Off to Athens

The first Maltese athletes have already left the island for the Greek capital for their acclimatisation process prior to the start of the Olympic Games in a week's time.

Sailor Mario Aquilina together with his Spanish coach Jerome Mainemare and shooting prodigy William Chetcuti, together with coach Jimmy Bugeja, have already settled down in Athens and are attending regular training sessions before competitions commence next week.

Malta's chef-de-mission for the Athens Games is Marie Therese Zammit. This will be Zammit's second experience as the head of the Maltese contingent following her baptism of fire in the Commonwealth Games in Manchester 2002.

The MOC's new Director of Sport, David Azzopardi, will also be accompanying the Maltese contingent in Athens.

Apart from Tanya Blake, who earned the right to compete at the Olympic Games by obtaining a qualifying time in her favourite 800 metres race, the remaining members of the Maltese squad will take part in the world's greatest sports festival by virtue of an invitation.

In the case of swimming and athletics, the International Olympic Committee invokes the rule of the universality of the Games, thus ensuring that a small country like Malta is always represented in these two disciplines.

The choice of a male athlete deservedly fell on budding sprinter Darren Gilford who will be running the 100 metres.

Gilford's aim is to break the national record as the high standard of the athletes competing in this event makes it hard to imagine the Maltese youngster making it past his first heat.

In swimming, Malta's top female swimmer Angela Galea was an automatic choice. Following her experience in Sydney, Galea will be vying to improve her time in the 100 metre butterfly. Even in this event, our only realistic hope is a national record over the distance.

The Olympic Games bring together the world's best athletes and it would be very presumptuous to expect anything better from our swimmers.

Neil Agius has also been selected to make the trip to Athens. The hard-working swimmer's speciality is the arduous 1,500m freestyle but for the Athens Games, his name has been entered for the 400m freestyle event.

The rest of the contingent are judoka Marcon Bezzina, sailor Aquilina and double-trap junior world record holder Chetcuti.

Now tiny Malta has never harboured any serious ambitions of an Olympic podium. Although our athletes managed to win medals at past editions of the Commonwealth and Mediterranean Games, an Olympic medal has so far proved elusive.

This time around, the belief is that Malta stands a realistic chance of making the medals' list thanks to the talent of Chetcuti.

The lad has become synonymous with the double trap event and his name is well known in international circles.

An introvert by nature, Chetcuti shuns the glamour of TV cameras and prefers to focus on his favourite sport. Although he is Malta's best bet for a medal, caution is asked for as Chetcuti did not manage to qualify for the event directly and could only make it to Athens via an invitation from the International Shooting Federation.

Together with 23 other specialist shooters from across the globe, Chetcuti will be striving to achieve what no other Maltese athlete has ever dreamt of before, an Olympic medal.

Olympic invitations

Much depends on his form on the day and with a fine performance and a slice of good luck, he will be in contention for a place with the Olympic immortals.

Such invitations make it possible for athletes like Chetcuti to get a shot at a medal in the Olympic Games. With a complex qualification system that requires an athlete to travel around the four corners of the globe and obtain consistent results all the time, locally-based Maltese athletes face an almost impossible task to gain direct qualification to the Olympic Games.

Yet, thanks to our excellent diplomatic skills, Malta managed three invitations for the Olympic Games which is quite a feat considering the size of our country.

The MOC and the Malta Shooting Federation have shrewdly played down Chetcuti's chances at the Athens Olympic Games so as not to exert further pressure on the young lad.

Four years ago in Sydney, Malta's participation at the Games was at best dismal and Athens may be the right platform for a reversal of fortunes.

If Chetcuti succeeds, then it will be the second time that Malta will have won a medal at prestigious games with a woman as the chef-de-mission after the young shooter landed a bronze medal in the Commonwealth Games.

It remains to be seen whether Zammit will contest for the post of Director of Sport once elections are held for the next quadrennial in December this year.

A hearty good luck to all our athletes in action in Greece over the coming days. May they savour the Olympic ideal for years to come.