Ward not likely to benefit from 'wildcard'

BOXING:IT WAS mooted yesterday on RTÉ radio by head coach Billy Walsh that boxing officials are working with the Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) on a mechanism that could get European Champion Joe Ward into the London Olympics. Ward was beaten 18-15 by Turkey's Bahram Muzaffer on Monday in the light heavyweight division.

However, the “wildcard” rule known as a Tripartite Commission Place is not designed for helping athletes who were expected to qualify but didn’t get into the Olympic draw. According to the OCI, the Tripartite Commission is specific for countries that have few or no athletes qualified for the Games, while Ireland’s entry list to date numbers in the forties with athletes, sailors, boxers, cyclists and a gymnast all London-bound.

The Commission comprises the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) and International Federations and limits handing out invitations to countries with less than six participants.

“We have already 40 to 45 athletes qualified for London,” said an Irish Olympic official. “Ireland does not qualify at all in this regard. It’s limited to countries that have few or no qualifiers.”

The places are also reserved for Olympic sports in which athletes are unlikely to hurt themselves when they compete, disciplines such as Track and Field or swimming. Boxing, karate or weight lifting would be seen to be dangerous for athletes who were not up to the elite world standard and the Commission excludes these sports.

According to the IOC, the deadline for NOCs to submit their requests for Tripartite Commission Invitation Places has also passed as of January 16th, 2012.

Then again the IOC is a highly political animal and, while it seems unlikely that Ward could avail of the wildcard option, Ireland have done so in the past when in 1996, Barry MacDonald became the first and only Irish gymnast to compete at an Olympics when he performed at the Atlanta Games. McDonald’s entry was by invitation as he did not qualify through competition.

There are other more notorious entries which have made Olympic organisers nervous of using the tool at all. Eric “the Eel” Moussambani became an international household name after his appearance at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, where he swam his 100 metres freestyle heat on his own after his two rivals were disqualified for false starts.

Having only been swimming for eight months and never having swum competitively in a 50m pool, he struggled towards the end and almost sank before recording the slowest time in Olympic history (1:52.72) but received a standing ovation from the crowd. Moussambani gained entry to the Olympics without meeting the minimum qualification requirements via a wildcard draw.

A wild card option, however, may also beg the question of Katie Taylor, who must travel to China in May to qualify for the Olympics. What if her fate fell the same mysterious way as that of Ward and she lost to a Chinese opponent?

Wild card or not, given the larceny in Trabzon, Taylor’s trip to China will now be treated with the utmost caution.