Hyland heading to Olympics after FINA invite
BRENDAN Hyland will be heading to the Olympic Games in Tokyo after receiving a FINA ‘B’ invitation that came on the back of the 200m Butterfly time of 1:56.55 he set at the World Championships in South Korea in 2019.
While that performance was fractionally outside the Olympic standard of 1:56.48, it was to prove enough to see him through two years later.
Brendan Hyland will be competing at the Tokyo Olympic Games
Hyland will be travelling as part of the Men’s 4x200m Freestyle Relay team and, with Ireland allowed only two ‘relay-only’ athletes, his invite was crucial in Swim Ireland being able to field this team in Tokyo.
In a statement today, Swim Ireland said ‘Finn McGeever and Jack McMillan have been selected as ‘relay-only’ athletes to compete in the Men’s 4x200m Freestyle Relay – the first Olympic relay for Ireland in 49 years and the first ever men’s relay.
‘The invitation to compete in the Men’s 4x100m Medley Relay was rescinded by FINA, resulting in Ireland’s ‘relay only’ athlete availability reducing from four athletes to two athletes as part of this process.
‘With no other FINA ‘B’ invites received from FINA, Hyland’s invite was ultimately crucial to Ireland being able to field a Men’s 4x200m Freestyle Relay at Tokyo
‘Although it is not Swim Ireland’s philosophy to accept such invites, without this invite, the Men’s Freestyle Relay would not have travelled to Tokyo 2020, with the relay team requiring at least two athletes qualified in individual events featuring within it.
‘The fourth member of this relay team will be Shane Ryan, as under Olympic rules this athlete can only be selected from the three male swimmers on the team who have a FINA ‘A’ time.
‘As a result, two of the four swimmers whose performances at the 2021 LEN European Championships in May were crucial to ensuring Ireland’s invitation to the Tokyo 2020 Men’s 4x200m Freestyle Relay cannot be selected under Olympic rules.
‘Without the efforts of Jordan Sloan (Bangor Swimming Club) and Gerry Quinn (National Centre Dublin & Longford Swimming Club), Hyland, McMillan, and McGeever this Irish relay would not be competing in Japan.’
Delighted with the news of his invite, Hyland who will join Templeogue’s Ellen Walshe on the nine-strong swimming squad heading to Tokyo, told The Echo “It’s been absolutely mental, but look, the stars have finally aligned. It’s just sad that Jordan and Gerry have missed out.
“You only get an invite as an individual if you’re really close to the A standard and I had a feeling that I might because I was pretty high up. It’s just how high you are in the World rankings.
“And that 200m Butterfly time I did in the World Championships turned out to be the one that got me there.
“At this point it was like ‘can I just get over the line?’ And it was a case of I just want to get on that plane by any means necessary.
“It’s a huge weight off my shoulders, because the last year has been mad between Covid and the relay team being in and then out.
“It’s a nice end to a real rollercoaster ride. I’ve literally dreamt about this since I was eight years old and it all came down to this nearly 20 years later, just sitting and waiting to see if it played in my favour.
“It’s just an unbelievable opportunity. I’m absolutely delighted and I’ve just been thanking everybody” he added.
