Gareth Turnbull hopes to resume training later this week

Gareth Turnbull's chances of qualifying for the Olympic Games have been considerably improved following an IAAF Council meeting over the weekend.

The world governing body has decided to relax the 1500m Olympic standard from 3:34.90 to 3:36.20 - which is only .40 faster than Turnbull's personal best set this year.

Turnbull was delighted when he was informed by the news by this website on Monday afternoon.

"That's excellent. Trying to knock off 0.40 is going to be a lot more achievable than over a second and a half which was the previous standard," said the Belfast runner.

The IAAF took the decision to amend the standards in a number of events because of the low numbers that managed to qualify for this year's World Championships in Paris.

The change in the 1500m means James Nolan already has the standard and barring injury, will compete in Athens.

The marathon marks for men and women have been eased to 2.15 and 2.37.

However, there was disappointing news for Irish long jumper Ciaran McDonagh as the Athens standard in his event was only eased slightly to 8.19m.

Elaine Fitzgerald's appointment has been a breath of fresh air Gareth Turnbull

Turnbull, meanwhile, is hoping to get the all-clear later this week to resume training.

A combination of having his tonsils removed and a nagging groin injury has meant that Turnbull has done no training since late August.

The athlete will have an MRI scan later this week and hopes to be told that the groin problem has cleared up.

Turnbull has been in contact with new Irish athletics performance director Elaine Fitzgerald in recent weeks.

"Elaine's appointment has been a breath of fresh air," said the Belfastman.