 Gareth Turnbull could still make the Athens quailfying time |
The Olympic Council of Ireland has extended the qualification deadline for track and field athletes to 20 July. The decision, a major policy shift by the OCI, will give athletes like Belfast's Gareth Turnbull more time to achieve the 'A' standard.
The 110 metres hurdler Peter Coghlan is just 0.08 seconds off the mark.
"We are delighted at the outcome and hope the athletes can make the most of it," said the AAI's high performance manager Elaine Fitzgerald.
The original deadline for track and field athletes was 30 June, but that was changed to 3 July to include the BUPA Cork City Sports meet.
Turnbull ran a season's best of 3:39.84 when finishing in eighth place in the 1500 metres at the Zagreb Grand Prix on 29 June.
But that was still short of the Olympic qualifying mark of 3:36.20. Turnbull, though, believes that he is on course to achieve that time later in July.
The final IAAF deadline for athletes to be selected for Athens is 9 August.
MMIX
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