By TERRY JONES -- Edmonton Sun
 SYDNEY - Mitch Geller wanted to end it if it wasn't done by now. But nobody else wants to give it up. So they won't.

 "Too many people have been working their tails off,'' he said.

 "We're shocked at how high up it gets,'' he said of the work being done by federal Heritage Minister Sheila Copps and others in the background trying to get Edmonton diver Arturo Miranda on the board for his event here Monday.

 "So much of the problem is the time difference,'' coach Geller said of the movement of the political and legal wheels.

 "Hopefully we just about have it all in order and can proceed to go back to the International Court of Appeals by the end of the day here,'' he said.

 "It's frustrating.

 '`I told Alex Despatie he'd be diving the three metres if we didn't have it done by midnight tonight. But I talked to him and explained how many people have been working on this and how hard it is to give up on Arturo's case. Alex is OK with it.

 "As much as I wanted to have the decision made by now and get on with the diving, we can't do that.

 "We all have come such a long way to give up now. Arturo has been caught in the crossfire. We still believe we can get this done.''

 The Canadian Olympic Committee is trying to present a case similar to that of American Angel Perez, a Cuban defector who gained last-minute entry into the Olympics after being ruled ineligible by Olympic Charter Rule 46 which requires three years of citizenship in a country to be eligible to compete for that country in the Olympics.

  The Americans produced a letter from the government phrased to read that he'd been an American "national'' for the required length of time.

 Miranda, who was selected to the Cuban diving team in 1992 but left home because of finances and lack of medals, has been a Canadian citizen for one year after three years as a landed immigrant.