McDonagh regrets lack of funds

Ciaran McDonagh, it seemed, wasn't so much disappointed as angry after finishing 10th in the world long-jump championship on Saturday.

For a man who enjoyed little profile at national level and none at all in international athletics at the start of the year, it ought to have been a cause of deep satisfaction.

McDonagh didn't deny the sense of career fulfilment which derives from competing with such an august name at Ivan Pedrosa, with the eyes of some 40,000 spectators trained on the long-jump pit.

Neither did he forget the long years of neglect by those delegated to look after the financial needs of our emerging athletes or the fact that BLE insisted on him completing a full six-jump series to prove his fitness, before confirming his late selection for Seville.

"I got a £1000 grant in 1996 after finishing fourth in the European junior championships the previous year - and that was nothing," he said. "I mean I finish 10th in the world championship and I have to do it without as much as a penny from those who are supposed to help young athletes.

"I get £80 a week from a FAS course, drive a 10-year-old car to and from training in Santry and just look after all my own expenses. You look at some athletes who get everything and others with nothing. At times it seems the Sports Council are biased against field events.

"Back at the start of the year, I wanted to pack it all in, get myself a proper job and earn real money. But my coach talked me out of it. Were it not for the support of my family, I could never have got to this level. It's been very difficult for everybody but hopefully things will now begin to change."

In fact, the 23-year-old Athboy athlete would almost certainly have done still better were it not for a damaged ankle, a legacy of his record eight metres jump in Thursday's preliminaries. He acknowledged that it didn't effect his sprinting but once he hit the board, he was in trouble.

"I knew coming to the stadium that I probably had just one good jump in me and I decided to go for it on my first attempt."

As it transpired, he cleared 7.90 metres on his first visit to the pit, an auspicious enough start in normal circumstances but now, in the changed circumstances, vaguely disappointing. He could only get out to 7.72 with his next effort and when he fouled in gambling on big figures from his third visit, all hope of making the cut-off for the top eight was lost.

McDonagh was back in the mixed zone area as the competition built to an absorbing climax with Pedrosa, top ranked in the international ratings, defying the challenge of a local idol, Yana Lamela, to retain his title with a superb clearance of 8.56 metres.

The other Irish finalist on Saturday, Mark Carroll, finished some 300 metres off the pace in the 5,000 metres championship, won by the Moroccan, Salah Hissou, in 12 minutes 58.13 seconds. The Irishman's figures in 14th and last place were 13:52.23.

He receded to the back of the field before the end of the first lap and never subsequently looked likely to escape from his indignity. To be fair, his fellow Europeans suffered in corresponding measure with the two Spaniards who finished ahead of him in the European championship in Budapest, Isaac Viciosa and Manuel Pancorbo, equally distressed on the day.

That is the measure of Africa's supremacy in middle and long-distance events and the point was made more powerfully than ever as the Moroccan and Kenyan runners took it in turns to front-run the race. Only Belgium's Muhammed Mourhit, who took the bronze medal, threatened this supremacy. And he, course, was born in Morocco.

For all his consistency of recent years, Hissou had never won a major title before setting down in Seville and to that extent his triumph was timely. But it might never have happened had the Kenyan, Benjamin Limo, who covered the last 250 metres like an express train, begun his finishing run earlier.

Ireland's 4 x 400 metres quartet of Gary Ryan, Paul McBurney, Thomas Coman and Paul McKee finished fifth of eight in their heat after two teams had been disqualified and another dropped the baton. After promising runs by Ryan and McBurney, they struggled in the closing stages and a time of 4 minutes 05.81 seconds was just outside an "A" qualifying mark for the Olympic Games in Sydney.

Ludmila Engquist, who defied breast cancer treatment to claim a bronze medal for Sweden behind America's Gail Devers in the 100 metres hurdles final, hopes to defend her Olympic title in Sydney next year.

Engquist, seeking to retain a title she won at Athens two years ago, was uncommonly slow to leave the blocks but towards the end of the race she was running with much of the power and purpose which fuelled her earlier wins.

After playing yet again on the emotions of the crowd who have applauded her bravery and commitment all week, the Russian who defected to Sweden some years ago said: "The future is not looking that good for me, for in September I must continue my treatment. But I'm still optimistic of going to Sydney to defend my title. I wish to go on with my athletics career as I showed here that I can still run fast.

"I dreamt that I would have a gold medal at the end but there is no way I could have run as fast as Gail tonight. But I still made a Swedish record and that was a good performance after a bad start."

Devers, who herself suffered from Greaves disease at one point, achieved career best figures of 12.44 seconds in winning the gold medal for the third time in six years.