An Post Ras race director, Dermot Dignam has been named by Cycling Ireland among a three-man selection committee for the Olympic Games.
Dignam will pick the team for London with commissaire Paul Watson and Dublin City University (DCU) sports academic Giles Warrington.
The selection panel made up of the three men will be chaired by Cycling Ireland chief executive Geoff Liffey.
Dignam is one of the best known and respected figures in Irish cycling and his appointment will be a popular one and will also be viewed as impartial.
Watson is also very well known in Irish cycling circles and is a commissaire of considerable note internationally. His biggest domestic duty has been adjudicating at the Ras.
Warrington is programme chair of Sports Science & Health in DCU. He is also a lecturer in Sport & Exercise Physiology in the School of Human Performance at DCU.
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He is sports science advisor to the Olympic Council of Ireland and was a member of the medical team at the Beijing and Athens Olympics.
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He previously worked in similar roles for British Olympic teams.
The Irish cycling team in London will be managed by Carrick Wheelers’ Martin O’Loughlin following the departure of Cycling Ireland’s high performance director Phil Leigh at the end of the 2011 season.
O’Loughlin managed the cycling team in Athens at the 2004 Olympics and was a selector last time around for Beijing in 2008.
It is understood he has taken a step back from selection duties this time around to avoid any possible conflict of interest should Sam Bennett be in with a chance of selection, though against the professionals this seems remote. O’Loughlin coaches Bennett.
Ireland has already qualified three places for the men’s road race and one for the men’s TT. Cycling Ireland is hopeful of qualifying a place for the men’s omnium and for the BMX events.
While also hoping for at least one women’s place for both the road and TT, this will most likely be in the gift of an international selection commission that allocates unfilled places to nations that have not qualified any riders of their own.
To qualify in our own right, Ireland would need at least one female rider in the top 100 in the world by next May. This would appear to be unlikely.
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