Irelands most likely Olympic 2012 Medals

JohnnyBananas · 16-02-2011 10:54am #1

Hi All,

What are peoples opinions on where Ireland is most likely to win a medal at the 2012 Olympics? My first thoughts would be boxing. I am also aware of an Irish female swimmer and a rowing team. Does anyone have an inkling for any other event?

All opinions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks In Advance for all responses.

KevinK · 19-02-2011 9:14am

Katie Taylor would have to be the big one.
Sure some of our make boxers will have a chance also, Paddy Barnes again maybe?

what about Eoin Rheinisch? came 4th in 08, how is he doing?

Whoever qualifies on the equistrian team should have a chance also, hopefully we cab challenge for a team medal also.

Maybe somebody like Nicholas Roche would have a chance in cycling road race, as this seems to be a sport that throws up suprises.

swim2 · 21-02-2011 1:03pm

Grainne Murphy should also get one in swimming. Will see how she does in the World championships this summer in China

Dan man · 11-03-2011 3:35am

Ireland has numerous medal prospects for the London 2012 Olympics, some of whom are genuine gold medal contenders. Here is a list of those who I believe are the most likely to deliver success:

Katie Taylor (Women's Lightweight Boxing) Serious Gold Medal Contender
Paddy Barnes (Men's Light Flyweight Boxing) Serious Gold Medal Contender
Joe Ward/Ken Egan- depending on who qualifies (Men's Light Heavyweight Boxing) Serious Medal Prospect
Darren O'Neill (Men's Middleweight Boxing) Medal Prospect
John Joe Nevin (Men's Bantamweight Boxing) Good Medal Prospect
Grainne Murphy (Swimming-800m Freestyle/400m Free/400m I.M.) Serious Medal Contender, best chance in 800m Freestyle
Robert Heffernan (Athletics- 20km/50km Walk) Great Medal Prospect in both events, best chance in 50km Walk
Olive Loughnane (Athletics-Women's 20km Walk) Outside Medal Chance depending on form
Peter O'Leary & David Burrows (Sailing-Star Class) Great Medal Prospect, capable of topping the podium!
Analise Murphy (Sailing-Laser Radial Class) Outside Medal Chance. This young sailor is progressing all the time and is now ranked in the world's top 10. The question is whether London will come a little too early for her.
Equestrian- Team Showjumping. They have a good shot at a medal providing they qualify for the Olympics.
Equestrian- Individual Showjumping. We have world-class performers in the form of Billy Twomey, Cian O'Connor, Jessica Kurten, Dermott Lennon.

The above list are those who I consider to be our best chances of medals. However, what is exciting for us is that there are plenty of others who have the potential to finish on the podium, depending on their progression in 2011/12. In this category I would include:

David Gillick (Athletics-400m) He has switched his training regime to Florida,and is now working with the world's best. Gillick may prove to be a very exciting prospect moving forward to London.
Derval O'Rourke (Athletics-100m Hurdles) If Derval qualifies for the final then she has more than an outside chance, based on her championship pedigree and ability to produce her best on the big stage.
Aileen Morrison (Women's Triathlon) Aileen is progressing nicely and is consistently finishing in the top 15 in major events. She is definitely one to look out for.
Lisa Kearney (Judo-48kg) This young judoka is improving all the time and has been consistently beating some of the world's best. Depending on her progression up to London, she might be worth keeping an eye on.
Martyn Irvine (Track Cycling-Men's Omnium) He is competing in a new event and is showing good potential, consistently finishing in the top 10 in major events.
Barry Murphy (Swimming-100m Breastroke) He swam a sensational time this March in America and if he can build on this he might be a real exciting prospect come London.
Claire Lambe & Siobhan McCrohan (Rowing-Lightweight Double Sculls) They are showing potential and if they can build towards 2012 then they will be in the mix.
Barry Watkins (Canoe Sprint) This young paddler is improving all the time and is already knocking on the door of the world's top 8-10.
Also, any of our boxers who actually qualify for London must be viewed as medal contenders, considering the strength of Irish boxing at the moment.

Ireland can reasonably expect to win 4/5 medals in London and it is not inconceivable that this tally could go upwards to as many as 7/8 medals. However, this might be a little too optimistic as some athletes may not produce the goods on the big stage. I have not exaggerated our medal prospects and all of those listed are genuine medal contenders. Why not check out some of the athletes and see for yourself!? I was not anywhere near as optimistic prior to the Beijing Games and what is exciting this time round is that there is plenty of back-up if one or two medal hopefuls do not realise their potential and there is always the possibility that one ore two of our athletes may spring a surprise. In terms of gold medals, I am hopeful that Ireland will win at least one and maybe even a couple more.
My prediction (modest): IRL 1GOLD 2SILVER 3BRONZE
Hope this has whet your appetite for July-August 2012.

Sparks · 12-03-2011 2:43pm

I love how no-one's mentioned Derek Burnett or Philip Murphy yet. I guess winning the World Championships (twice in Philip's case) and dozens of World Cup and Continental Championships events in Olympic Shotgun shooting doesn't get reported on much...

Dan man · 12-03-2011 3:19pm

Sparks wrote: »

I love how no-one's mentioned Derek Burnett or Philip Murphy yet. I guess winning the World Championships (twice in Philip's case) and dozens of World Cup and Continental Championships events in Olympic Shotgun shooting doesn't get reported on much...

Undoubtedly, whichever shooter gets the nod, should ireland earn a quota spot, has the credentials to do well. Derek is more consistent and has claimed several world cup medals as well as European bronze last year, but Philip has that world champs silver medal from a couple of years ago, 2007 I think. However their event is ultra competitive and it all depends on the performance on the day. I agree though that they are capable of winning a medal on their day.

Dan man · 14-04-2011 10:21am

U.S.A. Today has relesed their medal predictions for the London 2012 Olympics based on performances at major championships. While it is impossible to predict performances this far out from the Games, it is still interseting reading. At the monment, they have Ireland at a medal total of 1 GOLD (Katie Taylor), 1 SILVER (Olive Loughnane) and 2 Bronze (Paddy Barnes and Kenneth Egan). One major flaw in this model is that it fails to account for upcoming athletes such as Grainne Murphy and Joe Ward because forecasts are made simply on performance at World Championships, World Cups and such. It will update every month so I will keep an eye on it to see how they place our athletes in the run up to the Olympics.

Dodge · 14-04-2011 11:06am

Optimistic forecasts there dan man but at least you've covered most sports. I don't think we can bank on any of them with Taylor being the only one who's expected to medal.

Such is the vagaries of the boxing draw that even if Barnes is the secod best boxer in the tournament (which he may well be next year), he could draw the favourite and lose in the first round. Don't forget that all 5 Irish boxers lost to the gold medallists in Beijing. We should, at the least, have 5/6 entrants and who knows...

In athletics Loughnane and Heffernan are our best chances but need everythign to go right for them. As ever finals for O'Rourke and Gillick are the aim

In swimming I don't think people should put too much pressure on Grainne Murphy. Sure she's our most exciting talent ever, but European silver and Bronze medals don't neccesarily equate to Olympic medals. This year will tell a lot

Showjumpping really is the sport that has underperformed so much on the world stage for Ireland. of courses we had the Cian O'Connor thing, but with 3/4 ranked in top 20 We really should be challenging for World and Olympic medals every games. Remember its not even guarenteed there'll be an Irish team there

In cycling Irvine isn't really a contender. He should qualify but that will be his limit. In the road race we have 2 genuinely world class performers in Nicolas Roche and Dan Martin. Either could medal if the race goes there way

Dan man · 14-04-2011 12:53pm

I agree with much of your points except for your view that Ireland are only expecting to win one medal next year. If our boxers don't come away with at least two or three alone they will be disappointed. The boxing draw, as you rightly point out, can be very precarious, but the likes of Paddy and the up and coming Joe Ward are capable of beating any opponent. The Worlds in Busan will be a good indicator for us. Katie Taylor, has the misfortune of only one qualifying opportunity which is a travesty in my opinion, but please God she'll stay injury free. Our team showjumpers went to the Worlds last year with great confidence of a medal shot but did not perform at all. They only have one chance now to, but a place in top 7 in Europe should be enough for them to qualify. It will all be much clearer after this summer in terms of our medal chances come London, but it is a good sign that as things are, there are so many who have the potential to medal if everything goes well. I disagree also with your opinion of Martyn Irvine, he is very much a raw athlete at the minute, at least give him another year before you write him off completely.

Dan man · 14-04-2011 1:06pm

Dodge wrote: »

In swimming I don't think people should put too much pressure on Grainne Murphy. Sure she's our most exciting talent ever, but European silver and Bronze medals don't neccesarily equate to Olympic medals. This year will tell a lot

Actually, when it comes to the 800m freestyle, European women are setting the benchmark, and I think in the Beijing Olympics Europe won all of the women's freestyle events, from what I remember. Grainne should make waves (sorry for the pun) in London. Much much improvement still to come, and that is why she is an exciting prospect. In terms of pressure, Grainne doesn't have any concept of this, she relishes her profession!

Dodge · 14-04-2011 1:38pm

Dan man wrote: »

I agree with much of your points except for your view that Ireland are only expecting to win one medal next year. If our boxers don't come away with at least two or three alone they will be disappointed.

Oh I think the men will be expecting medals, but none of them come close to Taylor. Barnes, Ward, O'neill, Nevin etc need a little bit of luck to all claim medals, but Taylor should medal regardless of draw etc.

I disagree also with your opinion of Martyn Irvine, he is very much a raw athlete at the minute, at least give him another year before you write him off completely.

its a fair point. I really, really wish him well. I just think that his event will become more competitive as the Olympics draw closer.

On Murphy, again its fair to say that some Europeans have excelled in the 800m event but last year she was the 4th in the Europeans. I think she can improve, I'm just pointing out that the general Irish sporting public shouldn't be expecting her to win a medal easily.

Dan man · 14-04-2011 2:05pm

Yes, Grainne Murphy finished 2010 as no.10 in the world over the 800m free. A medal certainly will not be easily attained but you can rest assured that 2011 will see her progress even further, and when she finishes her leaving-cert this year, she can devote herself to swimming in the run in to the Olympics. But indeed, your right, it would be pre-emptive and foolish to hang a medal around her neck at this stage but by August 2012 she will likely be a medal favourite.

Dodge · 14-04-2011 3:14pm

Lets hope so.

I think we should keep this thread running in the lead up to London. Sort of like a guide to qualifiers etc.

Dan man · 14-04-2011 3:35pm

Dodge wrote: »

Lets hope so.

I think we should keep this thread running in the lead up to London. Sort of like a guide to qualifiers etc.

Agreed, hopefully we will qualify a good portion of athletes this year allowing for them to have a good solid preparation in the run-up to the Games. It would not be ideal for our athletes to have to chase down last-gasp qualification points in remote parts of the globe just a couple of months prior to the Olympics.

Dodge · 18-04-2011 11:56am

Another good result for Aileen Morrison in the Triathlon. She was ranked 15th in world last month http://www.olympicsport.ie/news/3923-morrison-s-silver-in-japan.html?utm_source=olympicsport.ie&utm_medium=twitter

Dan man · 18-04-2011 3:28pm

FANTASTIC!! What an athlete, bags of talent coupled with the necessary dedication. Her previous best in World Cup race was bronze in Hamburg last year. I think a few big names did not travel to Japan though, but that takes nothing away from Aileen. She is definitely a force to reckon with these days.

Dan man · 11-05-2011 6:19pm

Barry Watkins placed a decent 13th in the men's K1 1,000m Flatwater Canoe World Cup in Poznan at the weekend. He needs to push on from this now starting at the second World Cup of the year in the Czech Republic (20-22 May). Watkins won his heat, then placed 4th in the semis, where a top 3 position would have qualified him for the final. This is a crucial year for Olympic qualification with the top 8 finishers in this event at the 2011 World Champs securing a berth.

Dan man · 18-05-2011 11:38pm

Here is an update on Ireland's badminton players and their quest for Olympic qualification.

Men's Singles: Scott Evans World Ranking No. 51 but more crucially sits
no. 26 in the Olympic qualification table which has 38 slots
available. As it stands, Scott would qualify comfortably.

Women's Singles: Chloe Magee World Ranking No. 59 but is no. 26 in the
Olympic qualifying table which also has 38 qualification
slots. Chloe is easily inside the cut-off mark.

Mixed Doubles: Sam Magee & Chloe Magee World Ranking No. 41. They
currently occupy position no.20 in the qualification table
but with only 16 slots available in the doubles they have
more work ahead of them. Nevertheless it is achieveable
and their current form augers well for their hopes of
attaining qualification.

Men's Doubles: Sam Magee & Tony Stephenson World Ranking No.58
No.22 in the Olympic qualifying table. It is not beyond
them to qualify but there is a steep hill ahead of them.
Great to see them so highly placed all the same.

These stats are to date as of the week beginning May 12th 2011. The deadline is May 2012 so there is a crucial 12-month period in store.
As you can see, our badminton players are doing us proud. Here's hoping for their continued success.

Dan man · 19-05-2011 4:11pm

Ireland's star judoka Lisa Kearney is still currently occupying an automatic qualification spot for London 2012 in the women's -48kg division. She is world ranked no. 24 but in the Olympic qualifying standings she is ranked 14th in the World list. Only 14 qualify via this route and is the most straight-forward route to book an Olympic berth. However, there are also places assigned from continental lists. Qualification for the Olympics is a daunting task as points must be attained through performances at World Cups, Grand Prix and various international events scattered across the globe. Lisa bagged a heap of points last year and she won the World Cup event in Apia, Samoa.
Good luck to her for the rest of the season.

Fidge13 · 22-05-2011 12:30pm

yeah Lisa Kearney is a great prospect alright. She finished 5th at a Grand Prix a couple of weeks ago, and has a Grand Slam event coming up next weekend in Moscow. True she's on the border line qualification-wise, but she'll be racking up the air miles chasing those Olym qual points over the next 12 months!

Dodge · 22-05-2011 6:54pm

http://www.rte.ie/sport/athletics/2011/0521/veale.html

London too soon but Kate Veale is one to keep an eye on

Cosmo Kramer · 22-05-2011 6:59pm

Dodge and Dan Man - great work with the updates on some of our less well known Olympic prospects. Looking forward to you keeping us all up to date over the coming year.

Dan man · 29-05-2011 9:13pm

Ireland's Natalya Coyle qualified for the Modern Pentathlon World Cup Final in London to be held later this year courtesy of a 25th place finish in the 4th leg of the World Cup in China. It is looking good for her chances of Olympic qualification and the World Cup final in London will be a dress rehearsal of next year's Olympic competition. Coyle is a bright young talent and she is only 20-years old so loads of potential to improve. Only the top 36 in the World Cup rankings qualified for the final.
Modern Pentathlon in Ireland is in good hands with great young talents like Eanna Bailey and Letterkenny's Emily Greenan coming up the ranks.
Well done Natalya Coyle!

Dan man · 29-05-2011 9:31pm

Encouraging weekend for Ireland's rowers in the first World Cup of the year. Sanita Puspure and Lisa Dilleen qualified for the final in the Women's Double Sculls and placed a brilliant 5th. Importantly, the double sculls is an Olympic event but Puspure still needs to attain Irish citizenship.
In another Olympic class, Siobhan McCrohan and Claire Lambe disappointed in the Lightweight Double sculls but still they placed in the top-12 (might have been higher but they pulled out of B-final due to illness).
In the men's lightweight double sculls, an Olympic event also, Ireland's Mark O'Donovan and Niall Kenny placed an excellent 12th, giving them hope of achieving a ticket to London next year.
Ireland's Paralympic adaptive coxed four crew placed a good 4th in their final to set them up well for next year.
All in all, a very encouraging regatta for the young Irish crews. London will probably come a little too early for them but they should have every chance in Rio providing they continue on the current road of progression.

Dan man · 29-05-2011 9:45pm

An outstanding World Cup series for our sailors in Netherlands this week. For the ever improving Annalise Murphy, she will come away from the competition with bags of confidence after no less than 5 victories in the Women's Laser Radial, easily more victories than any of her rivals. However, two black flags (disqualifications) on Friday saw her chance of a medal disappear. All the same, her performance was stunning and she is DEFINITELY A MEDAL PROSPECT FOR LONDON 2012, considering she could have won the World Cup only for the disqualifications for the false starts.
Peter O'Leary and David Burrows underlined their medal potential for next year with a very solid 4th place finish in the Men's Star. Great result and they are also DEFINITE MEDAL PROSPECTS.
Finally, in the 49-ers, Matt McGovern and Ryan Seaton swept home to victory in the medal race to finish an incredible 5th overall. This performance has been arguably the most encouraging of all as anyone who has been following our sailor's performances wouldn't have been that surprised by the good form of Annalise or the Star class boys. But this result in the 49-ers has been a pleasant surprise and sets them up well for London.
EXCELLENT WEEK OF SAILING FOR THE IRISH!! BRING ON 2012!

Dodge · 29-05-2011 10:58pm

Irish showjumpers currently flying. Won the first super league event, and 3rd over the weekend in Rome to stay on top of standings

Dan man · 29-05-2011 11:53pm

Dodge wrote: »

Irish showjumpers currently flying. Won the first super league event, and 3rd over the weekend in Rome to stay on top of standings

Good start indeed, great performance in La Baule. Ireland has a decent squad now in terms of depth. Let's hope it goes well for them in the European Champs later in the year, the most important event.

swim2 · 02-06-2011 8:31am

Chris has already qualified for the world open water championships in Shanghai, qualifying for Olympics is tough for open water as only 10 per continent can qualify!!!!
He is from Ennis and coach is Ronald Claes in Limerick, same one as Grainne Murphy
Bryan leads European Open Sea rankings

Wednesday, 1 June 2011 18:53
Irish Swimmer Chris Bryan leads the rankings of the 2011 European Open Water Swimming Cup after a fantastic performance in the second leg of the competition in Turkey on Sunday.
Bryan, who represented Ireland at the 2010 European Championships, won the 5km event in Antayla in a time of 58 minutes 41.04 seconds, just ahead of Israeli Yuval Safra (58:42.80).
The first leg of the European Cup took place in Israel on 7 May, where Bryan finished 33rd of 53 competitors in the longer 10k event, with an overall time of 1 hour 53 minutes 1.25 seconds.

The results leave Bryan at the top of the European table with 21 points - ahead of Russian Vladimir Dyatchin (20 points) and Safra (18 points).
The Cup runs until the end of July, with five legs in total.
Bryan is now on course for selection to the World Swimming & Open Water Championships which take place in Shanghai this July, where he would become the first open water swimmer to represent Ireland at this level.

Dodge · 02-06-2011 1:43pm

Current world showjumping rankings

Irish;

3 TWOMEY, Billy
5 LYNCH, Denis
29 O'CONNOR, Cian
46 KÜRTEN, Jessica
61 BREEN, Shane
97 LENNON, Dermott

2 in top 5, 6 in top 100

Dan man · 07-06-2011 11:28am

Irish triathlete Gavin Noble won a silver medal in the I.T.U. Triathlon Cup in Amakusa, Japan on Sunday. Positive result for him, and another good news story for Irish triathlon.

Dan man · 12-06-2011 12:14pm

A major result this weekend in Ireland Olympic News, our Laser Radial sailor Annalise Murphy wins a bronze medal at the Sail For Gold World Cup Regatta in Weymouth. There are so much positives to take from this result. Firstly, this venue will host the Olympic regatta in London next year so a good result here augers well for next year. Secondly, because this is the Olympic venue, the competition was fierce as sailors want to pick up vital experience on these waters ahead of the Games next year. Annalise is still only 21 and her meteoric rise up the rankings continues and she surely will go into next year's Olympics as a marked woman. Another encouraging sign is the amount of races she wins at these regattas as well as the margin of victory. Annalise is world class and when the wind picks up to 15/20 knots then there is little stopping her. Our other sailors didn't perform as well as hoped but this week has still been a massive success story for us.
Well done Annalise, you continue to do us proud on the water!

Dan man · 12-06-2011 12:19pm

Ireland now has 5 athletes qualified for the Olympics next year after the Diamond League in New York yesterday. Robert Heffernan (20km Walk); Olive Loughnane (20km Walk); Fionnuala Britton (3,000m Steeplechase); Stephanie O'Reilly (3,000m Steeplechase); Alistair Cragg (5,000m).

Dan man · 12-06-2011 12:34pm

Another good week for Irish badminton with good performances at the Lithuanian Open. Siblings Chloe and Sam Magee from Raphoe, Co.Donegal won the mixed doubles title, beating the top-seeds from Poland in the final. Scott Evans was runner-up in the Men's Singles, losing in three sets. Chloe Magee will contest the women's singles final and Sam Magee and Tony Stephenson will represent us in the final of the mixed doubles. I will update on their performances when the results come through. Although the Lithuanian Open is not a major event it will likely have a positive impact on our players' world rankings and Olympic qualfication.

Dan man · 12-06-2011 3:31pm

Chloe Magee adds the women's singles title to the mixed doubles title she won earlier at the Lithuanian Open, winning the final in straight sets. Excellent week for Chloe. Tony Stephenson and Sam Magee were defeated in the Men's Doubles final in straight sets against Polish opponents. A decent result nonetheless.

swim2 · 15-06-2011 10:57am

Ireland team for World Championships named
SWIMMING: Swim Ireland will be sending six swimmers to the World Championships in Shanghai, China, including a women’s 4x200 metres relay squad to the week-long meet which gets under way on Sunday, July 24th, writes John Kenny. The six are Melanie Nocher, Barry Murphy, Gráinne Murphy, Sycerika McMahon and Clare Dawson, while Chris Bryan will compete in the five and 10 kilometre open water competitions.
The qualification process for Irish swimmers consisted of two Irish domestic qualifier events during the year, the Dave McCullagh Memorial in February and Irish Long Course Nationals in April.
Gráinne Murphy, the 2010 European 1,500 Silver medallist had already qualified for the worlds last year, while Nocher qualified through winning the women’s 200 metres Backstroke at the Nationals at the National Aquatic Centre.

Hopefully some will do well at the worlds before the Olympics.

Dan man · 15-06-2011 12:42pm

swim2 wrote: »

Ireland team for World Championships named
SWIMMING: Swim Ireland will be sending six swimmers to the World Championships in Shanghai, China, including a women’s 4x200 metres relay squad to the week-long meet which gets under way on Sunday, July 24th, writes John Kenny. The six are Melanie Nocher, Barry Murphy, Gráinne Murphy, Sycerika McMahon and Clare Dawson, while Chris Bryan will compete in the five and 10 kilometre open water competitions.
The qualification process for Irish swimmers consisted of two Irish domestic qualifier events during the year, the Dave McCullagh Memorial in February and Irish Long Course Nationals in April.
Gráinne Murphy, the 2010 European 1,500 Silver medallist had already qualified for the worlds last year, while Nocher qualified through winning the women’s 200 metres Backstroke at the Nationals at the National Aquatic Centre.

Hopefully some will do well at the worlds before the Olympics.

It's a talented squad we are sending. Hopefully Grainne will be in the shake-up and I'm looking forward to seeing how Chris Bryan performs, he is showing potential for London.

swim2 · 15-06-2011 12:50pm

Yes Chris is showing some great potential. He has a tough route to qualify but is very determined.
Sycerika McMahon is also showing she could be in with a chance but I think this Olympics may come a bit too early for her, as she is still young yet.
I feel Grainne should do well

Dan man · 15-06-2011 1:13pm

swim2 wrote: »

Yes Chris is showing some great potential. He has a tough route to qualify but is very determined.
Sycerika McMahon is also showing she could be in with a chance but I think this Olympics may come a bit too early for her, as she is still young yet.
I feel Grainne should do well

Sycerika is a fantastically talented swimmer, but as you say, her glory days will likely come after 2012. Her performances at the nationals were exceptional and with continued top quality coaching she will surely become a household name in the future.

swim2 · 15-06-2011 1:24pm

Sycerika has qualified for the european juniors and now the worlds too will give her great experience against the worlds best swimmers.
I feel the nationals in the NAC, while she did fantastic, did not test her enough with the opposition. She will do very very well in the future

Fattes · 15-06-2011 1:28pm

Peter O'Leary & David Burrows (Sailing-Star Class) Great Medal Prospect, capable of topping the podium!

Great Shout! Whent to College with Peter and he is a super lad will be rooting for him all the way.

Katie Taylor Another podium topper.

Dan man · 15-06-2011 1:35pm

swim2 wrote: »

Sycerika has qualified for the european juniors and now the worlds too will give her great experience against the worlds best swimmers.
I feel the nationals in the NAC, while she did fantastic, did not test her enough with the opposition. She will do very very well in the future

I agree that the nationals meet was not exactly top notch in a competitive sense, but the manner in which she went about the meet and achieved her 9 golds underlined her supreme talent, and across a wide range of disciplines.

swim2 · 15-06-2011 2:26pm

Dan man wrote: »

I agree that the nationals meet was not exactly top notch in a competitive sense, but the manner in which she went about the meet and achieved her 9 golds underlined her supreme talent, and across a wide range of disciplines.

Yes she is extremely talented and over time she will decide which one of the disciplines suits her best. She did great at the nationals and I hope she does very well at the worlds, as well as the other swimmers taking part.

They are travelling over beforehand to Malaysia I think to get acclimatised to the weather etc so all looks good and the preperations seem to be 100% better than years ago.

swim2 · 18-06-2011 7:50pm

Swim Ireland will send six swimmers, including a womens 4x200 metres relay squad, to the World Championships in Shanghai China in July. The week-long meet gets under way on Sunday 24 July.

The six are Melanie Nocher, Barry and Grainne Murphy, Sycerika McMahon and Clare Dawson, while Chris Bryan will compete in the five and ten kilometre open water competitions. Bryan will be the first ever Irish competitor to take part in the open water races meet at a world championship.
The qualification process for Irish swimmers consisted of two Irish domestic events during the year, the Dave McCullagh Memorial in February and Irish Long Course Nationals in April at which the qualifying times set by Swim Ireland could be achieved.
Grainne Murphy, the 2010 European 1500 Silver medallist had already qualified for the Worlds last year while Nocher qualified by winning the womens 200 metres Backstroke at the National at the National Aquatic Centre.
McMahon, who won nine titles at the Nationals in Abbotstown, and Dawson have now been added to the relay squad who will compete in women 4x200 freestyle with a eye to building up for Olympic qualification.
Other swimmers who were unable to attend home-based competitions were required to designate one swim meet of their choice as their select qualifier meet. Murphy made the plane to Shanghai by winning the 100m breaststroke final at the Indianapolis Grand Prix.
His winning time of 1:00.77 was enough to beat American record holder Eric Shanteau, and reigning Olympic champion Kosuke Kitajima from Japan.
There are two notable absentees however in Ryan Harrison, who at one time was the fastest college swimmer in the US in the mens 200 metres freestyle, and veteran Olympian Andrew Bree who failed to go below the qualification standard for the mens 200 metres Breastroke at a meet in California at the end of May.
Grainne Murphy who is currently sitting her Leaving Certificate, put Irish swimming back on the map with her silver medal-winning performance at the 2010 European Long Course Championships in Budapest.
At that meet, the eighteen year-old broke the Irish record for the 1500m freestyle by a total of 26 seconds. She firstly broke it in the heats by 18 seconds then went on to lower it again in the final by another eight in a silver medal performance behind Denmark's Lotte Friis.
The Wexford teenager, who is training with Belgian Ronald Claes at the High Performance centre at the University of Limerick, is a bit of an unknown qualitity at this stage as she hasn't posted any meaningful times since last years Europeans.
The European Silver medallist missed the Dave McCullough meet through illness and then used the Nationals in April as a training meet, pulling out of many of the finals for which she had qualified.

Bryan who raced in the men's five and ten kilometre open water events at the Europeans in Hungary last year, has shown some decent form of late winning the second leg of the of the 2011 European Open Water Swimming Cup in the 5k in Anatayla in Turkey
He leads the 2011 rankings of the European Open Water Swimming Cup. - which is held over 5 legs to the end of July.
The 21-year-old trains full-time at the University of Limerick High Performance Centre under Claes.
The Irish squad for Shanghai will be led by National Performance Director Peter Banks, Coach Ronald Claes and support staff Michael Denihan (lead team manager), Alan Nocher (assistant team manager), Sinead Murphy (physiotherapist), and Conor Osborough (biomechanist)

Grainne Murphy and Chris Bryan are currently in Italy and Grainne had a race today, great to see Grainne is competing well

Friis returned to the pool to win the women's 1500 freestyle in 16:09.48, setting a meet record in the event's first outing at Sette Colli. Placing second was Ireland's Grainne Murphy with a 16:23.03, while Greece's Marianna Lymperta was third with a 16:25.22

legendary.xix · 23-06-2011 8:54pm

It's hard to look past Katie Taylor. Hopefully the men can pick up at least two medals in the boxing as well. It's hard to see any medal coming from any other sport but I hope to be wrong on that.

Dan man · 23-06-2011 10:11pm

Ireland's leading judoka Lisa Kearney is finding this year much tougher in terms of Olympic qualification. Automatic qualification via the world list is based on the world rankings and the top 14 on this list (one judoka per country) will claim a place at London. Lisa has slipped back to 16th on this list as of June 2011, however, there are still much positives for Lisa. She is still consistently claiming qualifying points, perhaps not as much as she would like, but it keeps her in hunt. In addition, Olympic qualification is not all decided on the world list. There are also continental lists and as it stands Lisa would claim her Olympic ticket via this route. Fingers and toes crossed that she can keep up the good work. It would be great to see an Irish judoka at the Olympic Games.

Dan man · 23-06-2011 10:16pm

Watch out for Aileen Morrison this weekend (Saturday, June 25th) at the European Triathlon Championshipa in Spain. Here's hoping that she can improve on her 5th place finish at last year's event. Best of luck to all the Irish triathletes.

Dan man · 24-06-2011 2:57pm

Yet more amazing success for our boxers. Ray Moylette and Joe Ward (just 17) have both claimed gold medals at the European Championships. Ward looks set for major stardom, and not to forget Moylette (21 i think), also a youngster...Irish boxing is in safe gloves!!! Paddy Barnes unfortunately was injured and he would have been favourite for gold too. Bring on the Olympics.

Dodge · 24-06-2011 11:56pm

So there’s quite a few qualifying tournaments coming up this year. Others are based on rankings (etc) over a period of time. Others have qualifiers in 2012. September is a huge month for Irish medal hopes

Taekwondo (June 30-July 3: World Qualification Tournament, Baku, Azerbaijan).

Modern Pentathlon (July 27-Aug 1: European Championships, Medway, UK),

Canoeing, Flatwater (Aug 17-21: World Championships, Szged, Hungary),

Hockey (Aug 20-28: EuroHockey Nations Championships, Mönchengladbach, Germany),

3 Day Eventing (Aug 25-28 European Championships, Luhmühlen, Germany),

Rowing (Aug 28-Sept 4: World Championships, Bled, Slovenia),

Shooting (Sept 3-14: World Championships , Belgrade, Serbia),

Canoeing, Slalom (Sept 6-11: World Championships, Bratislava, Slovakia),

Show Jumping (Sept 13-18: European Championships, Madrid, Spain),

Boxing (Mens) (September 22: World Championships, Baku, Azerbaijan).

Sailing (Dec 3-18: World Championships, Perth, Australia),

alchemist33 · 25-06-2011 12:00am

Since I now have tickets for the women's boxing finals, I'm hoping even more that Katie can do the business. I'm in for a first round men's boxing session too, so hopefully some Irish there also.

Dan man · 26-06-2011 11:19am

At the European Triathlon Championships Ireland's Aileen Morrison finished in 14th place. Perhaps a little disappointing but conditions were extreme and due to intense heat there were a huge amount of D.N.Fs. The highest British woman was placed only 10th, this underlines how difficult the conditions were to cope with.

airscotty · 02-07-2011 4:13pm

Bit of a write up on the Elites Europeans here. Was almost 40degrees so sounded tough alrite

Irelands most likely Olympic 2012 Medals

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