ATHLETICS:Thomas Chamney has become one of the true characters of Irish athletics. IAN O'RIORDANtalks to the Clonmel native and his father John, who acts as his agent, ahead of next week's championships in Barcelona

“I’LL BE sick into my Cornflakes if I don’t make the final . . . I feel I have the weapons to do some real damage . . . I’ll be primed like a lawnmower, baby!”

Anyone with a passing interest in Irish athletics might suspect the man with as colourful an attitude as that. It’s brought him many admirers, and a few critics, but no one can deny Thomas Chamney has become one of the true characters of the sport. In the days where no cliché is left unturned, Chamney remains an original of the species, an athlete who loves to talk in sugar-coated rhymes, or says it as he sees it.

Just how far such talk takes him at next week’s European Championships in Barcelona remains to be seen, but all things considered, the Clonmel native may be our best chance for a medal in the men’s 1,500 metres since Eamonn Coghlan struck silver all of 32 years ago.

He’s 26. He ran the last European Championships in Gothenburg four years ago, and the World Championships and Olympics in between. Indeed Chamney is in the prime of his running career, whatever about being primed like a lawnmower.

“I’ve been targeting these Europeans for two years now,” he says, “to try to come away with something. This year, I’ve put all my eggs into one basket, and that’s Barcelona. I’ve under-raced, if anything.

“Training has been really, really good. I’ve had no injuries. I’ve put myself in a good position to make the final, and after that, who knows. I have the experience. I won’t be looking to make excuses, but I won’t have any. It’s just a case of executing my race plan, and not choking, basically. If I do that I should come away happy, with the best possible result.”

That’s honesty for you alright, and if Chamney doesn’t get the sort of result he’s looking for in Barcelona next week, it will be worth hearing why not. Truth is he has enjoyed an excellent season so far – the first hint of which came when finishing fifth in the National Cross Country back in March, over 12km. More recently he improved his 1,500-metre personal best to 3:36.83, moving him to 11th on the Irish all-time list, and two days later won his fourth national title over 800 metres.

Before this year, Chamney probably saw himself as more of an 800-metre specialist, having earned his reputation at that distance while on scholarship in Notre Dame University. In fact, his best of 1:45.41, run in Oslo last summer, is third on the Irish all-time list, although this season it was decided – wisely – to bring that speed to the metric mile, where in a championship race, it becomes a hugely valuable asset.

“Look, in the 800, you have maybe 20 guys that can do well. In the 1,500 there are maybe 10. And none of those have my 800 speed. I’m ranked in the top 10. I’ve just run a PB for the 1,500. I know I’m in PB shape over 800 as well, and if I can bring that to Barcelona, I know I can go close with anybody. There aren’t many guys who have 1:45-speed in their legs. I can only think of one.

“Theoretically, if I can latch myself on when the break is made, in the last 200, I should be able to take a few scalps from guys ranked ahead of me. And in the Europeans as well, you have the Spanish, a couple of Brits, and a couple more. That’s it. Beyond that, it’s guys like me. It’s not like the World Championships, where you also have three Kenyans, three Ethiopians, and three more Kenyans running for Qatar. It’s just a different kettle of fish altogether.”

The only problem, naturally – not just for Chamney but for every other Irish athlete going to Barcelona – is that championship medals are never easily won. No matter who is or isn’t there. In the old days of track and field, medals were the one currency that mattered. Then prize money came along, and after that, appearance fees. Soon, it was more important to have a good agent than it was a good coach. At least for those only in it for the money.

These days, few athletes have to worry about either prize money or appearance fees. Unless their name is Usain Bolt. Some sports may have escaped the recession, but athletics is not one of them. So it’s back to the old days – proof of which will be seen on the faces of any athlete that manages to win a medal in Barcelona. Then, perhaps, it will be a case of “show me the money”.

But unlike the World Championships, there is no prize money at the European Championships. For six days next week, with only a few exceptions, some 1,300 athletes from across the continent will be trying to justify their existence. It’s tough out there. And there are no real signs of recovery.

That’s not saying there is no room anymore for the athletics agent. In some ways, the agent has become more important now; to secure those precious starting places in the big meetings in order to qualify for the major championships, and at the same time help secure whatever little cash is still floating around. It helps considerably when that agent can give the athlete their undivided attention, and has considerable business acumen to go with it – and that’s at least one thing Chamney can be sure about heading to Barcelona. Because his agent also happens to be his dad.

John Chamney probably knows more about the drinks business than he does athletics, having only recently retired as export director for CC International. In fact he still works for them on a consultancy basis, but with plenty spare time on his hands he decided to take a more active role in his son’s athletics career, which he’d always keenly supported anyway.

“I suppose it just evolved,” he says, “after Thomas finished college in the US. He went full-time, but when an athlete himself tries to ring up a meeting director he doesn’t always carry sufficient weight. Thomas quickly figured this out. Someone of mature years can ask the harder questions, and my business career gave me the hard neck, let’s say. A few other agents approached Thomas, but about three years ago he basically said to himself that with me, at least he has my undivided attention.

“And it is very difficult to get into races these days. It takes some perseverance, really. You’re always looking for a fast race, faster than the athlete’s current time. That’s the challenge. Unless you’re the number-one athlete, and everyone is looking for you, you do need to persuade the meeting director. There is ruthlessness about some of them. Some of them will tell you they’re not paid to be nice, and that’s fair enough.

“But it’s also about playing to people’s better nature. What I’ve found is that most of the meeting promoters aren’t in it for the money. They love the sport, and get a thrill themselves out of an athlete running a PB.

“And in the distance races, it’s easy to fill the field with Africans. But Africans don’t put bums on seats. You need Europeans. And in fact most meetings have a quota, and need a certain number of Europeans in each race. So that can play for you, because quality Europeans can sometimes be thin on the ground.”

When Chamney ended last season ranked inside the top 30 in the world over 800 metres, that permitted John to become an accredited IAAF agent. He has just two other athletes on his books; David McCarthy, who also runs in Barcelona, over 800 metres, and 1,500-metre runner Alan O’Brien, also from Chamney’s club, Crusaders.

It makes for a small, intimate family-like business – but then everything about Chamney’s career is like that, all of which he imaginatively documents on his long-running website www.runmadra.com.

But is this career in any way profitable? That’s a question for John, obviously. There’s little expense spared, and although Chamney is now based at the University of Limerick, he’s been to altitude twice already this year, in Font Romeu, and frequently employs the services of a physio, a strength coach, a biomechanist, and a psychologist. His €12,000 Sport’s Council grant hardly covers all that.

“Well yes, there is still some money there,” he says. “But like every facet of life, athletics is in a recession. Whatever appearance money is there is modest, and more meetings now deflect it into prize money. So it is tough. But I consulted with Ricky Simms (the Donegal agent, who has Usain Bolt on his books) and discovered we were doing almost as well as he was with some of his athletes. That was reassuring.

“Thomas also has two main sponsors. Asics, and Denis O’Brien, at Newstalk. And that’s almost as much as his grant. So he makes a living wage, yes. But it’s far from being about the money. He says he’s living the dream, and it is a dream, and wonderful way to make a living, doing what you love most. He’s young, so why not go for it? Hopefully now he can show Ireland, and Europe, that he is a magnificent athlete.”

Spoken like a true agent, and father.