Road to Rio 2016 - Irish Olympic News

breffni bogballer

Brilliant news, should put up a decent show.

The_Kew_Tour

http://www.rte.ie/sport/athletics/2015/1026/737548-teenager-noelle-lenihan-takes-silver-in-doha/

Fantastic achievement for 15 yo Noelle Lenihan taking World Silver.

Dodge

In Gymnastics the Irish team had their best ever results in men and women comes this week in the world champs

Still not good enough to qualify but they did enough to qualify one man, and for the first time, one woman for the final Rio Test Event/Qualifier

Kieran Behan was 14th in the floor and top Irish male. Top female was Ellis O'Reilly. The event takes place next April

finbarrk

Can you give us a run down on who's qualified at the moment Dodge? Plenty of tickets available for differnt events this week.

Dodge

Current Irish team - 48

Athletics - team of 15
Rob Heffernan - 50k walk
Brendan Boyce - 50k walk
Alex Wright - 20k walk
Tom Barr - 400m hurdles
Mark English - 800m
Tori Pena - Pole vault
Sara Treacy - 3,000m steeplechase
Michelle Finn - 3,000m steeplechase
Kerry O'Flaherty - 3,000m steeplechase
Breege Connolly - marathon
Lizzie Lee - marathon
Fionnuala Britton - marathon
Segiu Ciobanu* - marathon
Kevin Seaward* - marathon
Paul Pollock* - marathon
Mick Clohissey* - marathon
*3 of these 4

Boxing - team of 3
Paddy Barnes - 49kg light fly
Michael Conlon - 56kg bantam
Joe Ward - 81kg Light heavy

Equestrian - team of 4
Team (inc 4 individuals) - 3 day eventing

Sailing - team of 4
Annalise Murphy - Laser radial
James Espey - laser dinghy
Ryan Seaton/Matt McGovern - 49er

Rowing - team of 4
Claire Lambe/Sinead Jennings - LW double
Gary O'Donovan/Paul O'Donovan - LW double

Modern Pentathlon - team of 1
Arthur Lannigan-O'Keeffe - Mens individual

Swimming - team of 1
Fiona Doyle - 100m breast (also has QT in 200m breast)

Hockey - 1 team of 16 players
Players selected before the tournament

---

I think the next qualifiers to be confirmed will be a cycling road race team of 2.

Dodge

http://www.balls.ie/athletics/the-updated-list-of-every-irish-athlete-qualified-for-2016-olympics/312332

A bit more on those close to qualification too

finbarrk

Thanks Dodge. Always reliable!

feargale

HOCKEY - Africa Qualification Tournament.
It's academic for us now, but you may like to know that South Africa play Egypt at 16.30 today. I think their timezone is the same as ours. I don't know about summer/winter time. This should be the crunch game of that tournament. If South Africa win out and stay at home New Zealand get to go.

Cosmo Kramer

South Africa won 4-2 to win the continental qualifier. If the South African Olympic association keep their word NZ will get a reprieve. It's not too important for Ireland but judging by the rankings NZ are a considerably better side than SA who are ranked below Ireland so it might be better for us if SA are allowed to compete.

Chivito550

For anybody thinking of going to Rio, I've posted this thread in the athletics forum:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057517125

feargale

Dodge wrote: »

Current Irish team - 48

Athletics - team of 15

Boxing - team of 3

Equestrian - team of 4

Sailing - team of 4

Rowing - team of 4

Modern Pentathlon - team of 1

Swimming - team of 1

Hockey - 1 team of 16 players

This compares with 22 qualified for London including three boxers by 5/12/2011, somewhat nearer to London than we now are to Rio. Even allowing that the hockey 16 skew the numbers it still looks good. One disappointment perhaps is the fact that only one boxer qualified from Doha despite the impressive medal haul. Let's hope that is put to right in due course.

Dodge

I think the boxing numbers are skewed solely by the method of qualifying. If the old system was used we'd have 5 qualified now. As it is, the new system actually makes it easier/gives more chances for Irish boxers to qualify.

Conservatively we could see the following added;
Athletics - 4 (more if the mens 4x400m qualifies)
Boxing - 3
Swimming - 1
Sailing - 2
Modern Pentathlon - 1
Rowing - 1
Golf - 4 (almost definite)
Cycling - 3 (2 will be definite)
Badminton - 2
Triathlon - 1 (definite)

Anything else would be a bonus.

gordongekko

4 in golf?



Edit. I'll answer my own question. 2 men 2 women.

flynng

Just looking at the range of sports currently qualified and potential qualifiers for the Rio games it amazes me for a country that generally experiences poor weather for outdoor sports that we don't concentrate on or push for more indoor sports facilities to be built that would allow for the likes of shooting, Olympic handball, track cycling, judo/tae kwondo, gymnastics, diving etc to be played year round. Pity we don't follow the french model where sports facilities are built by the towns and cities and therefore there for all clubs etc to use. Would have loved to be able to go to a local sports centre as a teenager to try archery or something like Olympic handball.

flynng

Just looking at the range of sports currently qualified and potential qualifiers for the Rio games it amazes me for a country that generally experiences poor weather for outdoor sports that we don't concentrate on or push for more indoor sports facilities to be built that would allow for the likes of shooting, Olympic handball, track cycling, judo/tae kwondo, gymnastics, diving etc to be played year round. Pity we don't follow the french model where sports facilities are built by the towns and cities and therefore there for all clubs etc to use. Would have loved to be able to go to a local sports centre as a teenager to try archery or something like Olympic handball.

Dodge

I played Olympic handball in school. it stopped there though.

In general, Ireland's sporting infrastructure is abysmal. No real ppint in us debating it here but yeah, it's a shame we don't have more sports for kids to play

locum-motion

flynng wrote: »

... Pity we don't follow the french model where sports facilities are built by the towns and cities and therefore there for all clubs etc to use...

Dodge wrote: »

...

In general, Ireland's sporting infrastructure is abysmal. No real ppint in us debating it here but yeah, it's a shame we don't have more sports for kids to play

I'd say a major part of the reason why we don't have such infrastructure is the same as the reason why we don't have state-owned infrastructure in education or health either.

During the formative years of this country it suited the agenda of the dominant personality in Irish politics that such things should be left to other bodies to sort out. In the case of health and education, it was the Catholic Church. For sport, it was left to the GAA.

(Sorry, I know that's pretty off-topic, but I was just answering what others brought up. I'll leave it at that.)

feargale

locum-motion wrote: »

I'd say a major part of the reason why we don't have such infrastructure is the same as the reason why we don't have state-owned infrastructure in education or health either.
During the formative years of this country it suited the agenda of the dominant personality in Irish politics that such things should be left to other bodies to sort out. In the case of health and education, it was the Catholic Church. For sport, it was left to the GAA.
(Sorry, I know that's pretty off-topic, but I was just answering what others brought up. I'll leave it at that.)

While your post does not lack validity it may be no harm to say that that dominant political personality was no mean rugby player in his youth. He played in a trial for Munster.
See this:

TAOISEACH Éamon de Valera told a dinner of the Past Pupils Union of his old school, Blackrock College, at Shannon in Apr 1957: “I have not been at a rugby match since 1913 because I do not want it being raised as a political matter and having rows kicked up about it.”

This was the era of the GAA’s ban on foreign games.

“There is no football game to match rugby. If all our young men played rugby not only would we beat England and Wales, but France and the whole lot of them together.”

feargale

flynng wrote: »

Just looking at the range of sports currently qualified and potential qualifiers for the Rio games it amazes me for a country that generally experiences poor weather for outdoor sports that we don't concentrate on or push for more indoor sports facilities to be built that would allow for the likes of shooting, Olympic handball, track cycling, judo/tae kwondo, gymnastics, diving etc to be played year round. Pity we don't follow the french model where sports facilities are built by the towns and cities and therefore there for all clubs etc to use. Would have loved to be able to go to a local sports centre as a teenager to try archery or something like Olympic handball.

This is a quiet time on the Olympic front, so I might be excused for posting once more on this. Here is my first ever post on Boards four years ago:

"I'd like to make a suggestion that might be more appropriate after London 2012, but then I don't know if this board will close with the closing ceremony, and anyway the Olympics to Ireland are like presidential elections. At the time we make all kinds of resolutions to reform things, and then forget until 6 months before next time around.
How about setting up an olympic club in every substantial town in Ireland to promote olympic sports only? Existing clubs promoting an olympic sport might come under this umbrella or not as they choose.
I know of one town, where some years ago a few hockey moms who had daughters playing hockey in 2 nearby schools, wanted to start a hockey club, and a blow-in guy who had played serious hockey was willing to coach, and had the guarantee of assistance from another veteran. It was hoped that a few immigrants and daughters of Indian/Pakistani personnel in the local hospital might make up the numbers. And it was hoped that it might in time engender mens' hockey in the town. It came to nought because it was the aspiration ohf a few dreamers who had nowhere to turn for support.
So how about it ? The Olympic Club of Castlebar, Mullingar, Skibbereen etc. ?"

I might never have joined Boards except that I wanted to say it.

I think there is probably a reasonable availability of various disciplines in Dublin, but the opportunities elsewhere are dismal. I would like to see a situation where a guy in Dunmanway would have to travel no further than Skibbereen for rowing, and vice-versa for gymnastics for example. Not everybody is cut out for GAA or rugby and there is no mechanism for catching those who fall through the net.
I also think that maybe too much goes into nurturing the stars at the expense of the general population. If the small clubs were taken care of more stars would naturally come through in time.
But when the Irish team return from the Olympics with no medals there tends to be a furore, culminating in lavish promises from politicians, and after three weeks sportspeople are preoccupied with the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, the Russian Grand Prix or the world darts championship and the Olympics get forgotten for most of four years again. And when we bring home a few medals some politicos and others get carried away and talk about Dublin hosting the Olympics.
Coming home from Dublin airport years ago, I stopped at a hostelry to watch Sonia O'Sullivan run her last Olympic race. She struggled home last and was bad-mouthed by a number of the patrons. I told them that she owed us nothing, if she were running that day in the Phoenix Park not much more than a hundred people might turn up.

Sorry for the rant.

The_Kew_Tour

Oliver Dingley switches from GB to Ireland in diving

Dodge

Interesting. Completely missed that. Seems to have done it a year ago. Won Bronze in the commonwealth games in 2014

https://twitter.com/oliverdingley

http://www.swimireland.ie/tom-daley-oliver-dingley-to-headline-diving-championships/

https://www.facebook.com/oliver.dingley/photos/a.389977811085613.92446.389721861111208/920846764665379/?type=3

Dodge

http://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1031448/womens-world-boxing-championships-pushed-back-three-months-by-aiba

Women's World Championships moved from February to May next year. It means they will be after the continental qualifiers in April

Bit of a pox for someone like Taylor who could have avoided the continenttal qualifiers if she (likely) medals at Worlds. Now she has to do both

The_Kew_Tour

Looks like Rob Heffernan is Olympic Medal winner in waiting.

3rd December seems to be the date set for when we know for sure.

Cosmo Kramer

Will that finally make London our most successful Olympics ever, three years after it finished? Six medals across three sports was a really good return. Very unlucky not to grab another in sailing too.

feargale

Cosmo Kramer wrote: »

Will that finally make London our most successful Olympics ever?

Yes if you base it on number of medals won as opposed to treating a gold as worth any number of silvers and ditto silver as to bronze. I'm glad for Rob Heffernan and for Ireland but I'm sorry for sport. Sometimes I wonder if it was all better in the days of Matt the Thresher.

curly from cork

The Irish men's hockey team received a great boost this week with new publication of the world rankings. They move up two places to 12 th in the world. These rankings are reviewed approx 3 times a year , after major events .

efb

Atlanta was officially our best ever with 3 Gold and 1 Bronze

marienbad

efb wrote: »

Atlanta was officially our best ever with 3 Gold and 1 Bronze

I know it doesn't count but we even got a brilliant 4th in man's lightweight rowing ! All overshadowed by the swimming of course

Dan man

marienbad wrote: »

I know it doesn't count but we even got a brilliant 4th in man's lightweight rowing ! All overshadowed by the swimming of course

And also overshadowed too by the misfortune of Sonia whom we were dreaming of taking home double gold. Just on a side note Ian Wiley was 5th in the men's K-1 slalom canoeing, the same year he was European Champion and had 2 quarter-finalists in boxing, just one win away from the medals.

The_Kew_Tour

I remember Sonia's race was on very late in night Irish time.

I remember when the camera focused on Sonia before the race and my dad basically said this is not good, she does not look right.

It was without doubt the most disappointing Olympic story in Irish teams history. I remember women were pulling out of that event cause they felt they had no chance of beating Sonia, she was that good.

It actually still hurts a little. But she came back like true champ 4 years later.

2004 was maybe the most disappointing Olympics in my lifetime of watching it first being 1992. 2004 alI came remember all our team seemed get knocked out in first round and when we did win Gold..

I'm sure the older members here might say different.

Dan man

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

I remember Sonia's race was on very late in night Irish time.

I remember when the camera focused on Sonia before the race and my dad basically said this is not good, she does not look right.

It was without doubt the most disappointing Olympic story in Irish teams history. I remember women were pulling out of that event cause they felt they had no chance of beating Sonia, she was that good.

It actually still hurts a little. But she came back like true champ 4 years later.

2004 was maybe the most disappointing Olympics in my lifetime of watching it first being 1992. 2004 alI came remember all our team seemed get knocked out in first round and when we did win Gold..

I'm sure the older members here might say different.

True, Athens was an abysmal Olympics for us bar Cian O'Connor's golden moment. Sydney was much the same though, apart from Sonia's silver there was very little else to cheer about. Thankfully, things have turned around a great deal since those very bleak days and we have more solid chances of success now. Hopefully we'll continue on the right path but we still have very far to travel to realise somewhere even close to our real potential which is targeting 10 medals and 2-3 golds per Games (ambitious but we should be.... look at New Zealand and Denmark). New Zealand would turn their nose up at 10 medals and 3 golds.... not beyond the realms of possibility they could be close to 10 golds in Rio nevermind 10 medals.
But from an Irish perspective at least, the graph is rising and success breeds success.... the more we get, the easier it will come with the correct attitude and sustained funding.

Stheno

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

Looks like Rob Heffernan is Olympic Medal winner in waiting.

3rd December seems to be the date set for when we know for sure.

Fingers crossed for him, yes he missed the glory on the day, but he'll have that medal forever

feargale

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

2004 was maybe the most disappointing Olympics in my lifetime of watching it first being 1992. 2004 alI came remember all our team seemed get knocked out in first round and when we did win Gold..

I'm sure the older members here might say different.

1960-1976 = sum total of one bronze medal.
Did you say something about disappointment?
Yes, things are better now.

Dodge

In the modern era 2000 was probably the worst. Small team and apart from Sonia only one athlete went past 1st round. Only one boxer qualified (Michael Roche) and he lost in first round. Think only the sailors finished in top 15 in any event

knockcon

So with this latest topic in mind, who are our main medal prospects for Rio. Top 5:
1. Katie
2. Michael Conlan
3. Rory mcilroy
4. Joe ward
5. Bertram Allen (assuming he'll qualify)

Would anyone demote/replace any of the above?

Strazdas

knockcon wrote: »

So with this latest topic in mind, who are our main medal prospects for Rio. Top 5:
1. Katie
2. Michael Conlan
3. Rory mcilroy
4. Joe ward
5. Bertram Allen (assuming he'll qualify)

Would anyone demote/replace any of the above?

Ward ahead of McIlroy probably. Golf is a very unpredictable sport.....golfers can be good one week and bad the next.

Stheno

What about Rob Heffernan?

knockcon

Heffernan seems to be making very positive noises again about his training. Coming back from injury and seems to be going well. A definite prospect, but top 10 I'd suggest.
Might have to get danman to do up his detailed assessment again?!

Paddy Barnes is another obvious contender, but gave Allen the nod ahead of him.

knockcon

Good performance for Graeme McDowell on the pgatour last night. He was beginning to drop down the world rankings, so if he can close the win out that'd really help his Olympic qualification hopes. Based on the criteria we have a chance of getting three into the men's:
- Athletes will first be selected by name within the top-15 on the Olympic Golf Rankings as of Monday, 11 July 2016 (following the conclusion of all eligible OGR events in the week immediately preceding), with no more than four (4) athletes per NOC.
2- Athletes will then be selected by name in order from 16th place onwards on the Olympic Golf Rankings as of Monday, 11 July 2016 (following the conclusion of all eligible OGR events in the week immediately preceding), up to a maximum of two (2) athletes per NOC and for NOCs not already having two (2) or more athletes within the top 15 on the Olympic Golf Rankings until the number of 59 athletes is reached, including continental places.
3- Each of the five (5) continents of the Olympic Movement will be guaranteed at least one (1) athlete in each of the Women’s and Men’s Competitions respectively, if not automatically qualified in accordance with the above (continental places). The continental places will be allocated to the highest ranked athlete(s) on the Olympic Golf Rankings from the continent(s) without representation.

Cosmo Kramer

I think we'd need McIlroy, GMac and Lowry to all be in the world top 15 at the cut-off to get three in? It's not impossible, but I'd say it's very unlikely.

Dodge

Yeah, McDowell has a lot of catching up to do to challenge Lowry for that 2nd spot.

Golf is a really big chance at a medal though. Because of the national limits, there are really only 20/25 medal contenders and Ireland will have 2 of them

http://www.igfgolf.org/olympic-games/qualification-system/ogr-men/

knockcon

From the above I read that all 3 would qualify. Mcilroy out of the top 15, and Lowry and McDowell out of the top 60.

Dodge

knockcon wrote: »

From the above I read that all 3 would qualify. Mcilroy out of the top 15, and Lowry and McDowell out of the top 60.

No, the lists aren't seperated

Basically the top 15 qualify (up to max of 4 per country).

Then additional golfers to make max of 2 per country until a field of 60 is filled

So the only way to get more than 2 golfers in is to have them in the top 15 (only applies to the USA at the moment)

Speak Now

Tough to get on the USA team, currently 6 in the top 10. Same issue for the South Korean women. Good for the potential 4 Irish players though to make the field weaker than usual.

Chivito550

Dodge wrote: »

In the modern era 2000 was probably the worst. Small team and apart from Sonia only one athlete went past 1st round. Only one boxer qualified (Michael Roche) and he lost in first round. Think only the sailors finished in top 15 in any event

Gillian O'Sullivan was 10th.

breffni bogballer

A decent win for Mcdowell in the golf,shud see him move up the rankings a little bit

Speak Now

breffni bogballer wrote: »

A decent win for Mcdowell in the golf,shud see him move up the rankings a little bit

Up to 67th, Lowry 18th and McIlroy 3rd.

Dan man

Ireland may have two more Olympians qualified by the end of the week as Andrea Brewster and Saskia Tidey go in search of a quota place for Rio 2016 at this week's 49er FX Sailing World Championships in Argentina.

There are 3 Olympic quotas up for grabs here and the pair have made a great start to their campaign, qualifying for the Gold Fleet and currently lying in 19th position overall. Only 25 crews made the Gold Fleet so already a number of their rivals have been eliminated from the Olympic quota race.

Additionally with a number of nations in the Gold Fleet already qualified, Brewster and Tidey are in strong contention to pick up an Olympic quota for Ireland at this regatta. Bear in mind also that on top of the 3 direct quotas on offer here, there is potentially another one or two quotas on offer since any unused continental quota spots are set to be re-allocated through this championship (the continental quotas in Africa and Oceania may go unclaimed for example).

Here is the current state of play among the non-qualified nations within the Gold Fleet: (number in brackets is total score without discard)

11th Norway - 50 (63)
13th USA - 54 (69)
16th Singapore - 60 (80)
18th Norway - 64 (87)
19th Ireland - 66 (89)
21st Argentina - 70 (87)
22nd Canada - 71 (89)
23rd Croatia - 73 (96)

So as you can see Ireland are the 4th non-qualified nation at present (Norway have two crews above Ireland and only one per nation can qualify). Top 3 will qualify with the 4th and 5th potentially receiving re-allocated quotas. The Irish pair have a lot of work still to do with a heavy discard score already being used in their scoring so they need clean races from here on.

If the Irish pair fail to secure a quota place here, they will have 1 final opportunity at a European qualifying regatta some time next year where there will be a single quota place available for this class. So qualification will be very stiff if they don't manage it at this regatta. Best of luck to them and here's hoping that the girls can claim their Olympic tickets this weekend!

Dodge

Bad day for the girls today. Down to 7th of the qualifying boats (6th nation)

Dan man

RIO2016


Qualification Update


Andrea Brewster and Saskia Tidey qualify Olympic quota for Ireland at Women's 49er FX World Championships

Great news to report on this Saturday afternoon....results provisional until official confirmation....

A fantastic series of races by Irish duo Andrea Brewster and Saskia Tidey has seen them climb up the overall standings to 16th position and has seen them qualify a boat for Ireland in the women's 49er FX class for the Rio 2016 Olympics!
A 5th place this morning and a 3rd and 5th place finishes in their final two races catapulted the girls into the 3 Olympic qualification positions.
Link to results can be found here http://49er.org/event/2015-world-championship/

Well done to Andrea and Saskia, apart from a couple of rogue results, this has been a great regatta for them, culminating in Olympic qualification for Ireland!!