ROWING/CANOEING:Seán Drea and the single scull must rank as one of Ireland's great near misses on the water. But Drea is not the only one left with a fourth place and a what if hanging over his Olympic experience.

Neville Maxwell and Tony O’Connor also ended up just outside the medals in Atlanta in 1996 while canoeist Eoin Rheinisch was beaten off the podium in Beijing by a late run in the K1 slalom. Ian Wiley, also in the slalom, was eighth overall in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

Both canoeing and rowing have had distinguished histories in the Games.

Drea came second in the 1975 world championship and at the 1976 Olympics broke the 2,000m world record in the semi-final but finished fourth in the final after a poor third quarter.

Rowing is in a trough at the moment with just one qualifier, Sanita Puspure, with Rheinisch again a rider in the white water.

That fourth in Beijing puts Rheinisch in the frame in his highly technical sport. He’s well prepared and will expect to reach the final runs at least.

Elsewhere, surprise selection Andrzej Jezierski, the former Polish sprinter now living in Cork, was a class underage operator and represents an interesting dark horse here in the C1 200m and a former world champion to boot.

Originally Latvia Puspure (pronounced Push Purr) rowed well in the Lucerne qualifier. A very gutsy rower who will want to get out of her heat.

Johnny Watterson

VERDICT- Should be competitive

Eoin Rheinisch (Canoe Slalom) has the quality to reach the final run, while Andrzej Jezierski (Canoe Sprint) can realistically aim for a top 10 finish if he can revive his former world championship form.