ATHLETICS/Irish team for Athens: The Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) president Pat Hickey stopped short of brandishing a Neville Chamberlain-type scrap of paper in his hand at yesterday's gathering in Dublin. Still, the message of "peace in our time" was clear.

The former British Prime Minster's pre-war declaration was to prove overly optimistic, but Hickey rarely makes a hollow call. The Athens Olympic Games are to be a love-in between the athletes, the OCI, Sports Minister John O'Donoghue and the Irish Sports Council. The hatchets have been buried. This is not the cheerful pre-games freemasonry we are used to.

Not quite tears and hugs of joy, but Hickey comfortably rose to his new position of sports peace-broker in the National Concert Hall, even snapping down an opportunistic query by a Sky News reporter wanting to know the minister's view on a Galway publican who has reintroduced smoking.

The only other noise was the background clink of wine glasses.

"If I'd bet anyone I'd (never again be) be sitting in a room with the minister and the sports council I'd probably have owed people about 5 million," said Hickey. "When we arrived after Sydney, the Minister (O'Donoghue) came into the office and he could have had a lot of baggage but he didn't."

The launch of Athens 2004 and the team of 48 athletes from nine sports were given as grand a curtain-raising as any big operatic work, though some small issues remain to be addressed now that the politics have reached détente.

The athletics and swimming federations have requested more time for certain of their members to achieve the A standards required by the OCI; the decision will be made tomorrow evening at an OCI committee meeting.

It's believed discus thrower Nicky Sweeney, runners Gary Ryan, Peter Coughlan and Gareth Turnbull and swimmers Stephen Manley, Julie Douglas and Andrew Bree are optimistic the OCI will look kindly on their claims for consideration.

Sweeney has thrown the qualification distance but not before the July 3rd deadline.

"Our cut-off date was July 3rd but the AAI made a case for four athletes that could make the A standard by the IAF (International Athletics Federation) cut-off date," said Hickey. "We have called an executive committee meeting for Friday night.

"We've also received a letter from swimming regarding athletes, who will also be discussed on Friday."

The accreditation of athletes who do not meet the standards and dates set down by the OCI has become a thorny issue within the council.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) have fought against what they see as the excessive growth of the Games in recent years, and national associations are therefore required to shave numbers. Just where this leaves rugby union's firm desire to be included in future games is uncertain.

"The policy of the IOC is to cut down the size of the Games and make them stronger," said Hickey. "If they get any bigger, then only two or three cities would be able to stage them. In Athens there will be 15,000 to 16,000 athletes, 10,000 officials and 28,000 media personnel. One of the ways to keep them small is to tighten qualification standards. We've seen this right across the board. The screw is getting tighter and tighter and it will get tougher."

Hickey, wearing his IOC committee member's hat, enthusiastically supported the Athens committee's organisation of the games and the security measures taken. In the wake of terrorist attacks in Europe, following the war in Iraq, the subject has become hyper-sensitive. At the 1996 games in Atlanta a bomb was detonated in an Olympic park, killing one person.

"The IOC are positive it will be a great Games," said Hickey. "It will not be a Sydney Games - they put their own gloss on it - but everything will be ready.

"The city will be very hot, difficult to move around in. It will be a tough games for media and officials.

"Security have done everything. They have brought in expertise and the IOC are very, very happy with the level of security and that they will be a safe and secure Games."

O'Donoghue spoke of a "sense of disappointment in the Irish team at the Sydney Olympics" and the "improved relationships between the agencies" during the last four years.

The athletes will soon disperse across Europe to their chosen bases to fine-tune training for the Games. But with the official press release declaring both "that this is the best-prepared and best focused-team ever" and "the real return on the investment in high-performance sport will be in 2008 and beyond", the bar seems to be getting raised and lowered simultaneously.

Again athletics, with 13 athletes, is best represented in terms of numbers; equestrian sports come a close second, with 10. Sailing has nine competitors, rowing six, cycling four, swimming and canoeing two and boxing and shooting one apiece.

The athletes (walkers excepted), swimmers and cyclists will begin their preparation in Limassol, Cyprus, while the rowers will fine tune in Zagreb, Croatia.

The canoeists, sailors and equestrian athletes, because they are required to familiarise themselves with the competition venues, will go directly to Athens.

The race walkers will travel to Ioannina in the north of Greece.

Interestingly, Belgium, with three times Ireland's population, also has a team of 48. Hickey said of Greece winning the European Football Championships: "For the Olympic movement, this is a result."

In terms of numbers at least, Ireland too has managed a result.