Hyland and co reeling after FINA rescind Olympic invite
BRENDAN Hyland and the rest of the Ireland Men’s 4x100m Medley Relay team have been left reeling after FINA announced they were rescinding their invitation to the Olympic Games in Tokyo.
The Knocklyon man had looked set to secure a place on the Ireland squad after the country had been invited by FINA to send two relay teams - the Men’s 4x200m Freestyle and Men’s 4x100m Medley squads - to Tokyo this summer.
Brendan Hyland and his 4x100m Medley Relay team mates have been left bitterly disappointed
While final team selection for these relay teams heading to the Summer Games were not to be made until a later date, the Tallaght and National Centre swimmer had put himself in a very strong position to get the nod having been part of the Men’s 4x100m Medley Relay that set a new national record of 3:34.62 in the heats of last month’s LEN European Aquatics Championships in Budapest.
But Swim Ireland, in a statement released today, said: "Swim Ireland can confirm that we received correspondence on Sunday, June 6 from FINA rescinding their invitation for Ireland to compete in the Men’s 4x100m Medley Relay at the Tokyo Olympic Games.
“Having received and accepted FINA’s invitation to compete on Saturday, June 5, we are extremely disappointed that FINA have told us that the invitation was issued in error, particularly given the impact on the affected athletes.
“Our intention is to challenge the decision and we are currently exploring all options in this regard.
“The invitation for Ireland to compete in the Men’s 4x200m Freestyle relay is unaffected.
“The Tokyo Olympic Games will be the first time since 1972 that Ireland has competed in a swimming relay and the first time ever that an Irish male relay team will compete.”
