Road to Rio 2016 - Irish Olympic News

Dodge

gordongekko wrote: »

What results do we need now?

We need 4 of the continental challengers to come from WHL top 10 teams

So
Asia - India - done
Pan American Games - Argentina/Canada
Europe - Ireland, Germany, Netherlands,, Belgium, England, Spain
Oceania - Australia

The only one that could upset us is if New Zealand win the Oceania champs.

If Brazil fail to finish top 6 in pan American games, we need 3 of the continental qualifiers to be WHL top 10

Dan man

We need any two of the following scenarios to happen:

- July 13-25th, 2015: Brazil to finish 7th or lower at the Pan-American Games (only 8 teams in the competition) AND either Argentina or Canada win the title.

- August 21-29th, 2015: Belgium, England, Ireland, Germany, Netherlands or Spain to win the EuroHockey Nations Championship (i.e. France or Russia fail to win). If Ireland win (won't happen) we're automatically qualified.

- TBD: South Africa to win African Qualification Tournament and subsequently reject their quota.

- TBD: Australia win the Oceanian Cup (thus preventing New Zealand from qualifying).


I think we are safe with the Eurohockey, so that should be one scenario in the bag..... so if Brazil finish outside the top 6 at the Pan Am Games in a couple of weeks time, we can all pack our bags for Rio. If the worst scenario happens and Brazil qualify from that tournament, then Australia are still odds on to beat New Zealand at the Oceanian Cup. Australia at their best are near invincible for most teams, but there is a big health warning in that the Oceanian Cup isn't very prestigious (will they enter their best squad and try their hardest?).... whereas New Zealand will be up for it knowing exactly what is on the line.

Overall though we are in a magnificent position.

The Lost Sheep

Fiona Doyle got through to the 100m Breaststroke Final at the World University Games and is the first Irish swimmer to make an "A" qualification time for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games!
Hopefully first of many!

LuckyLloyd

Can I ask why South Africa Hockey don't want to play in Rio?

Dan man

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Can I ask why South Africa Hockey don't want to play in Rio?

Their national Olympic committee recently announced very strict standards across all sports..... one stipulation for Olympic qualification for their hockey teams was that they must qualify via the World League. This suggests that they would not accept a quota place via the continental qualifying route. Which begs the question, will they actually compete in the African qualifiers at all? They possibly will, giving them the chance to change their minds..... but it is rather unlikely they would, and in any event, Egypt are probably the strongest men's national side in Africa at the moment.

feargale

Dan man wrote: »

- July 13-25th, 2015: Brazil to finish 7th or lower at the Pan-American Games (only 8 teams in the competition) AND either Argentina or Canada win the title.

Dan, I think your AND should read OR. Can you clarify, please.

Dodge

feargale wrote: »

Dan, I think your AND should read OR. Can you clarify, please.

Ideally we want both. For example if the USA win and Brazil finish 6th then those 2 qualify and Argentina qualifies from WHL

If Argentina win and Brazil finish 7th, then only Argentina qualifies and their WHL spot is redistributed

As per earlier post, we're effectively 10th in WHL standings so the more WHL qualifiers who win their continental trophies, the better for us.

Dodge

Decided to look it up. Australia have won every Oceania Cup there's been (every 2 years since 1999). Somehow this has made me more nervous

Strazdas

Dodge wrote: »

Decided to look it up. Australia have won every Oceania Cup there's been (every 2 years since 1999). Somehow this has made me more nervous

The one thing about the Aussies is that they are ultra competitive in sport with a win at all costs mentality and they also have a fierce rivalry with the Kiwis. I can't imagine any scenario where they would be 'happy' to lose to New Zealand.

Dan man

feargale wrote: »

Dan, I think your AND should read OR. Can you clarify, please.

It is AND because we need Brazil to finish outside top 6 AND we need either Canada or Argentina to win the Pan Ams, you see what I mean?

Strazdas

Dan man wrote: »

It is AND because we need Brazil to finish outside top 6 AND we need either Canada or Argentina to win the Pan Ams, you see what I mean?

I take it we could potentially have qualified by August 29 if both the Pan Am and the Euro hockey scenarios came to pass?

Dan man

Strazdas wrote: »

I take it we could potentially have qualified by August 29 if both the Pan Am and the Euro hockey scenarios came to pass?

Yes indeed, if those two events throw up the right scenarios then we'll be on our way to Rio !

Strazdas

Dan man wrote: »

Yes indeed, if those two events throw up the right scenarios then we'll be on our way to Rio !

That would be the best case scenario of course but we'll take qualification by any means

The_Kew_Tour

Few papers pretty much saying Hockey team are going to Rio, The Examiner say 90%.

Is it that good or do we need sweat little more?

Dodge

I think we know as much as they do. It's looking pretty good.

The_Kew_Tour

Dodge wrote: »

I think we know as much as they do. It's looking pretty good.

Thats great to hear. Was not sure if they were simply been too optimistic or not.

feargale

14–25 July 2015 2015 Pan American Games Toronto, Canada

22–30 August 2015 2015 EuroHockey Nations Championship London, England

17–25 October 2015 2015 African Qualifying Tournament Ismaïlia, Egypt

17–25 October 2015 2015 Oceania Cup Stratford, New Zealand



If a team already qualified for the World Cup through the Hockey World League Semifinals wins their respective continental championship, then the next best team from the Semifinals not yet qualified will qualify in their place. In order, the next best teams yet to qualify are Canada, Spain, Ireland and New Zealand.

One would hope that the Irish-Australian community will know what's at stake and will give the same kind of support to Australia as they gave recently to the Irish cricketers down under.

feargale

Ok. Most likely setbacks are: 1. Brazil get 6th or better at the Panamericans and 2. We get no joy from Africa. Neither is very unlikely. So, let's proceed on that basis:
1. Argentina win the Panams (ok), but Brazil take 6th and get the spot.
2. Neither France nor Russia win Europe. That's ok. Canada qualify.
3. No joy from Africa.
4. Australia win Oceania. Spain qualify.

Ipso facto, no joy for Ireland. Keep the champagne on hold, guys.

Dan man

feargale wrote: »

Ok. Most likely setbacks are: 1. Brazil get 6th or better at the Panamericans and 2. We get no joy from Africa. Neither is very unlikely. So, let's proceed on that basis:
1. Argentina win the Panams (ok), but Brazil take 6th and get the spot.
2. Neither France nor Russia win Europe. That's ok. Canada qualify.
3. No joy from Africa.
4. Australia win Oceania. Spain qualify.

Ipso facto, no joy for Ireland. Keep the champagne on hold, guys.

There is a bit of a flaw in that analysis.... going on your given scenario, point 1 should read:

1. Argentina win the Panams (ok), but Brazil take 6th and get the spot. Canada qualify (as a result of continental quota being re-distributed among the World League).

So then, the rest of your scenario would read as follows....

2. Neither France nor Russia win Europe. That's ok. Spain qualify.
3. No joy from Africa.
4. Australia win Oceania. Ireland qualify.

Makes a big difference in assessing our chances .

Dodge

The last 5 finals of the Pan Am Games have been between Argentina and Canada. A repeat would be most welcome. If Brazil don't get their spot we could have 9 WHL teams qualified before the Europeans. We're in great shape lads

Strazdas

Dodge wrote: »

The last 5 finals of the Pan Am Games have been between Argentina and Canada. A repeat would be most welcome. If Brazil don't get their spot we could have 9 WHL teams qualified before the Europeans. We're in great shape lads

Looking at the world rankings, that would be the most likely final. Those two are miles ahead of their opponents in that region.

Dodge

Brilliant gold medal winning run by Tom Barr in the 400m hurdles at the world student games.

In swimming Fiona Doyle followed up her 100m breastroke bronze with a silver in 50m breastroke. 2nd one isn't an Olympic event but good to see her in that form. She''s our first swimmer to qualify

Dan man

RIO2016


Qualification Update

Athletics
Women's 3000m Steeplechase

Ireland gained 3 more Olympic qualifiers today with Kerry O'Flaherty, Michelle Finn and Sara Treacy all achieveing the Olympic standard for the women's 3,000m Steeplechase at the Sub 4 Challenge meet in Letterkenny today. Super stuff!!
This brings our team of Rio 2016 qualifiers up to 20 (however Martin Fagan has already announced his retirement, so the realistic total is 19).

Strazdas

Dan man wrote: »

Ireland gained 3 more Olympic qualifiers today with Kerry O'Flaherty, Michelle Finn and Sara Treacy all achieveing the Olympic standard for the women's 3,000m Steeplechase at the Sub 4 Challenge meet in Letterkenny today. Super stuff!!
This brings our team of Rio 2016 qualifiers up to 20 (however Martin Fagan has already announced his retirement, so the realistic total is 19).

Personal bests for all three. That must have been an exceptionally fast race.

feargale

391 days to Rio,

Dan man wrote: »

This brings our team of Rio 2016 qualifiers up to 20 (however Martin Fagan has already announced his retirement, so the realistic total is 19).

Interesting to compare that to London. On 9th October 2011 Ireland had just 14 qualified for London, 10 track and field athletes, 3 boxers and 1 swimmer. That was 292 days before London commenced.

Dan man

Strazdas wrote: »

Personal bests for all three. That must have been an exceptionally fast race.

Hopefully they will continue to push each other to faster times.... always good to see competitive events on the national scene.

Dodge

Another qualifier in Athletics. Tori Pena clears 4.50 in the pole vault to book her place

The Lost Sheep

Both Men's and women's 7s sides will continue their Olympic qualification runs over the next 2 weekends in Lisbon Portugal.
Women up first next weekend followed by mens side the following weekend.

Womens side play Belgium, Romania and Ukraine in their group. Denmark, Germany, Portugal is one group and Spain and Finland, Italy, Netherlands and Sweden is the other group
They must finish in the top 3 to advance to the world repechage

Mens side play Russia, Georgia and Italy in their group. Germany, Lithuania, Romania and Latvia and Portugal, Belgium, Poland and Ukraine are the other groups in that competition
Like the women the men must finish in the top 3 to advance to the world repechage

locum-motion

Dodge wrote: »

Another qualifier in Athletics. Tori Pena clears 4.50 in the pole vault to book her place

Tori looks like a female version of Rob Kearney!

The Lost Sheep

The Lost Sheep wrote: »

Both Men's and women's 7s sides will continue their Olympic qualification runs over the next 2 weekends in Lisbon Portugal.
Women up first next weekend followed by mens side the following weekend.

Womens side play Belgium, Romania and Ukraine in their group. Denmark, Germany, Portugal is one group and Spain and Finland, Italy, Netherlands and Sweden is the other group
They must finish in the top 3 to advance to the world repechage

Mens side play Russia, Georgia and Italy in their group. Germany, Lithuania, Romania and Latvia and Portugal, Belgium, Poland and Ukraine are the other groups in that competition
Like the women the men must finish in the top 3 to advance to the world repechage

Squads named for Repechage next weekend

Lots of academy players picked in the mens squad like previous events and some players who are on senior or development contracts with the provinces While in the Womens squad there is some players with international 15 a side experience there is two players from the Talent Identification process and they are Audrey O’Flynn who is a former Hockey player with over 120 caps for the Irish side and Eimear Considine who has represented Clare in both camogie and gaelic

Men’s Squad
Adam Byrne (UCD/Leinster)
Aaron Cairns (Ballynahinch/Ulster)
Tom Daly (Lansdowne/Leinster) (capt)
Ian Fitzpatrick (Lansdowne/Leinster)
Terry Kennedy (St. Mary’s College/Leinster)
Shane Layden (Buccaneers/Connacht)
Gearoid Lyons (Young Munster/Munster)
Diarmaid McCarthy (Young Munster/Munster)
David McGuigan (Ballynahinch/Ulster)
Harry McNulty (UCD/Leinster)
Mark Roche (Lansdowne/Leinster)
Alex Wootton (Garryowen/Munster)
Steve Toal-Lennon (St Mary’s College/Leinster)

And Women's squad
Audrey O’ Flynn (TID)
Jenny Murphy (Old Belvedere/Leinster)
Stacey Flood (Railway Union/Leinster)
Hannah Tyrrell (Old Belvedere/Leinster)
Eimear Considine (TID)
Ashleigh Baxter (Cook/ Ulster)
Katie Fitzhenry (Blackrock/ Leinster)
Claire Keohane (UL Bohemians/ Munster)
Lucy Mulhall (Rathdrum) Capt
Claire Molloy (Bristol/Connacht)
Louise Galvin (UL Bohemian/Munster)
Alison Miller (Portlaoise/Connacht)
Emma Murphy (Railway Union/Leinster)

Dan man

Just a quick update tonight on the Pan American hockey tournament. Canada as expected easily defeated Brazil 9-1 in the opening round of fixtures, good news obviously for Ireland.
More interestingly, Cuba drew 3-3 with the USA and Mexico were only narrowly defeated by Chile 3-2. This shows as I thought that Cuba's world ranking is meaningless as an indicator of form (they miss many tournaments hence why they are ranked poorly). Mexico seem to be in decent shape too so Brazil will really find this top 6 goal a difficult task. Still all to play for though.

Dodge

A few dates. The group games decide 1-4 in each pool but every team qualifies for the quarter finals.

July 21 - quarter final day. If Brazil finish bottom they'll play Argentina. 2nd bottom they'll play US/Cuba. If Brazil win, they have it. If they lose...

July 23 - the big one. This is the 5-8th place semi. If Brazil lose here then they don't qualify for the Olympics

feargale

MEN'S HOCKEY - PANAMERICAN GAMES - LATER TODAY ( Toronto local time )

POOL A
9 a.m. Trinidad v. Cuba
11 a.m. USA v. Argentina.

POOL B
5 p.m. Brazil v. Mexico.
7 p.m. Chile v. Canada.

Dodge

http://www.iaba.ie/european-elite-mens-squad-named/

Elite mens team for European Championships name. They must finish top 6 to qualify for worlds.

Interestng to see them not enter in the 3 weights were they have already qualified for the Worlds.

Worlds is the first general qualifer for Olympics (WSB/AIPB aside)

Dan man

Dodge wrote: »

http://www.iaba.ie/european-elite-mens-squad-named/

Elite mens team for European Championships name. They must finish top 6 to qualify for worlds.

Interestng to see them not enter in the 3 weights were they have already qualified for the Worlds.

Worlds is the first general qualifer for Olympics (WSB/AIPB aside)

Not sure the Irish federation are working this new system well..... it seems on the face of it to be pretty disastrous that Paddy Barnes will miss the European Games, European Championships and the World Championships..... it damages his world ranking significantly, thus could result in him facing an extremly tough draw at the Olympics. There is a balance to be struck with regards rest and competition but seems very strange in my view that one of our best medal hopes could find himself down the rankings because of lack of competition.

feargale

Crucial game in Toronto, Mexico v. Brazil. It should be half time now. Can anyone get any info?

Earlier today in Group A:
Argentina 6 USA 0
Cuba 2 Trinidad & Tobago 2

Strazdas

feargale wrote: »

Crucial game in Toronto, Mexico v. Brazil. It should be half time now. Can anyone get any info?

Earlier today in Group A:
Argentina 6 USA 0
Cuba 2 Trinidad & Tobago 2

It's 0-0 still in the third period. Would that be a good result for us?

And now Brazil are leading 1-0 in the third period

feargale

Strazdas wrote: »

It's 0-0 still in the third period. Would that be a good result for us?

And now Brazil are leading 1-0 in the third period

That is bad news. If it stays so Brazil have a good chance of getting in the top six, and so get an Olympic place making it more difficult for Ireland to qualify.
Thanks. Keep us informed please.

P.S. Strazdas where are you getting your information?

Strazdas

feargale wrote: »

That is bad news. If it stays so Brazil will most likely qualify for quarterfinals and so get an Olympic place making it more difficult for Ireland to qualify.
Thanks. Keep us informed please.

Brazil still leading 1-0 in the fourth period

Strazdas

feargale wrote: »

That is bad news. If it stays so Brazil have a good chance of getting in the top six, and so get an Olympic place making it more difficult for Ireland to qualify.
Thanks. Keep us informed please.

P.S. Strazdas where are you getting your information?

Here you go :

http://www.panamhockey.org/en/competitions-24/match-626-bra-v-mex-pool-b-2015-pan-american-games

But Brazil have just won 1-0....oh well, looks like things will be getting dicier in coming weeks and months

What would knock Brazil back out of contention in the Pan Am Games?

feargale

Strazdas wrote: »

What would knock Brazil back out of contention in the Pan Am Games?

Read Dodge's comments about 8 posts back,

Strazdas

feargale wrote: »

Read Dodge's comments about 8 posts back,

Right, all is not lost then. If they lose their quarter final and their 5th-8th place match, they're gone......it's going to be an interesting period.

Dan man

Bad result for us, but the consolation I'll offer is that I think Mexico were the most likely team to be overturned by Brazil. The other teams will be another step up but that's not saying they can't beat them either.
Just need to sweat it out, and if the very worst happens and Brazil qualifies, Ireland are still in a favourable position, the only thing that would deny us is a New Zealand win over Australia..... the Aussies are huge favourites but still won't make it any less nerve-wracking for us.

Dodge

As I said, the group games are largely immaterial. The whole tournament seems close enough with Argentina way, way ahead of Canada and Canada way, way ahead of the rest

KevIRL

52-0 win for the womens sevens team over Romania. Solid start.

Mens team drew 19-19 with Russia

KevIRL

KevIRL wrote: »

52-0 win for the womens sevens team over Romania. Solid start.

Mens team drew 19-19 with Russia

Women beat Belgium 24-5 in their second game

Dodge

Ireland women won all 3 group games easily to top the group.

They play Germany in QF tomorrow. Next up would be winner of Portugal/Italy. They should make the final

Men finished with 2 wins and a draw v Russia but topped the group as Georgia beat Russia.

They play Lithuania in QF and then winner of Portugal/Russia in the SF if they get through

EDIT: reminder that both sides will qualify for final Olympic repechage if they finish in the top 3

Dodge

In the hockey, Brazil losing by 2 with not long left in last group game

They'll play US in the QF. US so far; lost 0-6 Argentina, drew 3-3 with Cuba and beat Trinidad 2-1

feargale

Panam men's hockey, Saturday, final Pool game results:
POOL A:
Argentina 5 Cuba 4
USA 2 Trinidad 1

POOL B:
Canada 3 Mexico 1
Chile 3 Brazil 1

Dodge

Confirmation that Brazil will play the US on Tuesday for a place in the Olympics

If the lose they'll have one more game on Thursday against the loser of Trinidad v Canada

So come on USA and then Trinidad