Sailing Column: The news this week that Tom Fitzpatrick and Fraser Brown have qualified for the Irish Olympic team in the 49er class brings the sailing squad to five boats, equalling the 1996 Atlanta team, though with several significant differences.

To date, the Europe and Finn single-handers, the 470 men's, the Star keelboat and now the 49er comprise the squad.

Officially, the Star and the Finn have still to formally decide their nominations. This weekend sees the final event of three that will decide the keelboat nomination though with a 150-point lead in the trials, Cork's Mark Mansfield and Killian Collins hold the upper-hand over the Dun Laoghaire pairing of Max Treacy and Anthony Shanks as their world championship gets under way.

Malahide sailor and Olympic veteran David Burrows leads the field with Dun Laoghaire's Aaron O'Grady and Baltimore's Youen Jacob trailing in the Finn.

It is the need for trials in the first place that marks the significant difference between the Athens Games and previous Olympiads. A duel for the Finn nomination for Sydney saw a close sail-off between Burrows and veteran John Driscoll and that was the sum total of any significant challenge for places on the national team.

Contrast that with the current situation: two contenders for the Star class, three for the Finn and a squad of up-and-coming sailors very active on the Laser circuit. More than that, the 49er class now has a domestic fleet of 10 crews in development while another Star campaign is understood to be ready to campaign for the 2008 games. A Tornado catamaran crew is also active.

And there's more. Behind the scenes, the next generation of elite sailing athletes is being prepared and should feed into these classes from their stepping-stone in the Laser and 420 fleet.

The key to this massive upturn in Olympic interest lies in another contrasting feature. For Atlanta and to an extent, the Sydney Olympics a special fund was set up to enable the team to prepare, train and purchase equipment. The Government, through the Irish Sports Council, has used the carding scheme and direct grant aid to the Irish Sailing Association to replace the private scheme with an even-playing field approach.

The system seeks to emulate that of other successful nations such as Britain whose haul of medals at the last two Games in particular has made that country the envy of the sailing world. Meanwhile, their model has moved to an even higher plane whereby the likes of Ben Ainslie can almost be guaranteed to deliver medals.

The Irish response has yet to achieve such results or consistency but management speak cautiously about being "in the medal zone". Clearly, the effort of the last 10 years is thought to be close to bearing fruit.

Management and funding has been the key to the success of the programme so far. Nevertheless, unseemly rows such as the selection dispute in the Star class last year revealed a less than polished approach by the ISA which the Cork triple Olympian challenged. The new generation of talent is certain to be more obedient as their common quest now relies heavily on official support.

Mansfield, in turn, and assuming he completes the selection process successfully over the next week, can expect to have the spotlight of expectation on his shoulders going into his fourth Olympic regatta.