Road to Rio 2016 - Irish Olympic News

Dodge

https://twitter.com/swimireland/status/706071584595902465

The final is later today/this evening. He's looking good to get it

We haven't had any other swimming Olympic qualifiers this week but tons of records have fallen and the European team is up to 9/10 now. Some of our juniors have smashed senior records and that's always a good sign

feargale

______________________________________________UPCOMING MARATHONS_____________________________

April 18: 2016 Boston Marathon
April 24: 2016 London Marathon

Dodge

https://twitter.com/swimireland/status/706181818748428288

Great news

RuckingSwimmer

Dodge wrote: »

https://twitter.com/swimireland/status/706181818748428288

Great news

Conor Ferguson went 54.64 in the same race - wouldn't put it past him to achieve the A standard before May 31st (unless his GCSEs get in the way!)

feargale

Cosmo Kramer wrote: »

It seems bizarre to potentially move the goalposts this close to the event. It might make some kind of sense for 2020 but it's surely too late to have much impact on 2016 - as all the events are limited in terms of the number of qualifiers, how could they even make room for professionals at this stage?

If it was to happen for 2020 it might be a way to keep Conlan involved and maybe get the likes of Nevin back.

Bernard O'Neill wrote a good article on this in the Sindo on 28 Feb. p. 12.

flynng

Congratulations to Judy Reynolds who set a new Irish Dressage score record with 79.700 in Doha, Qatar. She is virtually assured of qualifying a place in the Individual Dressage in Rio for Ireland. Official individual places for Rio in Equestrian events will be revealed tomorrow.

flynng

Congratulations to Judy Reynolds who set a new Irish Dressage score record with 79.700 in Doha, Qatar. She is virtually assured of qualifying a place in the Individual Dressage in Rio for Ireland. Official individual places for Rio in Equestrian events will be revealed tomorrow.

Skid X

RuckingSwimmer wrote: »

Conor Ferguson went 54.64 in the same race - wouldn't put it past him to achieve the A standard before May 31st (unless his GCSEs get in the way!)

Just read that he took over a second off his PB yesterday, looks like a great prospect

Another exciting Irish Olympic prospect, Conor Ferguson finished 2nd in the same race, just .29 of a second off the Olympic ‘A’ time. The 16 year old took over a second off his Irish Junior Record today clocking 55.07 in the heats and 54.64 in the Final. Both these swims place Ryan (53.93) and Ferguson within the top 15 of the World so far this year.

https://irishsportsnet.wordpress.com/2016/03/06/shane-ryan-qualifies-for-rio-2016-swimming/

Dodge

flynng wrote: »

Congratulations to Judy Reynolds who set a new Irish Dressage score record with 79.700 in Doha, Qatar. She is virtually assured of qualifying a place in the Individual Dressage in Rio for Ireland. Official individual places for Rio in Equestrian events will be revealed tomorrow.

This is great news. We should have 3 more Olympians confirmed tomorrow with Allen and Lynch in the showjumping too

That would make a team of 58 already

EDIT; just reading that Lynch hasn't made it! Pipped in the last week. Allen our only showjumper. Lynch is first reserve

Dodge

Done a bit more looking into it and I think Shannon McCurley will sneak into the Kierin rankings in track cycling!

The 9 teams qualified for team sprint take 18 places. Then they dish out individual spots and Europe is given 5

She's the 5th highest European cyclist from a nation not already qualified

At least that was the case last week. Should be confirmed tomorrow

Dodge

While I'm waiting on the equestrian and cycling places to be confirmed (and again I think we'll add 3 between them), Bryan Keane had a great result in the triathlon. It moves him up in the world rankings and he's just about into the last available spot now

Dodge

Current Irish team - 58

Athletics - team of 17

Tom Barr - 400m hurdles
Mark English - 800m
Ciara Everard - 800m
Ciara Mageen - 1,500m
Sara Treacy - 3,000m steeplechase
Michelle Finn - 3,000m steeplechase
Kerry O'Flaherty - 3,000m steeplechase

Tori Pena - Pole vault

Alex Wright - 20k walk
Rob Heffernan - 50k walk
Brendan Boyce - 50k walk

3 of these women - marathon
Breege Connolly^
Lizzie Lee^
Fionnuala Britton^
Gladys Ganiel^
Barbara Sanchez^

3 of these men - marathon
Segiu Ciobanu*
Kevin Seaward*
Paul Pollock*
Mick Clohissey*


Boxing - team of 4
Paddy Barnes - 49kg light fly
Michael Conlon - 56kg bantam
Steven Donnelly - 69kg welter
Joe Ward - 81kg Light heavy

Equestrian - team of 6
Team (inc 4 individuals) - 3 day eventing
Bertram Allen - Show jumping
Judy Reynolds - Dressage

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 2
Fiona Doyle - 100m breast (also has QT in 200m breast)
Shane Ryan - 100n back (also has QT in 3 other events)

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

Cycling - team of 3
2 quota places - men's road race
Shannon McCurley - women's kierin (track)

Diving - team of 1
Oliver Dingley - 3m springboard
---

Currently in ranking positions for Rio
Athletics
Ben Reynolds - 110m hurdles
Kelly Proper - 200m
Team of 6 - Men's 4x400m relay

Badminton
Scott Evans - Men's Singles

Triathlon
Aileen Reid - Women's race
Bryan Keane - men's race

Modern Pentathlon
Natalya Coyle - Women's race

Golf
Rory McIlroy - men's
Shane Lowry - men's
Stephanie Meadow - women's
Leona Maguire - women's

Of those we're almost guaranteed 6 spots (4 in golf, 1 in triathlon, 1 in badminton)

[pending confirmation today/tomorrow]

Dodge

Shannon McCurley is confirmed in track cycling. She finished in 28th place in the Olympic rankings which made her the 4th highest European qualifier (from nations that didn't qualify sprint teams)

Dodge

Bertram Allen confirmed. Denis Lynch just misses out. He's the highest ranked non qualifier.

http://fei.org/system/files/S_rankings_OG_2016_final%20-%20Qualified.pdf

Cosmo Kramer

We're really not having much luck with the showjumpers this time around. Is there a reserve list that lynch would be at the top of or any other hope for him?

Stheno

Dodge wrote: »

Current Irish team - 58

Boxing - team of 4
Paddy Barnes - 49kg light fly
Michael Conlon - 56kg bantam
Steven Donnelly - 69kg welter
Joe Ward - 81kg Light heavy

Has Katie Taylor not qualified?

The Lost Sheep

Stheno wrote: »

Has Katie Taylor not qualified?

Not yet. Qualification is based on World Championships which are not for a few months and then the continental qualifiers.

Dodge

The Lost Sheep wrote: »

Not yet. Qualification is based on World Championships which are not for a few months and then the continental qualifiers.

Continental qualifiers are first (as they pushed the world's back by 3 months!). April 7-17

Lynch is first reserve in show jumping

Dodge

Next up is Sailing qualifiers at the Princess Sofia regatta. They end on April 2nd

Only real chance for Ireland is the 49er fx crew. They just missed out at the 2015 worlds (when we thought they secured the place but lost due to a late protest...)

Ireland must be the top European from non-qualified nations. We're likely to face opposition from Finland, Austria, Croatia, Estonia and Russia (all of whom we finished ahead of in the 2015 worlds)

Dodge

http://www.sportswomen.ie/ellis-oreilly-makes-history-being-named-for-the-rio-test-event/

Kieran Behan and Ellis O'Reilly officially named as the Irish participants for the Rio test event in Gymnastics.

Effectively Behan will need to finish top 18 and O'Reilly in the top 24 but it's pretty confusing. We'll know more closer to the dates

Dodge

Alex Wright had already qualified in the 20k, now adds the 50k to his Rio schedule

https://twitter.com/irishathletics/status/711178352024023040

Dodge

Later in the day at the same event, Rob Heffernan walked the 20k and achieved the qualifying standard there too

So far in the walks we have

20k
Alex Wright
Rob Heffernan

50k
Rob Heffernan
Alex Wright
Brendan Boyce

All 3 in the 50k ranked in top 25

Dodge

Current Irish team - 58

Athletics - team of 17

Tom Barr - 400m hurdles
Mark English - 800m
Ciara Everard - 800m
Ciara Mageen - 1,500m
Sara Treacy - 3,000m steeplechase
Michelle Finn - 3,000m steeplechase
Kerry O'Flaherty - 3,000m steeplechase

Tori Pena - Pole vault

Alex Wright - 20k walk, 50k walk
Rob Heffernan - 20k walk, 50k walk
Brendan Boyce - 50k walk

3 of these women - marathon
Lizzie Lee^
Fionnuala McCormack^
Breege Connolly^
Gladys Ganiel^
Barbara Sanchez^

3 of these men - marathon
Segiu Ciobanu*
Kevin Seaward*
Mick Clohissey*
Paul Pollock*
Gary Thornton*
Thomas Frazer*
Sean Hehir*



Boxing - team of 4
Paddy Barnes - 49kg light fly
Michael Conlon - 56kg bantam
Steven Donnelly - 69kg welter
Joe Ward - 81kg Light heavy

Equestrian - team of 6
Team (inc 4 individuals) - 3 day eventing
Bertram Allen - Show jumping
Judy Reynolds - Dressage

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 2
Fiona Doyle - 100m breast (also has QT in 200m breast)
Shane Ryan - 100n back (also has QT in 3 other events)

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

Cycling - team of 3
2 quota places - men's road race
Shannon McCurley - women's kierin (track)

Diving - team of 1
Oliver Dingley - 3m springboard
---

Currently in ranking positions for Rio
Athletics
Ben Reynolds - 110m hurdles
Kelly Proper - 200m
Team of 6 - Men's 4x400m relay

Badminton
Scott Evans - Men's Singles

Triathlon
Aileen Reid - Women's race
Bryan Keane - men's race

Modern Pentathlon
Natalya Coyle - Women's race

Golf
Rory McIlroy - men's
Shane Lowry - men's
Stephanie Meadow - women's
Leona Maguire - women's

Of those we're almost guaranteed 6 spots (4 in golf, 1 in triathlon, 1 in badminton)

-

Next up, final Sailing qualifying regatta. Irish boats must be the top non-qualified European boat

Dodge

http://www.tas-cas.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Media_Release_announce_decision.pdf

WADA's appeal on Sergey Kirdyapkin's ban upheld by CAS so he loses all results from 2009 to end 2012

It means Ireland and Rob Heffernan earn bronze for the 50k walk in 2012

London becomes our best ever Olympics with 1 gold, 1 silver and 4 bronze

feargale

Dodge wrote: »

http://www.tas-cas.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Media_Release_announce_decision.pdf

WADA's appeal on Sergey Kirdyapkin's ban upheld by CAS so he loses all results from 2009 to end 2012

It means Ireland and Rob Heffernan earn bronze for the 50k walk in 2012

London becomes our best ever Olympics with 1 gold, 1 silver and 4 bronze

There should be a medal award ceremony in Rio for Rob and others similarly affected.

Dodge

http://49er.org/blog/2016/03/24/belgium-catches-silver-lining-share-luck-of-irish-2/

Team Ireland is up to 60! The 49erFX team of Brewster and Todey qualify as no African boats are attempting to qualify through the Princess Sofia Regatta so that spot is re-allocated to the next best performer in the worlds; ie ireland.

In the 49erFX, it’s fantastic news for the Irish crew, just after St. Patrick’s Day. Andrea Brewster and Saskia Tidey have been some of the hardest workers on circuit since the 49erFX became an Olympic boat and missed previous qualification in Buenos Aires by happen-stance and the smallest of margins. The duo sat in the third country spot after racing on the final day of the 2015 World Championship but lost a protest from a boat on boat incident against the Canadians, also vying for Olympic selection, pushing them down to 5th country. From elation to heartbreak, made worse by how close the standings were and jumping down to 5th, leaving Norway to grab the 4th spot already when no further teams from Oceania pursued the 49erFX.

Skid X

Not strictly Olympic related but as a consequence of another Drug Ban Ruling, Olive Loughnane was award World Championship Gold (upgraded from Silver) for the 2009 World Championships 20K Walk.

Dodge

Current Irish team - 60

Athletics - team of 17

Tom Barr - 400m hurdles
Mark English - 800m
Ciara Everard - 800m
Ciara Mageen - 1,500m
Sara Treacy - 3,000m steeplechase
Michelle Finn - 3,000m steeplechase
Kerry O'Flaherty - 3,000m steeplechase

Tori Pena - Pole vault

Alex Wright - 20k walk, 50k walk
Rob Heffernan - 20k walk, 50k walk
Brendan Boyce - 50k walk

3 of these women - marathon
Lizzie Lee^
Fionnuala McCormack^
Breege Connolly^
Gladys Ganiel^
Barbara Sanchez^

3 of these men - marathon
Segiu Ciobanu*
Kevin Seaward*
Mick Clohissey*
Paul Pollock*
Gary Thornton*
Thomas Frazer*
Sean Hehir*



Boxing - team of 4
Paddy Barnes - 49kg light fly
Michael Conlon - 56kg bantam
Steven Donnelly - 69kg welter
Joe Ward - 81kg Light heavy

Equestrian - team of 6
Team (inc 4 individuals) - 3 day eventing
Bertram Allen - Show jumping
Judy Reynolds - Dressage

Sailing - team of 6
Annalise Murphy - Laser radial
James Espey - laser dinghy
Ryan Seaton/Matt McGovern - 49er
Saskia Tidey/Andrea Brewster - 49erFX

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 2
Fiona Doyle - 100m breast (also has QT in 200m breast)
Shane Ryan - 100n back (also has QT in 3 other events)

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

Cycling - team of 3
2 quota places - men's road race
Shannon McCurley - women's kierin (track)

Diving - team of 1
Oliver Dingley - 3m springboard
---

Currently in ranking positions for Rio
Athletics
Ben Reynolds - 110m hurdles
Kelly Proper - 200m
Team of 6 - Men's 4x400m relay

Badminton
Scott Evans - Men's Singles

Triathlon
Aileen Reid - Women's race
Bryan Keane - men's race

Modern Pentathlon
Natalya Coyle - Women's race

Golf
Rory McIlroy - men's
Shane Lowry - men's
Stephanie Meadow - women's
Leona Maguire - women's

Of those we're almost guaranteed 6 spots (4 in golf, 1 in triathlon, 1 in badminton)

-

Next up is boxing qualifiers!

flynng

Do we have other boats/crews in Palma for the Princess Sophia Regatta trying to qualify or was the 49erFX crew the only Irish representatives trying to use this qualifier to get to Rio?

flynng

Do we have other boats/crews in Palma for the Princess Sophia Regatta trying to qualify or was the 49erFX crew the only Irish representatives trying to use this qualifier to get to Rio?

Dodge

No, we only had 4 boats attempt to qualify and all 4 have

(Technically we had a few in the single sailor events but we qualified in every event we attempted to)

Dodge

She's already qualified but Judy Reynolds finished 8th in the final of the dressage World Cup today. A stunning achievement

Dodge

Our entrants into the Olympic qualifiers in boxing in 10 days time have been announced. Men must finish in top 3 (ie finals or win the box off between losing semi finalists).
Women must finish in top 2 (ie reach final)

Men
52kg - Fly - Brendan Irvine
60kg - Light - David Oliver Joyce
64kg - Light Welter - Dean Walshe
75kg - Middle - Michael O'Reilly
91kg - Heavy - Darren O'Neill
91+kg - Super heavy - Dean Gardiner

Women
51kg - Ceire Smith
60kg - Katie Taylor
75kg - Christina Desmond

Dodge

Chances of qualifying

Men
52kg Brendan Irvine
Only 19 this will be his first major tournament at the weight. He won silver at 2015 Euro Games at 49kg (Paddy Barnes weight). He had 2 wins at 2015 worlds before losing to the eventual gold medalist from Cuba in the QF.
Already qualified; Russia, Azerbaijan
Biggest threats; Ukraine, Poland, Bulgaria

60kg David Oliver Joyce
Unlucky not to qualify from the 2015 APB tournament he hasn't really fought for Ireland in a while. Nearly qualified for 2012 but lost to eventual medalist from Lithuania.
Already qualified; Russia, Azerbaijan
Biggest threats; Britain, France, Italy

64kg Dean Walshe
European Championship bronze from last year. He lost in 1st round of worlds later in the year.
Already qualified; Germany, Russia
Biggest threats; Armenia, GB, Azerbaijan

75kg Michael O'Reilly
European games gold and World bronze. He (wrongly) lost a box off for last olympic spot. Will be seeded for this
Already qualified; Poland, Turkey, Russia
Biggest threats; Georgia, Italy, Azerbaijan

91kg Darren O'Neill
2012 Olympian at middleweight (former European medalist too). He hasn't had too much success at heavyweight.
Already qualified; Italy, Germany, Russia
Biggest threats; Azerbaijan, UKraine, Poland

91+kg Dean Gardiner
Only boxer entered without a senior international medal to his name. his job will be hardest
Already qualified; Croatia, Germany, Romania, France
Biggest threats; Russia, GB, Bulgaria

Dodge

On the women's side, Ceire Smith was a late injury replacement for Michaela Walshe (Commonwelath silver medalist). She's done OK in tournaments in the past. Christina Desmond has won medals at world junior level but this is her first entry into the adult competitions. She beat Claire grace (who won a European bronze) in the Irish title fight

J0E_90

Dodge wrote: »

Chances of qualifying

Men
52kg Brendan Irvine
Only 19 this will be his first major tournament at the weight. He won silver at 2015 Euro Games at 49kg (Paddy Barnes weight). He had 2 wins at 2015 worlds before losing to the eventual gold medalist from Cuba in the QF.
Already qualified; Russia, Azerbaijan
Biggest threats; Ukraine, Poland, Bulgaria

60kg David Oliver Joyce
Unlucky not to qualify from the 2015 APB tournament he hasn't really fought for Ireland in a while. Nearly qualified for 2012 but lost to eventual medalist from Lithuania.
Already qualified; Russia, Azerbaijan
Biggest threats; Britain, France, Italy

64kg Dean Walshe
European Championship bronze from last year. He lost in 1st round of worlds later in the year.
Already qualified; Germany, Russia
Biggest threats; Armenia, GB, Azerbaijan

75kg Michael O'Reilly
European games gold and World bronze. He (wrongly) lost a box off for last olympic spot. Will be seeded for this
Already qualified; Poland, Turkey, Russia
Biggest threats; Georgia, Italy, Azerbaijan

91kg Darren O'Neill
2012 Olympian at middleweight (former European medalist too). He hasn't had too much success at heavyweight.
Already qualified; Italy, Germany, Russia
Biggest threats; Azerbaijan, UKraine, Poland

91+kg Dean Gardiner
Only boxer entered without a senior international medal to his name. his job will be hardest
Already qualified; Croatia, Germany, Romania, France
Biggest threats; Russia, GB, Bulgaria

French boxer at middleweight is a big threat, beat O'Reilly a couple of weeks ago.

Really hope Joyce qualifies. Back in 2008, under the old scoring system, he was 10 seconds away from making it to Beijing but was inexplicably given a 2pt deduction and lost the bout by a point.

Dodge

Paul Pollock is down for the London marathon. At the moment he's the 4th fastest Irish qualifier but pretty much every one thinks he's our best chance of a decent finish in Rio.

Current times
Kevin Seaward 2:14:52
Mick Clohissey 2:15:11
Sergiu Ciobanu 2:15:14
Pollock 2:15:38

Gary Thornton, Thomas Frazier and Sean Hehir also have the time

Dodge

In Sailing, it's good that the 49er FX crew have qualified because they wouldn't have done so through the Princess Sofia regatta.

The 49er crew of Seaton & mcGovern showed again they're a medal contender as they currently lie in 1st place after 12 races. They lead by 10 (which is huge in sailing)

Dodge

They've won. That's hugely encouraging ahead of Rio

https://twitter.com/isa_performance/status/715957354353831936

Dodge

https://twitter.com/irishathletics/status/716182092980289536

Fionnuala already had the marathon standard so we won't count her as an extra qualifier yet

Mary Cullen just missed out on the 5000m time. Hopefully she gets it soon

Dodge

In badminton, Chloe Magee has just moved into a qualifying spot in the rankings. She's in 36th which is the last European spot.

http://bwfcontent.tournamentsoftware.com/ranking/category.aspx?id=10950&category=2153&p=3&ps=25

Scott Evans looks safe in the mens

Dodge

The boxing starts this weekend. AIBA haven't released the start lists but they have given the numbers per weight category. In our divisions;

52kg - 18
60kg - 26
64kg - 24
75kg - 32
91kg - 24
91+kg - 19

Women
51kg - 21
60kg - 22
75kg - 16

Dodge

https://twitter.com/swimireland/status/718532667076120577

He was 0.38 off the Olympic qualifying standard. He goes in the 200m on Sunday

Dodge

Boxing draw this morning. Taylor, Michael O'Reilly and Brendan Irvine are all top seeds. David Oliver Joyce is third seed

Only Dean Walshe and Dean Gardiner didn't receive byes in the first round

Dodge

Walsh and Gardiner both won today. They'll face Azerbaijani opponents on Monday (seeded 1 & 3 respectively). No Irish in action tomorrow

Dodge

https://twitter.com/seidodge/status/719248855217389568

The standard was 2:11:66!

Brilliant swim and he becomes the 3rd swimmer to qualify

locteau

So happy for him, coached him in Castlebar with his brother and sister for 6 years and Marian English and crew did a really good job after that, going to University with another great coach Chris Jones (not the same than yoyu might think).

His family were very supportive, never pushy, he is certainly the nicest guy you will meet at that level, very humble...... a family thing from what I know :-)

knockcon

Any word from the boxing? Are our lads/ladies on in the afternoon or evening?

knockcon

The two female boxers in action had good wins this afternoon. 51kg Ceire Smith (Ireland) beat Virginia Barankas (Hungary) 3-0
75kg Christina Desmond (Ireland) beat Nouchka Fontijan (Netherlands) 3-0

Desmond knocked out the top seed. Men and Katie Taylor in action this evening.

The_Kew_Tour

http://m.rte.ie/sport/boxing/2016/0411/781018-boxing/

Bit more on it here