Irie unbeatable but it's not enough. No UK females in Athens

[completemadness]

COMPLETE MADNESS SPORTS

Press Release - July 19th 2004

Loughborough - July 17th.
What a difference a week makes!

After dismally jumping only 3.75m for 6th place at the UK trials
Irie Hill came face to face with 5 of the six athletes who beat her
last weekend and roundly defeated them all comfortably. However the
victories were hollow, as on neither occasion was she able to jump
the Olympic qualification mark and it looks increasingly likely that
no female pole vaulter will represent Great Britain in Athens this
summer.

First up Irie competed in the Loughborough EAP meeting, the home
track of Zoe Brown, AAA's Champion and UK U-23 record holder. With
swirling winds on what had looked like being a perfect day, all the
athletes struggled to make any kind of heights at all. Kate Dennison
(5th in trials with 3.85m) and Kirsty Maguire (bronze medallist with
3.95m a week before) could only manage 3.70m this time around.

At 3.85m several athletes went clear, but all of them made hard work
of it. First clear was Hanna Palaama of Finland, closely followed on
the second attempt by Nathalie Olson of Loughborough who set a
personal best in the process.

This left 3 athletes attempting to clear on their last attempt,
Irie, Zoe and Petra Pechstein of Switzerland who had all elected to
enter the competition at this height. With the threat of "bombing
out" - failing to clear an opening height, hanging over all three
girls they showed admirable skills and competitiveness to sail clear.

4.00m however, which would have won a silver medal outright the
weekend before, and a place at the GB vs USA match, was achieved
only by one competitor, Irie who went clear on her second attempt.
She then raised the bar to 4.16m and had a couple of good shots at
it before having to succumb to the swirling winds.

"It's a bit frustrating to come to Loughborough, which is one of the
best places in the world to vault, and then get the wind turn around
on us during the competition, but it seems to be the story of my
summer so far. At least I have one more chance at Windsor tomorrow
to get the qualifier."

Result.
1. Irie Hill, GB, 4.00m
2. Natalie Olson, GB-J, 3.85m
3. Hanna Palaama, Finland, 3.85m
4=Zoe Brown, NI & Petra Pechstein, Swizterland, 3.85m

Windsor, July 18th.

Another victory, and oh so close to qualifying.

On Sunday Irie took her poles to the Jubilee Cup Semi-Final to
represent her club, Windsor, Slough, Eton & Hounslow, on their home
track. The conditions for once were near perfect, with a light tail
wind, and only the occasional rain shower to cool the day down.

Competing against Irie was the silver medallist from the trials, Liz
Hughes, so the competition promised to be close.

Irie and Liz elected to enter the competition at 3.80m, when they
were the only two competitors left in, and both cleared comfortably
on their first attempts.

The bar went straight up to 4.00m, and both athletes failed on their
first attempt. Irie then went clear on her second attempt, whilst
Liz was unable to claim the height, leaving Irie alone to take the
bar to 4.27m, which would have been an Olympic 'B' qualifier and
World W35 record.

"I really thought I could get this bar, and I know I came close with
one attempt where I hit the bar with my shoulder on the way up. I
can't believe I jumped on my bigger poles and still was blowing
through as my speed was good. It's amazing really as I have competed
5 times in the past 8 days, and yet my legs are still flying and I
could jump again today if I could still qualify. We will have to see
what UK:Athletics do, but my plan is to jump as high as possible
before the IAAF deadline in August and see what happens. Whilst
there is still a 1% chance I will keep trying, I am jumping well
enough, and have some good quality competitions lined up after this
week."

Result.
1. Irie Hill, WSEH, 4.00m
2. Liz Hughes, Bromley, 3.80m

Irie will next compete on Wednesday at the Cheltenham open graded
meeting before heading to the European Masters in Denmark next week.

END OF RELEASE

[Decamouse]

And Zoe Brown who won the UK Championship and had a B qualifier - and being in the U23 group might benefit from the experience will have to wait for a next chance

[completemadness]

Yep, it could be seen as tough on Zoe, except she had not jumped the B mark outdoors, and the UK rules were pretty clear that only medallist possibilities with a B would be picked, which Zoe clearly was not, nor was Irie to be fair, so both would have needed the A.

Maybe if either of them had achieved the B mark at the trials it would have been different, but it would not have happened in those conditions.

Age should not be a factor as to whether you go to an Olympics, performance is what counts.