Olympic hopes are doubled

Ireland have a chance to make the Olympic Games with two boats after an accomplished and gutsy performance by the lightweight double of Niall O'Toole and Derek Holland gained them second place in yesterday's repechage here and thus a place in today's final. They join the fancied lightweight four in the finals, and both crews know that if they can come first or second today they have won a place at Sydney.

The four, after their impressive win in Monday's heat which saw them straight into the final, would seem the best bet. But yesterday the German crew which came second to the Irish in that race, slowing up at the end to conserve their energy for yesterday's repechage, showed that they will be real contenders today with an impressive win.

The performance will not have been lost on the Irish. Indeed number three man Gearoid Towey yesterday identified the Germans as ones to watch, despite the fact that Britain won the other heat on Monday.

"The Germans were quicker than the British to all the markers yesterday (Monday)," Towey pointed out, and though the Germans did clock quicker times to the 500, 1,000 and 1,500 metres mark, this was at least partly because they were being pushed by the Irish. Interestingly, they did not go as fast in the repechage.

The Irish will be in lane four in today's final (5.30 p.m. Irish time) with the Germans to their left in lane five and the British in lane three. Portugal (lane two) will be the others with strong hopes of making the top two, while the Ukraine (lane one) and Greece (six) would be surprise qualifiers.

"It could be pretty close," concluded Fermoy man Towey, who, despite being only 23, has been in the top flight for years. In 1996, as a lightweight single sculler, he won a world under-23 title and is now based in England and has effectively dedicated himself full-time to his sport.

The three other men in the boat are similarly accomplished: Inchicore man Neal Byrne (24), at number two, won a bronze medal at last year's World Championships in a lightweight quadruple scull. At either end of the boat are strokeman Tony O'Connor (31) and bowman Neville Maxwell (30), who have multiple medals, including two silver and two bronze each in World Championships.

Yet only Niall O'Toole can claim to have won gold for Ireland at a World Championships, having taken it at lightweight single scull in 1991. And yesterday the 30-year-old - "yeah, I'm ancient" he said - showed, in combination with Holland, that he is still very much at the races.

The performance of O'Toole and Holland was particularly heartening because they were up against crews from the Czech Republic and Denmark (featuring former World Championship gold medallist Karsten Nielsen) who would have expected to make the final. And when the Czechs took an early lead, which they were never to lose, and the Danes moved into second behind them, it looked ominous for the Irish.

But by 1250 metres they were drawing neck and neck with the Danes and "sculling beautifully" as the race commentator put it.

The Danes tried repeated pushes to hold their advantage. "They kept moving, moving, moving, but once they stopped their stern came back towards us," explained O'Toole. While they were still in third at 1500 metres, O'Toole and Holland moved ahead of the Danes in the last few hundred metres and won with 3.73 seconds to spare.

The two Irishmen, who had not raced for five weeks, agreed that a lot of their improvement in form was down to thinking less of trying for the perfect stroke and instead going out and racing the opposition. They also felt they were finally using the power in their legs in the most effective way. "And now tomorrow is another day," said O'Toole.

And one in which this crew, placed in lane six of today's final (5.20 p.m. Irish time) could cause an upset if they continue to improve.