Olympics: Games hope springs eternal in 35 athletes

By SUZANNE McFADDEN

An astounding 35 track and field athletes are still holding out hope of making the New Zealand Olympic team at the 11th hour.

The last chance for athletes to better the New Zealand qualifying marks is at the Australian Olympic trials in mid-August.

So far 40 Kiwi athletes, including the five already named in the team, have put their names down to compete at the trials meeting in Sydney.

Athletics NZ high-performance director Steve Hollings said a lot of those athletes were talking up their chances of qualifying.

"We'll have to see just how they do," he said. "I just hope they haven't put all their eggs in one basket. They have to better the qualifying mark twice before they can get to the Olympics."

Among the serious contenders are 10,000m runners Robbie Johnston and Michael Aish, and hurdler Zion Armstrong, who are all competing in Europe before heading to Australia.

Long jumper Chantal Brunner and hammer thrower Tasha Williams have chances to qualify through meetings in the United States, as well.

Most of the top athletes will go to warm-weather camps in Darwin and Brisbane next month before the Australian trials.

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