Team Ireland

[donieG]

Is this the worst Olympics for Ireland ever? Fair play to them for getting there (hell of a lot more than I've ever done like) but come on like get a feckin' medal...just one.

[steve sanders]

didnt we strike out last time?

one of the boxers might get a medal.

[donieG]

No. We got one gold and as Tommy Tiernan so rightly pointed out we got a horse to help us. Tajikistan even have a medal so far!

[cit_gym_rat]

No. We got one gold and as Tommy Tiernan so rightly pointed out we got a horse to help us. Tajikistan even have a medal so far!
thought that gold was striped

[Rebelred]

thought that gold was striped

it was.

fact is, we rarely win medals at the Olympics

[cit_gym_rat]

it was.

fact is, we rarely win medals at the Olympics
fact is we forget come olympics that the realistic goals of most of our competitors is personal bests.

Is funding in ireland the problem though

[cit_gym_rat]

is it too late to join back to great britan?

[Arbuckle]

Is funding in ireland the problem though

It is a problem. Wish the government would take the attitude of the Aussies and pump some decent money into our athletes, from a young age. Over the years, I think I've wasted too much energy discussing this one. It does do my head in!

[cit_gym_rat]

It is a problem. Wish the government would take the attitude of the Aussies and pump some decent money into our athletes, from a young age. Over the years, I think I've wasted too much energy discussing this one. It does do my head in!
the majority of countries in the world use the olympics to display their strenght to the world, for some reason we dont

[Arbuckle]

the majority of countries in the world use the olympics to display their strenght to the world, for some reason we dont

Exactly!!!
I know we are small, but based on some of the performances of our athletes (over the years and this year) we could easily over achieve as a nation, if the government took such things more seriously. I suppose, planning for something which only happens every 4 is too much (but it would need to be a much longer term thing). Look at the aussies, they put potentials into special coaching schools when they are pretty damn young.

[meetyouatgrandparade]

The Aussie's always do well, especially in the swimming events. They all have Irish genes as well so it really must be down to their investment in Sport e.g. Aussie Institute of Sport. They do have a larger population and a better climate for training as well I suppose.

[LawrenceSummers]

money, how many of our athletes are trianing outside of the country?

the trial cyclist, the canoe fella, thats a joke, thats for representing your country, heres a few quid but feck off and train somewhere
and why dont we have a soccer team entering the competition, we could do pretty well, ohhhh sorry i forgot there is no money in it for mr delaney, my fault, i shouldnt have asked

[LawrenceSummers]

but not to be knocking it, our boxers are top class, two are knocked out of it, but both were beaten by fighters that will probably win medals, and oner of them looks a shoe in for gold, we will get at least one medal from the remaining 3, im sure of that

[cit_gym_rat]

but not to be knocking it, our boxers are top class, two are knocked out of it, but both were beaten by fighters that will probably win medals, and oner of them looks a shoe in for gold, we will get at least one medal from the remaining 3, im sure of that
me too one of them will at least get a bronze

[cit_gym_rat]

money, how many of our athletes are trianing outside of the country?

the trial cyclist, the canoe fella, thats a joke, thats for representing your country, heres a few quid but feck off and train somewhere
and why dont we have a soccer team entering the competition, we could do pretty well, ohhhh sorry i forgot there is no money in it for mr delaney, my fault, i shouldnt have asked
the canoe fella gets 20 grand a year, yet there are no training facilities here for him, that 20k wouldnt keep him going for half a year with having to travel for training and events

[donieG]

Our only hope is the hurling. Lets start a campaign - Hurling for London 2012! In fact let's pick the team...

1. Donal Og Cusack


P.S. How do you do fadas?

[POL]

Ireland should focus on events where we can compete, boxing obviously, then rowing, equestrian and field events in athletics like the shot put and javelin etc, we are wasting our time and money trying to compete on the track, the benefits of the advanced prgramme in the boxing are only bearing fruit now

[Coin]

The vast majority of Irish kids who play sport are more interested in team games and three of our top four team games are not Olympic sports. This immediately rules out a large percentage of potential Olympians. I have no problem with this whatsoever. One of our biggest individual sports is golf, which isn't an Olympic sport either. Again, I have no problem with this.

I would rather see money being poured into building GAA grounds, football pitches, basketball courts, tennis courts and swimming pools than given to a small handful of top athletes. I'm not saying those athletes should get nothing, but it should not be priority. If we don't win Olympic medals, so be it. I'd rather have a healthy population that has somewhere to go and have fun and be part of a community.

[Rebel Yell]

The vast majority of Irish kids who play sport are more interested in team games and three of our top four team games are not Olympic sports. This immediately rules out a large percentage of potential Olympians. I have no problem with this whatsoever. One of our biggest individual sports is golf, which isn't an Olympic sport either. Again, I have no problem with this.

I would rather see money being poured into building GAA grounds, football pitches, basketball courts, tennis courts and swimming pools than given to a small handful of top athletes. I'm not saying those athletes should get nothing, but it should not be priority. If we don't win Olympic medals, so be it. I'd rather have a healthy population that has somewhere to go and have fun and be part of a community.

The point is that those kids that are talented at certain athletics events are given little encouragement or incentive to pursue that here...and gravitate back to team sports or out of sport altogether when they reach adult age...e.g .David Gillick admits himself that if his local Athletics club in Dublin had been much further away he would have concentrated on Gaelic football ...and only after winning 2 European Indoor 400m Golds did he leave for Loughborough to further his training...he would not have had the backing to do so before that and had no real mentor to guide him as a kid ...many just see the meagre financial help to any athlete here as an immediate barrier to progression in the most important early adult phase of their career...

[raZor]

In fairness it wasn't too bad I mean we were never going to come back with more than 5 medals so seeing the team break personal bests is the most you can ask for. Bree did that, Hession gave a good account of himself, the kayaker rode his luck but got pipped for bronze at the last competitor, O'Rourke is out of form and the boxers were excellent.

We still have a showjumper left in it I think.

[Up For The Ba]

O'Rourke is out of form and the boxers were excellent.



No she`s not. She simply aint up to that distance at world class level. If there was a 60m she might have had a chance.

Honourable mention to Rob Heffernan too btw.

[antipop]

Ya the way they focussed the funding on the boxers is comendable and proving to be money well spent. Its hard to expect good olympic results when the facilities arent there to even introduce young people to certain sports that they counld develope into contenders. How can kids get into a sport if they have to go abroad to get their first exposure to it.

I don't think the UK had an indoor velodrome up until 12 years ago and now they are cleaning up up of the track. Its not like the brits have suddenly discovereed that they are inheritly superior on a bike. Cyclists here are gagging for a velodrome for years.

An Artificial Whitewater Course would have tonnes of kayakers considering slalom as a discipline and is proven to be a good recreational enterprise in other countries.

We should see the benefits of the Aquatic Centre, in 2012, probably no medals but definitly better results.

Berties sports campus idea doesn't look that silly now.

But alas the recession has come so none of these will get built. So we are still a country of fat fucks and the majority of money that was spent on sport over the past 10 years was on seats for fat fucks to watch sport as opposed to participate.

[Langer Dan]

People have unrealistic expectations, our athletes lack the facilities and adequate funding, looking at the publication of the sports council grants every year, these guys arn't getting enough to cover rent , never mind adhere to fulltime training.

So they're automatically at a disadvantage to athletes who can afford to train fulltime and have access to adequate facilities, ffs, two running tracks in Cork and no olympic size swimming pool, little wonder we're dead in the water.

Also population wise we're a minnow,Birmingham should produce more olympic golds than we do, people would would want to look at the bigger picture and get real.

We're good at fighting and thats about it......Sonia is the only world class track athlete we've produced in the last twenty years, and she shat the course, literally.

[LawrenceSummers]

People have unrealistic expectations, our athletes lack the facilities and adequate funding, looking at the publication of the sports council grants every year, these guys arn't getting enough to cover rent , never mind adhere to fulltime training.

So they're automatically at a disadvantage to athletes who can afford to train fulltime and have access to adequate facilities, ffs, two running tracks in Cork and no olympic size swimming pool, little wonder we're dead in the water.

Also population wise we're a minnow, should produce more olympic golds than we do, people would would want to look at the bigger picture and get real.

We're good at fighting and thats about it......Sonia is the only world class track athlete we've produced in the last twenty years, and she shat the course, literally.



thats all well and good but look at jamacia, that a country whose economic state is nowhere near ours, look at india, georgia, and about a dozen other countries that have no money in them and they getting medals.



and catriona mckiernan was world class as well

[cit_gym_rat]

thats all well and good but look at jamacia, that a country whose economic state is nowhere near ours, look at india, georgia, and about a dozen other countries that have no money in them and they getting medals.



and catriona mckiernan was world class as well
look at the kewis they are litterally parallel with us as regards money and population and the draw of the gaa here would be equivalent to the draw of rugby there - yet they have only two games where they didnt receive medals

[liam2me]

look at the kewis they are litterally parallel with us as regards money and population and the draw of the gaa here would be equivalent to the draw of rugby there - yet they have only two games where they didnt receive medals
i reckon they have less money then us, but that makes it even more damning

[POL]

thats all well and good but look at jamacia, that a country whose economic state is nowhere near ours, look at india, georgia, and about a dozen other countries that have no money in them and they getting medals.



and catriona mckiernan was world class as wellDunphy used to make out that, the poorer the country the more likely they are to produce top class sports men and women because they have fuck all else to do except play soccer, run etc etc and he is dead right, Ireland is by and large a nation of lazy slobs and the Celtic tiger has accelerated this

[SenorCarlsberg]

Fareplay to the boxers...watching the highlights of sutherlands fight this evening reminded me of mayweather picking off hatton at will last year. Let's hope they come out with at least one silver but hopefully better.

What surprises me is that we don't do better in sailing events. Look at the British - Ainslie has owned his Olympic event for the last 3 games and many more medals this time around as well for his colleagues in the sailing team.

There would not be much work or funding required for a velodrome a la the one in Manchester. I hope that the push after these games doesn't just revolve around more funding. As has been said above its facilities we need, to further entice children and teenagers into olympic sports.

There seems to be alot of FAI-ism going on in the various associations that is both ridiculous and farcical. Apparently the three B-standard athletes were called up to go to Beijing so that the Irish Olympic Council could have their gang to go over for a big party.

[Coin]

Dunphy used to make out that, the poorer the country the more likely they are to produce top class sports men and women because they have fuck all else to do except play soccer, run etc etc and he is dead right, Ireland is by and large a nation of lazy slobs and the Celtic tiger has accelerated this
Watch out for South Africa over the next 20 years. It looks to me like the economic imbalance there is perfect for producing top quality sportsmen. They have a huge population of extremely poor people, which is a good source to get extremely driven athletes who'll work like demons to get out of poverty. On the other hand, there is a lot of money there to spend on facilities and coaching and stuff, plus they are a sports-obsessed nation.

[hiawatha]

No she`s not. She simply aint up to that distance at world class level. If there was a 60m she might have had a chance.

Honourable mention to Rob Heffernan too btw.

Get up the gap ya eejit. She was injured in the lead up to the Olympics and wasn't anywhere near her PB in her heat.