ATHENS 2004/ATHLETICS: With the possible exception of finishing fourth in their event, the worst thought for an Olympic athlete is not even getting to compete. Two Irish athletes suffered that fate yesterday, and a third is almost certain to share it tomorrow.  For once the word "devastated" seems almost justified in a sporting context.  Ian O'Riordan in Athens reports

Yet any such sense of devastation was put in immediate perspective by the realisation that one of the three is fortunate to be alive.

Gillian O'Sullivan will miss her 20-kilometre walk after finally succumbing to the lower back problem that has plagued her whole season, and Nicky Sweeney seems certain to miss the discus after injuring his much-troubled right knee during weight training on Monday evening.

But all they need do is think about Jamie Costin. Meticulously prepared for the 50km walk, Costin was last night in an Athens hospital recovering from a serious back injury that threatens his athletic career.

Shortly before noon yesterday Costin was returning from a training session in Porto Helis, some 300 miles to the southeast of Athens, where he was finalising his preparations for the 50km walk, set for next Friday week. He was driving the sponsored Citroen car of Poland's reigning Olympic champion and his good friend, Robert Korzeniowski, whom he dropped at his hotel, before setting off alone for his own accommodation.

Just minutes later he was out on a country road when he crashed head on into a lorry. Despite the seriousness of the accident, he managed to contact Korzeniowski on his mobile phone, and he was on the scene within minutes.

Costin was first taken to the local hospital in Porto Helis, and later transferred by ambulance to the main KAT hospital in Athens.

Later still, around 7 p.m. Athens time, Dr Seán Gaine of the Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) got the full assessment of Costin's injuries. It didn't make for a good report.

"Jamie's first words to me were, 'Will I still be able to compete next week?'" said Gaine. "He's worked very hard to get here and showed great commitment. But right now he is still in emergency under supervision and is in considerable pain. He has a fracture at the base of the spine. While the spine has not compacted, it has compressed and that causes extreme pain. He also has a small fracture of his big toe.

"There is no danger of paralysis, and he certainly will be able to walk again. But it's very early to say whether he will ever be able to race again."

A decision to move Costin back to Ireland over the coming days will depend on the further assessment of the surgeons and specialists at the KAT hospital.

"The option is there for him to be moved and I have already been in contact with the Mater Hospital and the National Spinal Unit," added the Irish doctor. "He is remarkably brave, and exhausted from the ambulance ride to get here. There is also a lot of moving around when you are getting assessed and a period of time when you are not getting pain relief. But any way you look at it, he has a sizeable amount of medical care ahead of him. This is not a minor thing."

Two of the athlete's sisters, who'd been holidaying on a Greek island ahead of the Games, were also expected to visit him last night. His parents were awaiting a further update before deciding if they would travel out from Ireland.

At 27, Costin was peaking in every sense of the word coming to these Olympics. A competitor in Sydney four years ago, the Irish record holder, who walked a brilliant three hours 53 minutes, 58 seconds last year to qualify for Athens, was determined to make his mark at these Games. To be denied a chance to put the hard work into effect seems a cruel injustice.

For O'Sullivan, withdrawing from next Monday's 20km walk was probably the hardest decision of her life. In the end, though, the decision was made for her. Ever since she won the silver medal at the World Championships in Paris a year ago she'd targeted at least a repeat performance in Athens. But in the final countdown it was clear her body wasn't going to allow it.

"During the course of the last three months I have experienced an ongoing problem with my left hip area," said O'Sullivan, who had been preparing for her event in Ioannina, north of Athens.

"Unfortunately it's continued to impede my training programme. To compete in these circumstances would not be true to myself, my team or the people of Ireland. My only focus now is on getting this injury resolved once and for all."

The final diagnosis on Sweeney's knee injury won't be known until tomorrow after an MRI scan. But it appears he has suffered a ruptured patella tendon injury on the knee that has already required nine operations, and at 36 - and already the veteran of three Olympics - it seems his Athens Games are also over.