London Olympics

Half-cocked

Some good news:

http://www.icpsa.ie/issf/11888-icpsa-secures-quota-place.html

Sparks

Huzzah! Well-deserved, that!

Dan man

Well done to Derek, an Olympian for a 4th time! No reason why he can't challenge strongly for a high placing in London.

kemen

its good to have him there but i dont think he's shootin well enough to be there.. but hopefully it all comes good by the 6th of august.

centre

Who chooses who goes to the olympics for Ireland ?

It wasn't me!

The IOC-recognised national governing bodies of the sports, as I understand it.

MiGiD

A person can win a quota place in competition in a discipline but this place belongs to the country and not the person. The NGB can choose who gets to take the place out of those athletes who have achieved a minimum qualifying score in a suitable competition (regional/world championship, world cup) in that discipline in this olympic cycle. If the country doesn't win a quota place they are entitled to apply to the tripartite commission for a wild card place. The NGB applies and lists all the shooters they have with MQS in all disciplines. The commission can then choose to give someone a quota place and this place belongs to the person not the country. This is the kind of quota place Derek has. It's usually given on merit (but depends on what disciplines they have spare quota places for). Obviously ISSF have deemed Derek worthy

Half-cocked

I understand that Dereks bronze medal in the 2010 European Championships would normally have secured a quota place but the ISSF hoarded all the places to award at their big 50th anniversary World Championships in Munich. If they have a few spare places then it was only fair that Ireland/Derek got one.

MiGiD

I well believe it. It all comes down to politics at the end of the day.

kemen

derek is 47 ex 50 today in Lonato

70 ex 75 now end of day 1

It wasn't me!

And 70 leaves him one target off the current pace for the final. All to play for in stage 2, of course, but that's a good pace. Would definitely be nice to see him make another final, especially on the back of this news.

Dan man

Derek shot a 23 this morning and is now 93 ex 100. Round 5 to come.

It wasn't me!

Finished on another 23 for 116. Looks like two targets off the cut for the final shoot-off. Shame, that. It does show that maybe he's not so far off after all though!

Dan man

It wasn't me! wrote: »

Finished on another 23 for 116. Looks like two targets off the cut for the final shoot-off. Shame, that. It does show that maybe he's not so far off after all though!

Not a bad showing at all, underlines that he is still competitive and will be good to see him in London.

willofthewisp

Derek has a huge amount of work to do between now and london.. 116 isnt going to mean very much there,

Dan man

willofthewisp wrote: »

Derek has a huge amount of work to do between now and london.. 116 isnt going to mean very much there,

119 made the final in Lonato so all the shooters were a little off the usual high standard of shooting for whatever reasons and he had the same score as the 12th place finisher...for a World Cup event, that is competitive. He will of course be hoping to improve his consistency with London in mind but I see no reason to dismiss his chances of a good showing at the Olympics. It seems you are discouraged by his performance in Lonato, I on the other hand take huge encouragement from his form this week...he has a good base on which to build his Olympic preparations.

Sparks

This is May. London is August. That seems a tad basic to state, but then again, I thought it a tad basic to point out that training at this level is cyclical and builds up to a peak at the competition that's the focus of the training plan. And he's just placed in the top 20 now. That's the top 20 trap shooters in the world, against heavily funded shooters in an incredibly competitive field, in the buildup to the Olympic Games; not the top 20 in a 19-person clay shoot in a back field somewhere in Wicklow on a random Sunday run for fun and bragging rights.

Simple truth is that Derek is the best trap shooter we have. Only two others were competitors for that particular title at the present time, both of whom have retired from international shooting (and one of those retired with a silver individual medal from the World Championships, so it's not like there was a low bar here).

willofthewisp

Hey Guys .. I just stated that Derek has a lot of work to do before london... I wasnt thrashing his performance in any way just stating a fact... Im well sure Derek wasnt happy with his performance in Lonato and he has only one major competetition between now and London, namely the European Championships. There will only be about 36 shooters in London and they will not be the top 36 shooters in the world some of them likely wont even be ranked due to the wild card system and the continental distribution system for quotas... however you can be sure that 6 out of the top 10 shooters in the world will be there and if Derek is to compete with those on the Day he has alot of work to do.
I wish him well in his endeavour and his preparation as for the competition may the Luck Of The Irish Be With Him

Ildere

Seems he has a lot of work to do. shot an 82 in mullingar last week, winning score 85 by a class 'c' shooter.
Not looking good.

kemen

that means nothin.. were u there the day he shot 99 a while back

Ildere

kemen wrote: »

that means nothin.. were u there the day he shot 99 a while back

I wasnt and I suppose if you say it means nothing then that seems to be the end of the discussion.

Just one thing though, if scores mean nothing at OT then it must be by lottery that shooters get chosen for competitions.

It wasn't me!

Ildere wrote: »

I wasnt and I suppose if you say it means nothing then that seems to be the end of the discussion.

Just one thing though, if scores mean nothing at OT then it must be by lottery that shooters get chosen for competitions.

The point is that an 82 today means nothing. All sport at that level is cyclical. Nobody's on their top form all day every day. You train and plan to peak at useful points, and that means big drop-offs while you test things and work on problems and isolate and deal with issues in order to bring the whole back together stronger for the important shoots. Often, the top level guys have bigger drop-offs in performance for this reason while they're working on stuff and preparing.

tac foley

willofthewisp wrote: »

I wish him well in his endeavour and his preparation as for the competition may the Luck Of The Irish Be With Him

+1

tac

Ildere

I wish him the Best.

He is and has been the best trap shooter in Ireland for many years now.

I witnessed his disappointment on TV at the last Olympics and it was genuine from the man.

I expect Olympians to dominate their game at home.

I commented on a score that to the 'amateur' is not impressive.

Practising on things and working on things in competition is not something I understand.

It wasn't me!

Ildere wrote: »

I expect Olympians to dominate their game at home.

I commented on a score that to the 'amateur' is not impressive.

Practising on things and working on things in competition is not something I understand.

That's just not how it works. They're not champions if they win at small matches. They're champions because what they do there lets them win when it counts.

demonloop

It wasn't me! wrote: »

That's just not how it works. They're not champions if they win at small matches. They're champions because what they do there lets them win when it counts.

Agreed. Its not a difficult concept to get your head around. These top guys have big performances in them - they don't bust out big scores now - they peak gradually at the right time.

Look at the elimination rounds at any world level competition. You'll see big hitters just do enough to get through. Then in the qualification they ramp it up.

Momentum is a huge factor in sport (any sport) and they build to an end goal, in this case, London.