Three South African Olympic medal hopes officially died as the qualifying window for the Rio Games ended yesterday.And at least one more may possibly follow on Thursday morning, when the SA Olympic Committee announces the bulk of the squad to compete in Brazil next month.World championship 200m bronze medallist Anaso Jobodwana has not competed this year because of injury, and, while he is now back in training, he could be omitted for not proving his level of readiness.Jobodwana achieved the qualifying standard on 12 occasions last season and that's a lot of lifelines.Cornel Fredericks, Johan Cronje and the men's 4x100m relay team don't have one.Fredericks, the world No2 400m hurdler in 2014, 2013 world championship bronze medallist Cronje and the men's 4x100m relay team all failed to achieve the qualifying standards before the deadline.Cronje, 34, who is set to miss his third Olympics in a row, can probably feel the most unlucky.He went to Athens in 2004, but missed Beijing 2008 because of injury and had reduced preparation time for London 2012.Cronje achieved one Olympic qualifying time in 2012 but was fractions of a second from achieving the second time the SA Olympic Committee imposed on athletes wanting to get to those Games.That was the only Olympics in which Sascoc demanded two qualifying standards from athletes and swimmers, reverting to one again for this year.This time Cronje missed the 3:36:20 qualifying time, but he could still be offered a wild card to Rio.The IAAF aims to have a specific number of athletes in each event, and in the 1500m there were five of the 45 targeted spots left open, effectively for fastest losers.Cronje, because of his 3:36.34 from Hengelo last year, was holding that final fifth spot by yesterday afternoon. Countryman Dumisani Hlaselo was just behind on 3:36.36.But Sascoc is unlikely to take Cronje because its selection agreement with Athletics SA stipulates that world-ranked athletes invited by the IAAF or those offered wild cards would not be considered.In all 42 South African athletes are eligible for selection on Thursday, but not all can be sure they're in the team...