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

4x400 women’s relay will live in the memory. Great games, detox is gonna be hard.

Uzbekis are known to bribe boxing judges.

Does anyone know why Jamaica did so poorly?

Was it just a blip or was the Bolt's generation a golden one?

Or have the testers caught up with them?

Or is it a multitude of factors?

I didn't watch every fight but I watched all SF and Finals, none of their medalist were the recipients of a lucky decision. They all deserved to win their fights.

1500 Men's Final for me was the highlight of the games from an excitement point of view but I don't think I'll ever forget the reaction of the Italian girl when she won the Gymnastics Beam. Don't think I've ever been as happy for someone I'd never heard of before!! Outside of that, the men's mountain bike race was fantastic. As was Alfred's win in the 100m and the men's 10,000m race was also brilliant. The mixed triathlon relay was truly gripping from start to finish and Keely Hodgkinson's win was amazing. Watching Olympics since '88 and I have enjoyed this year's more than any other. What a magic 2 weeks. If the Irish girls had managed a bronze last night it would have been the icing on the cake.

Paris for atmosphere and intensity was one best games ever

Funding LOI academies is a no brainer for me.

We should study other countries like NZ, Australia, GB and see what works for us.

I still think grassroots and schools are the key but high performance is important also.

If you view it as a pyramid, the base of the pyramid is local clubs and primary schools and the tip of the pyramid is the Olympics. Without a strong base, you've nothing.

It probably needs a root and branch review of everything such as PE in primary school, drop out rates in teen years, encouraging adults back into sport, coaching coaches, paying full time coaches and games development officers etc...

The French taking the podium in the men's BMX race and Benjamin Thomas winning the Omnium were my non Irish highlights. The atmosphere for both was just insane. The crowds outside the Sacre Coeur deserve a mention too.

Off the top of my head I can't remember witnessing any really historic moments.

Its about time the penny dropped with some politicians that investment=performances=feel good factor=pride=happier populace=votes.

There is no downside to shovelling huge money into sport.

But a little bit of that money should ensure that P.E. is available to all schools, up to Leaving Cert, twice a week before Junior Cert, and that all schools have a group insurance to protect all kids running and jumping in every setting.

Then that every town above above 5,000 people has a 25 metre public pool, that every town over 10,000 has a public running track and indoor and outdoor multisport venue, prioritised for schools and community sports clubs. And eventually that every town over 50,000 has a 50 metre pool, outdoor and indoor tracks and velodrome, and upper end multisports complexes of the kind only seen in the cities and universities thus far.

In Olympic disciplines, our lodestar should be New Zealand.

Their 5.1 million population to our 7.2 million just produced 10 Golds, 7 Silvers and 3 Bronzes. An almost unbelievable return.

And I don't want to hear the GAA argument, the Kiwis play Rugby Union and Cricket to every bit as much a cult level as we play GAA sports.

This might interest some of ye. Nothing too shocking but it breaks down some of the differences between the haves and the have nots.

More likely Ff/FG/Greens looking at the US/China stats and using the gold per capita to import 1.5 billion people

That'll shift us up the medal table.

Spot on.

Larbre for Sports Minister!

It's not just GAA though. We play soccer in huge numbers and have a significant number playing rugby. Much like with the church and schools/hospitals it was too easy for previous governments to let them do all the work.

We have been a wealthy country for 30 years now though so old excuses don't hold up anymore and I think people want to see infrastructure to match this sustained wealth.

Agree with some of this but it's a bit over the top regarding facilities.

We don't need that many 50m pools.

Probably one per city would be loads.

I agree about multi sport facilities though.

For example Louth GAA are building a new stadium in Dundalk. They couldn't share with the LOI team!?

Facilities are expensive so we should use them as much as possible. Do Limerick and Galway really need 3 stadiums for 3 different sports? They're empty most of the time.

I still think the key is grassroots, local clubs, primary schools.

I think Adeleke was in school sports and beat all the boys and then was encouraged to join an athletics club aged 11. (I'm open to correction on this).

I bet there's loads of talent out there slipping through the net.

We do have certain advantages like a youngish growing population and also a decent sized immigrant population.

We do have decent sports infrastructure already and good spread of clubs and whatnot also. So it's not like we're starting from scratch but more like we need to get more professional and organized.

GAA and Soccer are definitely not an excuse but definitely they scoop up all the kids and often people don't have time for any other sports, so it does impact it negatively in that way. Basketball and rugby do also but to less of an extent.

I played GAA, soccer and basketball so I wasn't going to do any other sports than those but I guess if I felt I had actual talent in something, I might've switched.

I think John Delaney set Irish soccer back decades.