Holland lands Irish role

Rowing:John Holland was chosen as Ireland lightweight coach yesterday - and made it clear he took the job because he felt Irish lightweight athletes have the ability to win a medal at the Olympic Games in Beijing.

The Corkman, who guided Greece to their first Olympic rowing medal at Athens in 2004, must take an Irish crew or crews through a qualifier in mid June in Poland to reach Beijing in August. But he has sufficient belief in the talent available that he will step away from his full-time job as director of coaching in UCD to take up this post.

Holland said there was a group of athletes of a very high calibre in this country. "I feel they have the ability to get a medal - my task is to get it out of them."

The men's lightweight four and women's lightweight double failed to land automatic qualification for Beijing at the recent World Championships. Holland's first step will be to talk to the athletes about the task ahead. If they are ready to achieve something, he will facilitate them - if not, he would step away. "I didn't want this job just to be involved in international rowing. I was more than happy in UCD."

The stand-out achievement in Holland's CV is coaching the Greek lightweight double of Nikalaos Skiathitis and Vasileios Polymeros to a bronze medal at Athens. He also coached the Ireland lightweight four to fourth at Lake Lanier in the Atlanta Olympics in 1996, and over a month ago he was in charge of the Japanese lightweight four which finished just 1.28 seconds behind Ireland in the quarter-final of the World Championships in Munich.

Holland's focus will be on Olympic boats, and he spoke of three possible crews. This means he may put together a men's lightweight double. Last season head coach Harald Jahrling opted not to form this crew. Jahrling remains in charge of the heavyweights.

The regional time trials which Jahrling instituted swing into action tomorrow: Newry hosts a Leinster/Ulster trial; St Michael's the Limerick test; Inniscarra Lake the Munster trial. The process starts next month in Connacht.

Tomorrow will also see the first meeting of the International Rowing Committee, with much interest in moves to appoint a new Ireland team manager. The Irish Amateur Rowing Union is also seeking a full-time administrator for the National Rowing Centre.

Enniskillen is the venue next weekend for a coach education course. The following weekend sees a strong Irish representation at the Head of the Charles in Boston. Seán Jacob and Alan Campbell are entered in the championship single sculls, and Albert Maher in the masters singles. Siobhán Jacob is entered in the women's lightweight single scull.