Olympic Games Paris 2024 - AH Thread [Thread banned posters listed in first post.]

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122494954#Comment_122494954

It takes a lot longer than 4 years to "focus" on something.

wazzzledazzle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122495070#Comment_122495070

LOL, Veg & Spuds. I could picture it now in your Tipp accent asking for a plate of Cabbage and new potatoes in some hipster cafe in Dublin City Centre

😂

No disrepect or anything chief, i'm fond of it myself the occasional Sunday

Badly Drunk Boy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122494954#Comment_122494954

I won two golds for the discus in Secondary School sports days. Actually, I think 2028 will be the 40th anniversary of my second gold, so maybe I should be training to see in I can bring back the glory!! 💿️ 😂

Jack Daw

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122495046#Comment_122495046

Basketball and soccer are on most of the year if you want to watch them.

The vast majority of people during the Olympics enjoy watching sports they normally wouldn't watch most of the year.

cheese sandwich

I’m a bit bereft today without the Olympics. Hopefully RTE will give more coverage to athletics over the next few years with the improved performance of our athletes. Back in the 90s they broadcast the diamond series or wherever it was called then. I think there would be an audience for that again

Sigma101

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122494994#Comment_122494994

What would be the point though? Maximum medals for a sport that almost nobody is interested in and that has no tradition in Ireland. If winning medals is for the public good then it's better to have them spread across sports that people might actually play.

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122495189#Comment_122495189

Aye, it's not like we're even competing for bragging rights at the very top of the medals table, or there's major prize money for winning golds that can be re-invested (e.g. like winning premier league).

Morris Garren

The single biggest stumbling block to greater Olympic success in Ireland is undoubtedly the existence of the GAA. That's not going away any time soon. Browbeating young boys and girls into football, hurling and camoige and banning them from other playing sports, even banning them from switching from their club, (I've seen this happen umpteen times over the years) only narrows the pool of potential sporting talent. Granted that there are probably plenty lads from say, Kilkenny, for example for whom winning the 'All-Ireland' is the pinnacle of their sheltered lives, but how many talented athletes are by-passed and neglected along the way? We must therefore accept that as long as this remains a reality-- and also as long as RTE keeps giving Olympic sport coverage to people like Marty Morrissey, Joanne Cantwell and Jacqui Hurley-- the old GAA 'national sport' palaver will continue. Hurling aficionados are the worst of all to listen to as they never stop shouting that it's the 'greatest game on earth.' Well how come the overwhelming number of countries neither play it, nor have even heard of it? Big fish small pond syndrome

Badly Drunk Boy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122495188#Comment_122495188

Virgin Media already had stuff planned.

https://www.athleticsireland.ie/virgin-media-television-announces-major-expansion-of-live-athletics-coverage/

16x events in Wanda Diamond League – 20th April – 14th September

wazzzledazzle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122495226#Comment_122495226

Tell us what you really think Morris.

I hate the GAA as much as the next sane person, but i'm not sure the GAA clubs are banging people doors down and forcing people to sign. It's engrained in most communities across the country.

We don't have a lot of other facilities to entice people in to. There is a GAA pitch in every parish across the country.

Hurling, greatest game on earth? Don't start me on that bollox. Stick fighting is all it is

Ceepo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122495066#Comment_122495066

Not saying we shouldn't be looking at ’32, but we as a nation have being saying the same thing after every Olympics.

Surely the plans for 28 have been put in pace years ago?

Lots of talk again yesterday and today about future investment etc and of course it's to be welcomed, but it's more or less the same conversation after every Olympics.

Its great to hear the budget is increasing, and more money for capital projects. But there's a lot more to success than money.

Aot of people on this thread have spoken about things that should be happening at grassroots, and id agree. The biggest issue that has been spoken about in my circle, is the lack of volunteer's. Without volunteer's willing to help out at underage levels, coach's at training sessions are only proxy babysitters. I know some sports have a reasonable good coach education program (certainly not without it flaws), but all these programs are pretty useless if people aren't willing to help out. It might seem the be only a small thing, but it's were grassroots start.

A few posters have also pointed out that a better talent ID system should be put in placee.and some NGB are very proactive it putting these in place. And yes, on the face of it talent ID is a great thing. But again it's not without its drawbacks. It can place a lot of pressure on young individuals to live a lifestyle so they can meet the expectations placed on them. It also needs to be remembered that early specializing usually has more chances of young people leaving the sport than it does of producing champions.

Another thing to point out ,is that Al lot of work DOES actually happen behind the scenes. I was involved as a coach for a few years with a national junior academy, which was a feed to the high performance squad. Unfortunately this more or less fell away after a new CEO came in.

TLTR, loads being done, loads could be done better.

wazzzledazzle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122495237#Comment_122495237

Yes, VIRGIN have been showing them all year. EUROSPORT also shows them along with BBC (IPLAYER a lot of times)

Hold My Hand

I’d love an Olympics for oldies. I’d watch that

thebronze14

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122495046#Comment_122495046

Tbf I have little interest in professional sports like that that are shown year round anyway. It's the random ones I want to see that we never get to see!

10000maniacs

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122495255#Comment_122495255

Eamon Coughlin would still come fourth in that one.

randd1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122495226#Comment_122495226

Or…

Irish people being proud of native Irish sports that are rooted in their community, and want to play them and love watching them?

We could play basketball somewhere in the county, or we could train or play hurling matches with all our pals just down the road.

We could try gymnastics at a cost of €300-€500 a year, if there was more than one gymnasium within 30 miles, or we could play gaelic football by picking up a ball.

Or…

Gaelic games also capture the imagination of people but does so all year round, and not just once for a fortnight every four years, so people pursue it.

Just maybe.

Personally, I'd say the biggest stumbling block for sustained Olympic success is a total lack of facilities overall, lack of engagement with local communities, disorganisation between various clubs within sports, complete lack of engagement in primary schools sowing the seeds for future interest, poor promotion outside the few weeks of the Olympic games, and a sneery attitude towards sports like gaelic games instead of linking up with them, like the way the US athletics does with their native sports, to encourage those that don't reach the highest level into athletics to avail of their natural fitness and body of fitness already developed.

But that would be just me.

Jack Daw

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122495226#Comment_122495226

Yes how dare an orgnisation provide sports for people all over the country.

This nonsense happens every 4 years if we win an Olympic medal, lets forget about GAA and throw everything at winning one more Olympic medal just so a few people who have vert little interest in sport in general can enjoy 2 weeks every 4 years.

It's the real small man syndrome of how we can only feel good about something in this country if it makes us look good in front of a bunch of foreigners.

Most GAA players play GAA because they like doing it, they aren't being forced into it or prevented from participating in Olympic sports.Sport is supposed to exist for fun and enjoyment not for proving how great we are as a country because we happen to win a few medals.

Morris Garren

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122495242#Comment_122495242

Let the GAA manage its own affairs and let such communities thrive as they should. But any future government investment in sports infrastructure should mostly be for multi-sport venues embedded in communities i.e. the promised Velodrome is also home to badminton etc. Sounds like a good way forward. Same with community pitches, fields etc, make them multi-sport if at all possible. The sacred status of GAA needs to evolve away from a parochial exclusionist mindset I think as the more exposed kids are to various options the more likely they are to find their niche or untapped ability

Strazdas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122495052#Comment_122495052

I believe Rhasidat flew straight back to the US after the Games ended. She does tend to do her own thing : she didn't return to Dublin either after the successful European Championships.

The_Kew_Tour

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122495243#Comment_122495243

Fair points Ceepo.

I would be more of the approach of letting kids try different sports and let them see what they enjoy.

If they want go further they can decide. Lot do as they want be successful.

I think we need give kids more choice and better opportunities if Plan A does not work.

orangerhyme

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122495052#Comment_122495052

I was there and met most of the athletes backstage (kind of, I was talking to them through a fence).

Rhasidat has some competition come up so wasn't there. Paul O'Donovan wasn't there, I presume he's in Cork.

The rest of them are as lovely as you imagine.

Fintan McCarthy passed his medals through the fence to some young fellas to take selfies. They could've easily ran off with them.

The other 400m girls spent a few minutes chatting and talking selfies and are as beautiful in real life.

Rhys seems very sound. Daina is tiny. Kellie was really sound.

Daniel Wiffen was the only one who didn't come over but maybe he was sick.

The rower Phillip Doyle is a big unit but very lean.

orangerhyme

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122494656#Comment_122494656

I like Derval despite her resting bitch face

10000maniacs

I see Finland has failed to get a medal of any description in 2024 for the first time in their history.

This is what happens when a country doesn't put decent support behind the athletes.

eagle eye

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122494934#Comment_122494934

I watched it live and the commentators said he offered the tie.

eagle eye

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122494349#Comment_122494349

You'll find nobody worse than me for wanting to win but you are a winner getting an Olympic gold medal. If you go through the battle to be the sole winner you aren't getting anything extra. All you are doing is potentially stopping somebody else from getting one. As it turned out he ended up not getting one and I'd imagine he was sick he didn't take the deal.

tawfeeredux

I didn't see anything to suggest a shared gold was offered by either jumper. The rte commentator seemed to assume that Kerr made an offer but there was no chat between the two like there was between Tamberi and Barsheem in Tokyo. Washington Post reporting Kerr wanted jump off; https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/2024/08/10/hamish-kerr-shelby-mcewen-high-jump-paris-olympics/