12 December 2007
Fagan’s Olympic hopes hit by US ban
By Brendan Mooney
THE Olympic qualification hopes of athlete Martin Fagan suffered a major blow last night when he was refused re-entry into the US as he returned from Sunday’s European Cross-country Championships in Toro.
Fagan, who finished seventh in the prestigious event at the weekend, is based at Flagstaff, Arizona, where he is preparing for next month’s Houston Marathon. However his bid to make the marathon at the Beijing Games is now in doubt after being stopped by Homeland Security and put on the next plane back to Ireland.
The 24-year-old Mullingar native said: “I was stopped at Philadelphia Airport on my return to the US. It came as a complete surprise because nobody has ever had any problem with the Visa I have. I have just a month left to the marathon and it is the most important month of my preparation. I need to be working with Greg (McMillan). The climate here is totally different and I am running on my own which is not satisfactory. But I am working with my agent, Ray Flynn, to get it sorted out.”
Irish team manager, Patsy McGonagle, who leads the track and field team to Beijing next summer expressed horror at the decision.
“It is disastrous,” he said. “I will be pursuing the matter immediately — taking the political route if necessary — but it’s going to take time and unfortunately we don’t have time. Martin has put so much work into his preparations and made so many sacrifices it is a shame this should happen.
“He broke his training camp at Flagstaff to represent Ireland on Sunday and it would appear he has paid a huge price for his allegiance.”
Fagan arrived back to his hometown of Mullingar last night and after a short sleep he was out running — keeping his marathon preparations on track.
He was coached by Irishman Ray Treacy, brother of two-time world cross-country champion and Olympic silver medallist John Treacy who is Irish Sports Council chief executive and may have a role to play in the affair if he is to get to Houston on time.
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