chance of joining them.

It is very much a chicken and egg situation and while confident of his ability to attain the kind of form necessary to survive the preliminaries in Atlanta, he concedes that he is dependent on the goodwill of meeting promoters to succeed.

"Realistically, it's going to be hard to get into either Oslo or Lausanne but I'm still hopeful that my agent, Kim McDonald, will be able to swing one or other for me.

Matthews's next outing will be in the Europa Cup meeting in Lisbon tomorrow and Saturday but experience teaches that with the emphasis on tactics, this competition rarely produces truly run races.

He will be joined in Portugal by several other Olympic hopefuls, among them Niall Bruton and Cormac Finnerty but a definite absentee is the pole vaulter Kevin Keane. After sustaining an injury in Cork last Saturday, Keane is replaced by John Hallissy of Ferrybank.

BLE officials are this evening likely to nominate a record total of 23 athletes for Atlanta with the possibility of more to follow but, as yet, the impasse over the nomination of their medical team continues.

Although the Olympic Council of Ireland have an elaborate medical team in place, BLE traditionally bring their own medics to look after the track and field athletes.

Dr Brendan O'Brien, the Board's Medical Officer, has been nominated by BLE to make the trip but sadly, the former international athlete, Siobhan Tracey, who has acted as physiotherapist to the team during the last two Olympic festivals, will not be travelling.

Tracey is recovering from injuries sustained in a horse riding accident and is now likely to be replaced by the Sligo based Shirley Foley.