Irish Sporting Achievments

MadMardegan

So the other night I'm in work, and this guy I work with (He's not Irish, won't say where he's from) starts talking about how Ireland is useless for sports and we have nothing to be proud of, and that his country is great for sports etc etc

The fact that he was so arrogant about it makes me want to gather a list of Irish sporting achievments on the international stage.

So, I would be grateful if you guys could give me a list of gold medalists/world champions/any sport that we have really excelled at in the world (drinking doesn't count )

The fact that Ireland has several medals (and one gold so far, go Katie!!) in the current olympics and his country has none is enough for me to rub in his face but I'd like some more that I can throw at him when the inevitable "pffft, one gold medal...." comes my way.

Thanks people.

Ps. I should point out this guy is a friend and this is all friendly banter but he's quite arrogant about these kind of things sometimes so I really want to rub it in

Nerdkiller1991

Pffft, one gold medal...

Kidchameleon

We have huge national sports that many many nations probably envy. (Stay away GAA bashers)

getuponthis

Michelle smith!

krudler

getuponthis wrote: »

Michelle smith!

Shhhhhh...

cashback

MadMardegan wrote: »

The fact that he was so arrogant about it

Aussie eh?

dirtyden

Why wont you say where he is from? It would add to the debate.

mikom

MadMardegan wrote: »

So the other night I'm in work, and this guy I work with (He's not Irish, won't say where he's from) starts talking about how Ireland is useless for sports and we have nothing to be proud of, and that his country is great for sports etc etc

This thread is useless without knowing where this "guy" is from.

WumBuster

Stephen Roche- Tour de France winner
Sean Kelly- one of the greatests cyclists ever
John Treacy/Eamon Coghlan/sonia O Sullivan- World and Olympic medal Athletes
Dermot Weld/Vincent O Brien/Aidan O Brien- greatest horse trianers ever
Barry McGuigan/Steve Collins- world champion boxers
Roy Keane/Liam Brady/Paul Mcgrath- world class soccer players
Padraig harrington/Rory McIllroy major winning golfers

Ya we certainly have never produced any great sportsmen. Id give your friend a Katie taylor style right hook if he dosent STFU

Dangerous Man

He's actually got a point, compared to a lot of countries we are pretty bad. However... we are a tiny, tiny little country and I would imagine if you squared our sporting achievements historically, with nations of similar size, we'd stack up better than most.

inmyday

Katie Taylor and Sonia O' Sullivan, World class.
They are our best ever sports people. At their peak. No one in the world is better than them.

Sonia O'sullivan still holds two world records. And katie is just the best of the best. What can you say about her.

mickydoomsux

Ireland over the history of the Olympic games has won about 28 medals. 4 of those medals (3 gold and 1 bronze) are tainted because Michelle Smith probably cheated.

France has 28 so far at this years games. Britain has 24 gold medals alone so far.

Sunnyisland

Delaney, Coghlan, Treacy, Sonia O'Sullivan, O'Rourke, McKiernan, Marcus O'Sullivan, Ray Flynn, Rob Heffernan etc; wheelers Kelly & Roche; numerous golfers; boxers Steve Collins, McGuigan, Dunne, Carruth, McCullough,K egan,d sunderland,P barnes, through to the current batch that are doing so well; martial artists Horan, Foley, Fitzgibbon etc; cue men Doherty, Taylor, Higgins; many equestrian masters from Macken, Ledingham, Charles, Kuerten, McCoy, Walsh etc.and not forgetting some of our footballers who have received top medals,ie David irwin.

To put some perspective on the Olympics, if we end up with 4 medals, pro-rata this equates to 60 for GB, 250 for the US and 1100 for China!!

policarp

Ken Doherty, snooker. . .

inmyday

mickydoomsux wrote: »

Ireland over the history of the Olympic games has won about 28 medals.

France has that many so far at this years games. Britain has 24 gold medals alone so far.

The amount of money these countries invest in sport is huge. Their population is 12 and 13 times of us. Ridiculous to compare france and britain to ireland.

Sunnyisland

mikom wrote: »

This thread is useless without knowing where this "guy" is from.

I say its Palestine

mickydoomsux

inmyday wrote: »

The amount of money these countries invest in sport is huge. Their population is 12 and 13 times of us. Ridiculous to compare france and britain to ireland.

And yet we will once we win something.

Fair play to Katie Taylor and the rest of this years Irish medalists but the performance of the rest of Team Ireland has been so dire that a good number of them shouldn't have bothered showing up.

flanno_7hi

1998 European U16 and U19 football champions
At one stage ranked in the top 10 in the world by Fifa.
Michelle Smith
For the day that's in it :Steve Collins, Bernard Dunne, Eamonn Magee,Eamonn Loghran, Dave McAuley, Tom Sharkey (international Boxing hall of fame) Nonpareil Dempsey,Barry McGuigan

Sonia O'Sullivan

Munster, Leinster and Ulster European Champions Rugby.

Stephen Roche and Sean Kelly.


Our Golfers have achieved significant success internationally especialy Harrington


Best Jockeys in the world.

Ken Doherty.



That's all i can think of atm.

scouttio

mickydoomsux wrote: »

And yet we will once we win something.

Fair play to Katie Taylor and the rest of this years Irish medalists but the performance of the rest of Team Ireland has been so dire that a good number of them shouldn't have bothered showing up.

To be honest I'd say 70% of people at the Olympics don't come near getting a medal, you just notice it more about the Irish athletes because, well, they're Irish

mikom

realies wrote: »

I say its Palestine

I'd say it's imagination land

Clareman

Don't forget that our country is less than 100 years old, we setup a new nation almost from scratch with no organised sporting organisations to speak of, from when the OCI took a look at our terrible showing in Seoul we have come on leaps and bounds, not only thanks to individuals like Michelle and Sonia but through central organisations like Boxing and Show Jumping. I think the changing of the "sure you almost qualified you can go, to you are at the A standard, you can go" has brought on a lot of our Olympians, most of our competitors you'd be hoping to reach a semi or final at lease. Hopefully in Rio our boxers can keep going, a couple more show jumpers will make the grade, sailing will get some more competitors as well as a few other hopefuls.

policarp

Brian O'Driscol. . .

mickydoomsux

scouttio wrote: »

To be honest I'd say 70% of people at the Olympics don't come near getting a medal, you just notice it more about the Irish athletes because, well, they're Irish

Not really, we have very few people who make it to the medal stages and a lot that do lose miserably rather than coming fourth or fifth say.

I was watching the womens canoe-slalom the other day and the Irish girl in it was the guts of a minute off the pace of the rest of the field other than another competitor who got nearly a minute of penalties. That Irish girl shouldn't have been sent over to London, it was an embarrassing waste of time, money and effort.

Ben D Bus

Dangerous Man wrote: »

He's actually got a point, compared to a lot of countries we are pretty bad. However... we are a tiny, tiny little country and I would imagine if you squared our sporting achievements historically, with nations of similar size, we'd stack up better than most.

inmyday wrote: »

The amount of money these countries invest in sport is huge. Their population is 12 and 13 times of us. Ridiculous to compare france and britain to ireland.

New Zealand?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All-time_Olympic_Games_medal_table

Ireland, 23 medals in Olympic history. New Zealand, 90.

Malown

Eamon Coughlan - was Grand Marshal at the St Patrick's Day parade in Dublin a few years back and finished 4th.

inmyday

mickydoomsux wrote: »

And yet we will once we win something.

Fair play to Katie Taylor and the rest of this years Irish medalists but the performance of the rest of Team Ireland has been so dire that a good number of them shouldn't have bothered showing up.

What a silly thing to say. So stupid. I couldnt even be arsed to explain why you are wrong.

inmyday

Malown wrote: »

Eamon Coughlan - was Grand Marshal at the St Patrick's Day parade in Dublin a few years back and finished 4th.

World champion in 5000m. Dont be so ignorant.

amcalester

mickydoomsux wrote: »

Not really, we have very few people who make it to the medal stages and a lot that do lose miserably rather than coming fourth or fifth say.

I was watching the womens canoe-slalom the other day and the Irish girl in it was the guts of a minute off the pace of the rest of the field other than another competitor who got nearly a minute of penalties. That Irish girl shouldn't have been sent over to London, it was an embarrassing waste of time, money and effort.

Says you but if she had to qualify in the first place so who are you to say she shouldnt have gone. Stupid post.

Duggys Housemate

Dangerous Man wrote: »

He's actually got a point, compared to a lot of countries we are pretty bad. However... we are a tiny, tiny little country and I would imagine if you squared our sporting achievements historically, with nations of similar size, we'd stack up better than most.

Ben D Bus wrote: »

New Zealand?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All-time_Olympic_Games_medal_table

New Zealand is an over-achiever. Top per capita. I read yesterday that 70% of countries who have entered the Olympics have never, ever, got a medal.

We are above average. Also, they allow Horse dancing but not horsing racing. Also - not enough black people live here.

inmyday

scouttio wrote: »

To be honest I'd say 70% of people at the Olympics don't come near getting a medal, you just notice it more about the Irish athletes because, well, they're Irish

Exactly. Sure with the attitude of some people here, in the 100metres. No one other than bolt should have turned up.

Just dont bother turning up, great attitude by some irish people. On a day when kaite makes us all proud to be irish, then you read some comments from irish people, im brought back down to earth by their negativity.

Ben D Bus

inmyday wrote: »

What a silly thing to say. So stupid. I couldnt even be arsed to explain why you are wrong.

Really? I'm in argumentative mood this evening, but I'd suggest that the reason for our poor performance in many areas, not just sport, is our acceptance of mediocrity.

Allyall

mikom wrote: »

This thread is useless without knowing where this "guy" is from.

My money is on Bulgaria..

European Championships 1998 - U16 and U18..

flanno_7hi

Duggys Housemate wrote: »

New Zealand is an over-achiever. Top per capita. I read yesterday that 70% of countries who have entered the Olympics have never, ever, got a medal.

We are above average. Also, they allow Horse dancing but not horsing racing. Also - not enough black people live here.

Why dont they allow horse racing. We'd piss through that comp.

Allyall

Ben D Bus wrote: »

New Zealand?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All-time_Olympic_Games_medal_table

Ireland, 23 medals in Olympic history. New Zealand, 90.

They have 4 olympics head start on us.. :pac:

Fishooks12

mickydoomsux wrote: »

Ireland over the history of the Olympic games has won about 28 medals. 4 of those medals (3 gold and 1 bronze) are tainted because Michelle Smith probably cheated.

France has 28 so far at this years games. Britain has 24 gold medals alone so far.

mickydoomsux wrote: »

And yet we will once we win something.

Fair play to Katie Taylor and the rest of this years Irish medalists but the performance of the rest of Team Ireland has been so dire that a good number of them shouldn't have bothered showing up.

mickydoomsux wrote: »

Not really, we have very few people who make it to the medal stages and a lot that do lose miserably rather than coming fourth or fifth say.

I was watching the womens canoe-slalom the other day and the Irish girl in it was the guts of a minute off the pace of the rest of the field other than another competitor who got nearly a minute of penalties. That Irish girl shouldn't have been sent over to London, it was an embarrassing waste of time, money and effort.

Moaners are ten times worse when they haven't a clue about the subject they moan on

Ben D Bus

Duggys Housemate wrote: »

New Zealand is an over-achiever. Top per capita.

Finland then? Even not counting the Winter Olympics.

Duggys Housemate

flanno_7hi wrote: »

Why dont they allow horse racing. We'd piss through that comp.

I had that discussion in the pub yesterday. I cant see any reason. If horses can show jump, and dance in dressage, why not race? It cant be because its the horse who is the athlete, not the human, because thats true of all horse events.

So it would be the jockeys who win the medals and we would be golden.

Duggys Housemate

Ben D Bus wrote: »

Finland then? Even not counting the Winter Olympics.

yes, there are similar sized countries higher, and... well take a look at India.

BornToKill

Hurling and camogie? Bring it!

Forget about playing individual countries, we could take on a world best all-star 15 and destroy them.

Ben D Bus

Duggys Housemate wrote: »

yes, there are similar sized countries higher, and... well take a look at India.

3rd world comparison. But yes India is rubbish at Olympics regardless.

Malown

< 40% of competing countries have won a medal in 2012.

Dangerous Man

Ben D Bus wrote: »

New Zealand?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All-time_Olympic_Games_medal_table

Ireland, 23 medals in Olympic history. New Zealand, 90.

Good call but as I said, we do better than most. Not all. NZ are at the top.

Duggys Housemate

Ben D Bus wrote: »

3rd world comparison. But yes India is rubbish at Olympics regardless.

Oh we're exluding the 3rd world are we - you didnt say.

What about the middle income countries - Argentina have a bronze. Ireland is now 38th in the Olympics as a Gold will push. Finland has 1 silver.

We are in the top what, 15%?

Fishooks12

Malown wrote: »

< 40% of competing countries have won a medal in 2012.

And we have won 5. And compared with other countries with a similar population to us we over achieve in the games

But some people think we're useless because we don't haul in the same amount of medals as Great Britian and France, who have millions more in funding and population to choose from

A good example is Irish show jumping, which operates on a fraction of the budget to that of Saudi Arabia (40 million), and GB.

But, for some reason, idiots will always claim we're useless and slate athletes operating on a tiny budget and doing there best

Ben D Bus

Duggys Housemate wrote: »

Oh we're exluding the 3rd world are we - you didnt say.

We should compare ourselves against comparable countries? Small, wealthy, developed countries. Any other comparison has too many variables to be worthwhile.

Duggys Housemate

Ben D Bus wrote: »

We should compare ourselves against comparable countries? Small, wealthy, developed countries. Any other comparison has too many variables to be worthwhile.

Can we take China of the top of the list then? Also the USA, Germany and GB are much bigger in population. So they cant be compared either.

Because at the start you didnt want to exclude em.

inmyday

Ben D Bus wrote: »

We should compare ourselves against comparable countries? Small, wealthy, developed countries. Any other comparison has too many variables to be worthwhile.

Just stop, please just stop. I wonder have you ever played any type sport.

Ben D Bus

Duggys Housemate wrote: »

Can we take China of the top of the list then? Also the USA, Germany and GB are much bigger in population. So they cant be compared either.

Because at the start you didnt want to exclude em.

Of course they can't be compared to us. And I never mentioned them. I've only metioned New Zealand & Finland so far. I will now add Norway to my comparison list.

I'm busily checking medals on Wiki against country populations on the CIA World Factbook (we come 119th in population!). I'll keep you updated :P

Flange/Flanders

This is not a dig at GAA, Im a huge GAA follower (and being a mayo man, used to losing )

We're not doing too bad considering we have 2 huge sports that Id say the majority of our sporting population plays, we possibly would be doing a lot better at other sports if we didnt have the GAA.

That said, I wouldnt get rid of them for anything in the world. I've never played hurling but Id pick a good hurling match over anything else to watch.

later12

Perhaps it might be useful to compare Ireland to some other participating states from advanced economies & of a similar size:

Country|Population|Gold|Silver|Bronze|Total Medals
Lithuania|3.12m|1|0|1|2
Uruguay|3.25m|0|0|0|0
Croatia|4.29m|2|1|1|4
New Zealand|4.43m|3|2|5|10
Ireland|4.59m|1|0|1|2
Norway|5.03m|1|1|1|3
Singapore|5.12m|0|0|2|2
Finland|5.41m|0|1|0|1
Slovakia|5.45m|0|1|3|4


I'm not trying to compare us for nationalistic reasons, but if there is a charge that we are underspending on our sport infrastructure then we ought to relate ourselves to comparable jurisdictions in this way.

I haven't counted Paddy Barnes's guaranteed Olympic medal because (a) we don't know what color his medal will be and (b) other participating states may also be guaranteed unaccounted medals. This is just how things stand at 8pm on Thursday.

While we are at the lower end of what might be anticipated for an advanced economy of our population, we are not strikingly poor performers. While there is room for improvement, as demonstrated so adroitly by New Zealand (shower of freaks), we are in or around where one would anticipate us to be compared to our contemporaries.

Ben D Bus

inmyday wrote: »

I wonder have you ever played any type sport.

I can swim about half as fast as Barry Murphy