BARRY McDONALD reckons he is lucky. Never mind that a broken ankle ended his chances of a place in the gym in Barcelona, or that a broken wrist nearly put paid to his chances of appearing at Atlanta. In a few weeks time, the Dubliner will make the journey from his home in Chicago to the pic village and as far as he is concerned right now, that is as much luck as any man could reasonably expect in one lifetime.

Nearly 18 years have passed since McDonald first wandered along to the Grange Gymnastics club and it's now more than a dozen since he realised that the one thing, more than any other, that he wanted to do was to compete in the Olympics.

Now 24 the American based student has worked at least three hours a day, six days a week since his first coach, Michael Scott, took him under his wing but in the end his participation at these Games has come down to the reservation of a couple of the 84 available places for the gymnasts with the most heart rending hard luck stories. Not everyone might agree with McDonald's assessment of his own good fortune.

Having finished school at Terenure College and taken up a sports scholarship at the University of Illinois back in 1990, McDonald's problems started the next year when he competed at the World Championships in the hope of qualifying for a trip to Barcelona. The first day went well but by the end his ankle was giving trouble and on the second he could complete only the most basic of routines.

On his return to Chicago, Dr David Hutchison, the team doctor with the city's Bulls basketball team, told McDonald that some months previously a piece of bone had chipped off his ankle and become embedded in his shin.

The x rays at the time had been taken at the wrong angle to spot the problem.

It was early days for the student who wrote off the setback and turned his attention to the next qualifying event in Sabae, Japan last year but this time, just three weeks before the event, a training accident resulted in a broken wrist and suddenly the world was beginning to cave in on the Irishman.

"I went back to Dr Hutchison and he said I could probably go through with the competition without doing any serious damage to the hand but, in a sport like this, if your hand went you could end up with a broken neck.

"He said I'd be better off leaving it and it was probably the right advice but I can't put into words the way I felt - it was devastating.

Around that time rumours started to emerge about the possibility of at least one wild card entry and, following a submission on his behalf from Irish Amateur Gymnastics Association president Pat O'Brien, word came back last month that McDonald would, after all, be going to the Games - the first person ever to compete in the gym from this country.

"I'd been working all the time on the basis that I would go. Everybody back at home kept telling me that I had nothing to lose so I should keep going, but when the news came through for me I was on a complete high, it still hasn't completely sunk in.

"This really is a lifelong dream code true for me."

The news was also a dream come true for those around the affable Irishman, ever supportive parents back home, friends - here and in America and, of course, his coach CJ Johnson from Chicago who will proudly march behind the tricolour at the opening ceremony on July 19th.

"I first met CJ in Dublin "when he was over for a seminar for coaches and we got on like a house on fire. When you get to 17 or 18 there's a certain shift in your training schedule and he just seemed to be very good at dealing with an adult competitor. He was very good at the mental side of preparation and helps to make me to take competition in my stride.

"Over the last few years my dream has become his dream and he has become so used to representing Ireland in competitions that, at this stage, he loves every minute of it."

The pair have been together for some time now, the American having coached his ward through to four NCAA finals since his arrival in the United States back in 1990, while the Dubliner was hired as an assistant coach by the college after the National Championships in 1995.

Held in front of nearly 25,000 people in Nebraska they marked the end of his eligibility to compete for the college but, with Johnson's backing, it has continued to support him through his postgraduate studies.

"They've been very good to me, they still are being very good to me and the system has been great in general. I've come away with two degrees and where they had to they fitted the classes around the school work, there's no way that I could have combined the two in the same way if I had stayed at home.

Just now, though, his own coaching duties are all but forgotten as he concentrates on the final run in to the Games. An early morning start with 90 minutes of running for fitness, back at 11 for a couple of hours of working out with weights to build up his strength and then, from 3.30 to 7.30 in the evening, the precious routines, repeated so often that by the time the competition comes around "you should be able to do them all in your sleep.

"This has been a bit of a slog month but it's good. It almost puts you on a par with the professionals and when you're doing this amount of work you can really see how they do so well in other sports."

The preparations, he confirms, have gone well to date, but then they would have to for, having fulfilled his ambition to take part in the Games, McDonald has now shifted the goalposts substantially in the build up to the event itself.

"I often thought that the pressure to get to the Olympics was huge but now that I'm there, the pressure is sort of off so I'm looking to do well in it now. I'll be hoping to throw in a few new moves that might make the difference and help get me to the finals (the last 36) which won't be easy but I wouldn't say impossible either.

"After that you're just hoping other people will fall away and you'll do well and I honestly believe that, if I got to there, anything could happen."

And hopefully it will happen for the Dubliner who will "gladly hang up his grips" after Atlanta and pursue a career in marketing "ideally I'd love to market the sport in Ireland and help to make it more popular".

He will, of course, be something of an outsider for the honours but then, having seen his Olympic dream evaporate twice before, you know what they say - third time lucky.