Irish hurdler Peter Coghlan has announced his retirement from athletics after he was today omitted from the Irish Sport Council's list of high-performance grant recipients.
Coghlan issued a statement this evening outlining the reasons behind the sudden decision.
It read: "I have greatly appreciated the support I have always received from friends, family, fellow athletes and the Irish public in general but the unfortunate reality is that I can no longer afford to train at the level required to compete at the elite end of the sport.
"I am an Economics graduate from Yale University so I can say with certainty that money has never been a motivating factor in my athletics career. I also realise that I am fortunate enough to have been able to pursue an endeavour so close to my heart.
"Everyone should be so lucky. But the commitment required to compete at the high performance end of athletics is enormous, and the Grants I have received over the past five years - thanks to the Irish tax-paying public - have been essential. I also believe the enjoyment that successful athletes bring to the Irish public is worth that investment and more."
Coghlan concluded his statement by having a final swipe at the authorities.
"I wish the best to all my compatriots on the Irish athletics team and hope that they continue to produce the success that, in reality, is little short of miraculous given the current level of support structures and facilities in place in Ireland."
Earlier, Athletics Ireland demanded an urgent meeting with the ISC over the latter's controversial decision not to award some of Ireland's top track performers any grant funding for the coming year.
Aside from Coghlan, well-established names such as Sonia O'Sullivan, Mark Carroll, Karen Shinkins, James Nolan, Paul Brizzel and Gary Ryan all failed to make the ISC's list.
The Sports Council made the cuts in a move to concentrate funding on those athletes it considers to have a better chance of competing successfully at the highest level.
However, Athletics Ireland today released a statement expressing its disappointment with the cull.
"As a matter of urgency, we will be seeking an immediate meeting with the ISC to discuss the rationale behind the decisions made," the statement read.
"In particular, we are concerned with how some of the athletes removed from the carding scheme are going to get back onto the system.
"Presently Sonia O'Sullivan and Mark Carroll have qualified for this Summer's World T&F Championships in Helsinki on A standards while Peter Coghlan, James Nolan, Karen Shinkins and Tomas Coman have B standards, none of whom are recipients of any funding from the International Carding Scheme."
It wasn't all bad news for Irish athletics, though. New European Indoor 400 metres champion David Gillick has been promoted to the World Class 3 category in the scheme – worth €19,000 to the Dubliner.
Another 400 specialist, Paul McKee receives €22,900, 200m runner Paul Hession is allocated €11,500, while race walker Gillian O'Sullivan has again topped the money list with 30,500 (World Class 1 category).
New European Indoor 3,000m champion Alistair Cragg, though, gets nothing for apparently not submitting an application.
Meanwhile, only two swimmers - Steven Manley and Julie Douglas - were awarded grants.
Funding in excess of €1.7million has been made available across all sports.
