Road to Tokyo 2020 - Irish Olympic News

Dodge

McClenaghan is officially qualified for Tokyo. He’s one of 9 finalists for the pommel but 7 of them are part of qualifying nations so he qualifies

Great news

metaoblivia

Dodge wrote: »

McClenaghan is officially qualified for Tokyo. He’s one of 9 finalists for the pommel but 7 of them are part of qualifying nations so he qualifies

Great news

He also became the first Irish gymnast to ever qualify for a finals at the world championships and is currently ranked 2nd, just a hair behind British gymnast (and reigning Olympic champ) Max Whitlock.

Whitlock did a routine with 8 tenths more difficulty than Rhys, but Rhys almost made that entire gap up with his superior execution. And Rhys can do a harder routine than what he showed in qualifying. If he performs well, Ireland could be looking at it's first ever medal at a world championships.

Dodge

metaoblivia wrote: »

Dodge wrote: »

McClenaghan is officially qualified for Tokyo. He’s one of 9 finalists for the pommel but 7 of them are part of qualifying nations so he qualifies

Great news

He also became the first Irish gymnast to ever qualify for a finals at the world championships and is currently ranked 2nd, just a hair behind British gymnast (and reigning Olympic champ) Max Whitlock.

Whitlock did a routine with 8 tenths more difficulty than Rhys, but Rhys almost made that entire gap up with his superior execution. And Rhys can do a harder routine than what he showed in qualifying. If he performs well, Ireland could be looking at it's first ever medal at a world championships.

I love his attitude in interviews. Everything he mentions is about ‘going for gold’. Not going out to ‘do well’ or ‘win a medal’ but to win gold

Pommel is so hard that anything can happen but I just love how confident he appears and how much he wants to win

metaoblivia

Dodge wrote: »

I love his attitude in interviews. Everything he mentions is about ‘going for gold’. Not going out to ‘do well’ or ‘win a medal’ but to win gold

Pommel is so hard that anything can happen but I just love how confident he appears and how much he wants to win

He's not afraid of the grind and he's not afraid to want it all. Whitlock is great, but his execution and technique have always been a bit lacking. Rhys puts just as much emphasis on execution and technique as he does difficulty. He's even sought out training opportunities with some of the best pommel technicians in the world. It'll pay off one day in a big way.

Oldira

metaoblivia wrote: »

Women's qualifying is officially over and it looks like Meg Ryan will be the first alternate on the Olympic qualifying list. That means that right now, Ireland will not have a women's gymnastics representative in Tokyo, BUT if any of the individuals who qualified ahead of Meg get injured or their federations decide they won't compete for whatever reason, Meg gets the spot.

What do you think her chances are of getting a spot? Luckily the quota is awarded to the gymnast rather than the NOC so there is a chance. However there are no Dutch or New Zealand ahead of her and they tend to only select potential top 8 performers in their teams. She will be relying on injuries.

So darn close too just .3 of a mark. And she fell on the beam. Pity.

metaoblivia

Oldira wrote: »

What do you think her chances are of getting a spot? Luckily the quota is awarded to the gymnast rather than the NOC so there is a chance. However there are no Dutch or New Zealand ahead of her and they tend to only select potential top 8 performers in their teams. She will be relying on injuries.

So darn close too just .3 of a mark. And she fell on the beam. Pity.

50/50. She basically has to rely on someone getting injured or foregoing their spot for some reason. Injury is fairly common, but the alternate for Rio didn't get called up, so it's not certain.

She was so close, and Emma finished literally right behind her by 1 tenth (if Emma had only fallen once on beam, she would have qualified). The silver lining is, Ireland's never had one, let alone two, homegrown talents come so close to qualifying (Ellis O'Reilly lived and trained in England and only competed for Ireland after she failed to make the British team). The future is bright.

Skid X

Bronze for Rhys McClenaghan , only 0.1 behind Max Whitlock who won Gold.

Great to see an Irish Gymnast on the podium and on another day he could have won, serious talent.

metaoblivia

Skid X wrote: »

Bronze for Rhys McClenaghan , only 0.1 behind Max Whitlock who won Gold.

Great to see an Irish Gymnast on the podium and on another day he could have won, serious talent.

He and Lee Chih-Kai should have outscored Max, honestly. Every gymnastics fan I know is really upset about this final. Max does not extend his hips or point his toes on any element and he is not properly deducted. Yet, he got an 8.5 in execution and Rhys, who has beautiful extension and toe point, only got a 9.0 in comparison. It's not enough differentiation in execution. The same is true for Lee Chih-Kai. He and Rhys should have been your gold and silver medalists full stop.

But, it's great history for gymnastics in Ireland, and that bronze medal is very beautiful.

Dodge

We have our 4th qualifier in Athletics as Fionnuala McCormack was 5th in the Chicago marathon in 02:26:47

Well under the qualifying time

Oldira

Yesterday was the closing of the Rankings list for Olympic qualification for the Cycling Road Races. Ireland have qualified 3 riders for the mens road, one of whom can also enter the Mens time trial.

Team Ireland now up to 29.

Chivito550

What's the full list of Olympic qualifiers from Ireland to date?

Flights booked to Tokyo this morning.

Dodge

Athletics

Ciara Mageean (1,500m)
Alex Wright (20k walk)
Brendan Boyce (50k walk)
Fionnuala McCormack (marathon)

Canoeing - Slalom

boat (men's C1)

Robert Hendrick qualified the boat but himself and Liam Jegou are set to fight for it

Cycling - Road

Men's Road race (3 quotas)
Men's ITT (1 quota)

Equestrian

Eventing (team with 3 individuals)
Dressage(team with 3 individuals)
Show jumping (team and 3 individuals)


Gymnastics (artistic)

Rhys McClenaghan

Modern Pentathlon

Natalya Coyle

Rowing

w1x
w2-
m2x
lm2x

Sailing

Laser Radial

Aisling Kelleher won the quota but 4 are going for the boat including Annalise Murphy

Swimming

Darragh Greene (100m, 200m breast)
Shane Ryan (100m back)

Although these have the times, Swim Ireland has their own criteria so these may not be selected

Oldira

Our hockey team is playing Canada this weekend over two legs. Winner on aggregate qualifies for Tokyo. Canada wouuld be slight favourites based in World rankings but Ireland has changed its head coach in the past few weeks and the match is way over in Vancouver so it would be a great acheivement to qualify. Matches are on RTE Newsnow at 10pm on Saturday and 9pm Sunday.

Cosmo Kramer

In the Hockey is it fair to say that the women are favourites and will expect to qualify but the men's is a long shot really?

Strazdas

Cosmo Kramer wrote: »

In the Hockey is it fair to say that the women are favourites and will bbc expect to qualify but the men's is a long shot really?

I'm no hockey expert but the women's team are playing two legs at home against a team ranked about eight places below them and in front of an expected 7000 home fans. You would imagine they would be strongly favoured to get through.

The men's play off looks trickier.

Dodge

The women’s team aren’t *strongly* fancied. They’re slight favourite because they’re at home. The rankings aren’t up to much. Ireland are high because of the World Cup silver last year. Those games were tight with some big shoot out wins. I’m not saying they were lucky but the rankings got a huge boost there

In the qualifying tournament earlier this year Ireland lost to South Korea while Canada drew with Spain (before losing their final to the same team)

Canada have been based in Europe for months and effectively train as a club team. This is a tough tie for Ireland.

As for the men, they’ve been in poor form this year. They lost to France in the qualifier and finished last of 8 in the European championships. They do, however, welcome back the worlds best goalkeeper David Harte and they always have a chance with him in the nets. Canada will be slight favourites here too. A little bit of luck may be needed by Ireland

deuces wild

David not playing,injured.

Skid X

2-2 in the third quarter of the first leg of the Mens Hockey play off at the moment, live on RTE News Now

Skid X

Finished Canada 3 Ireland 5

Deserved win from what I saw, Ireland with the edge going into the second leg tomorrow.

Canada were strong on their penalty corners but Ireland had the better of open play.

highgiant1985

5-3 win in the first leg for Ireland. Not over yet but in a great position to qualify now if they can turn in a similar performance tomorrow night.

Strazdas

Skid X wrote: »

Finished Canada 3 Ireland 5

Deserved win from what I saw, Ireland with the edge going into the second leg tomorrow.

Canada were strong on their penalty corners but Ireland had the better of open play.

Ireland were ahead on all the stats, suggesting they were definitely the better side.

Still only halftime though and they haven't qualified for anything yet. It's a good position to be in though.

Joe_ Public

Not a huge hockey fan, but did enjoy that game immensely. Absorbing sport when you get into it and that was very entertaining match, real end to end stuff which you dont always get when theres so much at stake. Hopefully they can get job done tomorrow.

Strazdas

Second leg due to start in a few mins (RTE News Now).

Hopefully, Ireland can turn in another good performance and do enough to get through to Tokyo.

Strazdas

Ireland take the lead.......great start, they were already playing well before it

Skid X

This umpire loves the spotlight

Mr_Man2121

This is some right bs

Joe_ Public

Some drama. Dont know enough to know if thst was peno or not, but incident was definitely before whistle anyway.

Mr_Man2121

Joe_ Public wrote: »

Some drama. Dont know enough to know if thst was peno or not, but incident was definitely before whistle anyway.

Yeah I'm new to this, the only hockey I watch normally is ice hockey...

Strazdas

Joe_ Public wrote: »

Some drama. Dont know enough to know if thst was peno or not, but incident was definitely before whistle anyway.

Thierry Henry moment all over again....seems like the officials went out of their way to help Canada

Joe_ Public

Had the match won twice there! Thats a sickener, gutted for them. Commentator seemed to think there was no foul there whatsoever, very hard one to take.

Cosmo Kramer

A complete bottle job. Whatever about the decisions they blew a three goal lead in the game and a two goal lead in the shootout. Should never have been in that position. Desperate stuff.

Strazdas

Joe_ Public wrote: »

Had the match won twice there! Thats a sickener, gutted for them. Commentator seemed to think there was no foul there whatsoever, very hard one to take.

What I don't understand is how that foul could lead to a penalty stroke?? The attacker was nowhere near the goalmouth.....it's supposed to be only given when a "certain goal" is prevented (similar to a penalty try in rugby)

Joe_ Public

Strazdas wrote: »

What I don't understand is how that foul could lead to a penalty stroke?? The attacker was nowhere near the goalmouth.....it's supposed to be only given when a "certain goal" is prevented (similar to a penalty try in rugby)

Right. If thats the rule doesnt seem like correct decision to me, he was about to run ball over line in all likelihood. Dont understand it either quite frankly.

Strazdas

Joe_ Public wrote: »

Right. If thats the rule doesnt seem like correct decision to me, he was about to run ball over line in all likelihood. Dont understand it either quite frankly.

The umpire didn't even blow for a foul : the video guy overrules him and says it was the worst foul imaginable

Joe_ Public

Strazdas wrote: »

The umpire didn't even blow for a foul : the video guy overrules him and says it was the worst foul imaginable

I wouldnt have a clue tbh. Sarah Scott, i think her name was on commentary, was adamant there was no foul, said the canadian stepped on the defenders stick and fell. Whether thats correct i dont know, will be interested to hear some informed opinion on it.

Strazdas

Joe_ Public wrote: »

I wouldnt have a clue tbh. Sarah Scott, i think her name was on commentary, was adamant there was no foul, said the canadian stepped on the defenders stick and fell. Whether thats correct i dont know, will be interested to hear some informed opinion on it.

I made sure to read up on the relevant rule and it says a penalty stroke can only be awarded if a certain goal is prevented ie. the attacker is bearing down on goal, is just about to score and is illegally prevented from doing so (quite a rare event in hockey).

It's similar to the penalty try in rugby, where illegal play stops a certain try from being scored.

vektarman

I played and umpired hockey for many years, at worse that was a penalty corner at the end and not a penalty stroke, very harsh decision!

Cork Boy 53

So what is being claimed here? Officials favouring the home team? Happens in all sports and unfortunately the Ireland hockey team have been on the sharp end of it this time.

Strazdas

Cork Boy 53 wrote: »

So what is being claimed here? Officials favouring the home team? Happens in all sports and unfortunately the Ireland hockey team have been on the sharp end of it this time.

It's a very hard one to explain. You could understand the field umpire making an absolute howler, but for the video guy to do so and with the benefit of several replays. This wasn't a 50-50 decision, more like a 95-5 one (with him going for the 5 option).

Cork Boy 53

Strazdas wrote: »

It's a very hard one to explain. You could understand the field umpire making an absolute howler, but for the video guy to do so and with the benefit of several replays. This wasn't a 50-50 decision, more like a 95-5 one (with him going for the 5 option).

I`m not up to speed with all the rules and regulations of hockey. If this decision is regarded as highly questionable is there a post match appeal process available or is this the end of the matter?

Strazdas

Cork Boy 53 wrote: »

I`m not up to speed with all the rules and regulations of hockey. If this decision is highly questionable is there a post match appeal process available or is this the end of the matter?

I somehow doubt it.

It was a shocking decision though. It would be something like a ref in soccer asking the VAR guys whether he should award an indirect free kick for a minor infringement outside the box and the VAR people (wrongly) telling him to award a penalty.

Skid X

I'm not sure of his qualification route to Tokyo (seems to be based on rankings as at 01.01.20), but Jack Wooley seems to be making progress towards the Olympics


https://twitter.com/Irishtaekwondo/status/1190353502666723328

https://www.taekwondodata.com/jack-woolley.ai7b.html

Strazdas

A big weekend for the women's hockey team as they bid to become the first female Irish team of any description to compete in an Olympic Games.

Fingers crossed they can secure qualification......they won't be lacking for support anyway.

Joe_ Public

Not sure there'll be much issue with the watering system today. Huge crowd predicted at donnybrook this evening, the force is definitely with them at least!

Strazdas

Joe_ Public wrote: »

Not sure there'll be much issue with the watering system today. Huge crowd predicted at donnybrook this evening, the force is definitely with them at least!

The weather forecast is better for the finale tomorrow evening anyway!

It would be great if they can qualify......an Irish team competing in an Olympic Games with a fairly high profile among the public would be a pretty unique experience.

Joe_ Public

Strazdas wrote: »

The weather forecast is better for the finale tomorrow evening anyway!

It would be great if they can qualify......an Irish team competing in an Olympic Games with a fairly high profile among the public would be a pretty unique experience.

Yep and not to mention compensation for the thievery in canada last week!

Strazdas

Joe_ Public wrote: »

Yep and not to mention compensation for the thievery in canada last week!

It has to be a factor. I'd say the girls are saying to each other in private there's not a hope in hell they're going to let Canada come to Dublin and take away qualification, not after that fiasco last weekend

Strazdas

Definitely a full house at Donnybrook, the weather hasn't put anyone off.....impressive stuff

secondrowgal

Anyone have a link for someone trying to watch in Japan?

Strazdas

secondrowgal wrote: »

Anyone have a link for someone trying to watch in Japan?

Try this one:

https://www.bbc.com/sport/live/hockey/50145880