DOUBTS about Marcus O'Sullivan's selection for the Olympic Games began to recede yesterday after his name was forwarded to the Olympic Council of Ireland by the BLE.

Complying with a request for a preliminary draft of those in line for inclusion in the Olympic squad, the BLE sent a list of 28 names to the Council.

In doing so, however, BLE officials stressed that the list will not become official until their management committee meets in Dublin on Monday. Even then, the deadline for selection may be deferred, in some instances, for another week.

Among those nominated are 11 athletes still in search of 'A' qualifying standards. The two Nenagh athletes, Gary and Neil Ryan, are tentatively named for the sprints, Eugene Farrell of Crusaders is another 'B' selection for the 400 metres and Noel Berkeley and Sean Dolman are in contention for selection for the 10,000 metres championship.

Inevitably, however, it is the inclusion of Marcus O'Sullivan which will provoke most interest. There was a school of thought that, at 34, the former world indoor champion had slipped past his best and that another Cork athlete, Ken Nason might represent a better long term investment if he achieved a premier qualifying mark before the deadline for selection expires.

That is still a possibility, but after O'Sullivan returned a career best figure of three minutes 34.09 seconds for the 1,500 metres in Paris last week, it is now accepted that it will be difficult to reject his claims for inclusion in the squad.

Of the seven women who have qualified for the 5,000 metres, only Sonia O'Sullivan is assured of selection. Catherina McKiernan, another of the seven, is to concentrate on the 10,000m but the jury is still out on the claims of the other five Cathy McCandless, Sinead Delahunty, Valerie Vaughan, Marie McMahon and Brid Dennehy.

The most notable omission from the BLE list is Peter Maher, the Canadian international runner, who last week submitted an application for consideration to run in the marathon after obtaining a clearance from the Canadian Federation to compete for Ireland.

Although Maher is comfortably inside the qualifying mark of two hours 16 minutes for the marathon, he does not as yet merit inclusion in the preliminary draft.

That may change next Monday when, armed with the evidence of the big international meetings taking place over the next three days, the selectors may have cause to amend their thoughts.