Top Irish swimmers to get OCI funds

Nine Irish swimmers have been granted financial support by the Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) to fund their training and competition until the end of the year.

Following a meeting on Tuesday night it was announced yesterday that the OCI had confirmed the offer made last month of assisting the top Irish swimmers following the withdrawal of funds by the Minister for Tourism and Sport, Dr Jim McDaid.

The immediate function of the assistance will be to allow the swimmers access to the necessary facilities and coaches as well as travel to two main competitions in the coming months - the Tournament of Nations in Vienna next month and the European short-course championships in Sheffield in December.

The financial assistance will operate until Christmas and be considered for renewal after that depending on the IASA situation. It may be that the OCI's Sydney Success Fund, which officially begins in January, will continue the support. That fund, which comes exclusively from the marketing and sponsorship income of the OCI, is directed at elite Olympic athletes preparing for the Sydney Games.

The group of swimmers, led by champion sprinter Nick O'Hare, had made the appeal to the OCI for interim funding since the Minister continued to halt all grants to the Irish Amateur Swimming Association (IASA) pending the restructuring of the body under the Murphy Report into child sex abuse.

Their request for funding was presented to OCI president Pat Hickey and vice-president Dermot Sherlock along with members Peader Casey and Willy O'Brien at a meeting last month. This was then approved in the main by the full executive board of the OCI who agreed to open their private funds (none of which comes from the Irish taxpayer) for immediate support to the nine swimmers.

"This is a short-term solution," said a spokesperson for the OCI, "but we're delighted to get them out of the hole until the end of the year at least. We knew that the training programmes of each swimmer have been messed up for months now and we wanted to resolve that as soon as possible."

There was no exact figure as to the amount of money which will be handed over to the swimmers in the next few months but it will include all the costs associated with their training, coaching, travel and expenses. The nine swimmers included are Nick O'Hare, Chantal Gibney, Lee Kelleher, Hugh O'Connor, Colin Louth, Paul McCarthy, Niamh Cawley, Adrian O'Connor and Emma Robinson. This group will now meet to appoint their own coach who will look after the two main championships within the period.

The IASA, who are currently in the second phase of restructuring, have welcomed the decision as a positive step in the ongoing process of restoring the state of Irish swimming. "Anything that will assist the swimmers in their development is important so we do welcome this move by the OCI," said IASA director David McCullagh. "We should be ready to submit our new structures by mid-November under all the guidelines of the Murphy Report and we would be hopeful the Minister will accept."

The OCI have also confirmed that a special application to the Olympic Solidarity Programme, run under the International Olympic Committee, has been made concerning the funding for Nick O'Hare. The Dublin swimmer has made the decision to move to Germany early next month to train under the highly-respected sprint coach Dirk Lange. The £20,000 application was made on the basis that Irish swimmers are undergoing desperate financial lacking and a special consideration should be made. The Solidarity Programme is usually reserved for Third World nations to fund their Olympic preparations.

"At this stage I have to make the decision to find out just how good I can be," said O'Hare. "That means being involved with the best coaches in the world and for that reason the move abroad is the only option.

"As for this temporary funding, credit must go to Pat Hickey and the OCI because they really looked into the interests of the swimmers and despite what some people have said have not made this a political issue. They were the first to sit down and talk to us face to face. It's certainly the best news for Irish swimming in the last few months and when you consider this has gone on since last February then it's great to have something positive come our way."

The OCI will also be providing the medical care for the swimmers under the directorship of the Olympic team doctor Joe Comiskey.