Reports published in Dublin claimed that Doyle is one of two big names being considered by the Athletic Association of Ireland (AAI) to replace Britain's former performance director Max Jones, who was acting as the director of athletics in a part-time capacity.

 

The other name being considered is reportedly Poland's legendary race-walker Robert Korzeniowski.

 

Doyle - whose company Doyle Management also currently looks after Irish sprinter Paul Hession - is based in Atlanta and represents Powell, the former world 100 metres record holder, along with Beijing Olympic champions American decathlete Bryan Clay and Shelly Ann Fraser, a Jamaican team-mate of Powell's who won the women's 100m in the Chinese capital.

 

He also represents Germain Mason, Britain's Olympic high jump silver medallist.

 

Doyle, a former decathlete, has also coached at the top level and has a sports-science background, including a Masters in physiology.

 

The American has coached Olympic athletes from 12 different countries, including Pauline Davis, who was part of the Bahamas squad that won the 4x100m relay at the 2000 Games in Sydney and who also finished second in the 200m behind the disgraced Marion Jones, who has subsequently been stripped of the medal after admitting she was using banned performance-enhancing drugs at the time.

 

Doyle also have a strong Irish connection as he is married to Karen Shinkins, formerly Ireland's top-ranked 400m runner.

 

Korzeniowski, a household name in Poland, also has connections here through Ireland's world-class race-walkers.

 

He is a four-time Olympic champion and, since retiring in 2004, has coached Ireland's Robert Heffernan among others.

 

In his capacity as Heffernan's coach, Korzeniowski attended the last two Irish holding camps in Japan, ahead of the 2007 World Championships in Osaka and this year's Olympics, where he reportedly gave some inspirational motivational talks to the whole Irish team, not just the walkers.

 

Since they started competing as an independent country at the 1924 Olympics in Paris, Irish athletes have won six medals.

 

But since Ron Delaney won the 1500 metres at Melbourne in 1956 they have claimed only two medals thanks to John Treacy and Sonia O'Sullivan, who both claimed silver medals in the marathon at Los Angeles in 1984 and the 5,000m in Sydney in 2000.

 

The best performance from the team of 16 in Beijing was from Olive Loughnane, who finished seventh in the 20 kilometres walk.