Irelands most likely Olympic 2012 Medals

On target: Irish shooters achieve success against all odds.

Ray Kane on his way to 6th place in the men's air-rifle

INTERSHOOT IS AN annual event in The Hague, ideal for Olympic preparation and Ireland’s shooting team came away with a success which belies their paltry resources.

The team claimed two new Irish records and five out of the six managed to better the minimum qualifying score for the Olympics.

One of those records was Ray Kane’s rifle score of 590 out of 600. It earned him a sixth place finish, but the five who led him were all full-time shooters, given full funding and resources to back them during their exploits.

The Irish are all part-timers, struggling to force together the means for needed to compete at an elite international level.

The group must take the time to travel across Europe for tournaments (never mind training and practice) out of their spare time and holiday allowances from their regular day-job.

Looking on longingly at the resources afforded to other national squads is Mark Dennehy. Dennehy arrived back from the Netherlands reporting of how the host nation owned their own dedicated transport for shooters and equipment. Or how the English team crossed the channel with the largest contingent, full time coaches and staff bulking up their entourage beyond Ireland’s wildest dreams.

Dennehy and his team, meanwhile, are left to simply let their pistols and rifles do the talking.

Their coach, Matt Fox, had to remain in Ireland due to travel costs. Indeed, only one non-shooter travelled with the team as staff to cover the mounds of paperwork and logistics duty associated with transporting firearms.

Irish mens air-rifle team celebrate bronze at Intershoot - Ray Kane on left, Paul O’Boyle on right, Mark Dennehy in back row)

Essential activities such as cooking duties are taken up by the competitors themselves, negating much needed rest time. To properly underline the added strain of this activity, Dennehy rhetorically asks:

“Do you know how much seven adults working 12-hour days in subzero temperatures at a rifle match can eat, and still lose weight?”

The answer is a lot, but despite the uphill struggle, Ireland still managed to get within a whisker of their heavily backed rivals. Dennehy amongst those coming away with a bronze medal in the men’s air-rifle competition. The Netherlands were only 20 points better off and, silver-medallists, England just 12.

That gap, Dennehy says, could be closed with just a minor boost in funding. Currently the income is a nominal fee from the Olympic Council of ireland – not enough to cover one, never mind seven competitors – and nothing from the Irish Sports Council. That state of affairs has left Dennehy with the peculiar emotional mix of anger and pride as his cohorts keep trudging on despite it all.

“There’s a part of me that wonders” Says Dennehy,” in only our free time outside of our full-time jobs, we’re close enough to full-time fully-funded Olympic teams. That gap could be closed with just money, and not that much money at that.”

“And that part of me is desperately proud of what us little Irish shooters can manage to do.”

Paying out of their own pocket to represent Ireland on an international stage inevitably leads to talk of this summer’s Olympic games.

There are plenty of hurdles to overcome before that becomes a prescient matter. Next week they travel to Finland for the European Championships and, in April, they will get to test their skills on the Olympic range at the World Cup in London, before hopefully returning for the big show in August.

As things currently stand, that is just a foolhardy dream. An aspiration that is making them haemorrhage money every time they do Ireland proud.

Yet they have no intention of doing anything else.

Dan man wrote: »

So just 170 days to go until the opening ceremony kicks off in London and in the run-up to the Olympics I will post some random pieces of information about team Ireland. As it stands, Ireland has secured 29 Olympic berths for the Games, although we only have an idea who 25 of those athletes are (as we do not yet know who will represent us in the cycling). Just for a bit of fun and personal amusement, I have made a table outlining which counties are represented amongst our qualifiers. Unsurprisingly, Dublin is leading the way so far with 7 qualified athletes, swiftly followed by Cork with 5 currently. So, how is your county doing? Are they represented yet? Are they likely to be represented on the big stage in London this year? We will be able to update this information as the year progresses. Let me know if you spot any errors.

County|Number of athletes qualified|Details|
Dublin|7|Linda Byrne, Ava Hutchinson,Deirdre Ryan,Mark Kenneally,Barry Murphy,Annalise Murphy,David Burrows
Cork|5|Derval O'Rourke,Olive Loughnane,Robert Heffernan,Ciaran O'Lionaid,Peter O'Leary
Antrim|2|Ryan Seaton,Michael Conlan
Wicklow|2|Fionnuala Britton,Stephanie Reilly
Derry|1|Aileen Morrison
Donegal|1|Brendan Boyce
Down|1|Matt McGovern
Galway|1|Paul Hession
Kilkenny|1|Darren O'Neill
Westmeath|1|John Joe Nevin
Wexford|1|Grainne Murphy
Other/Abroad|2|Alistair Cragg (South Africa), Kieran Behan (England)


Additional Info:

• So far the team is made up of 19 men and 10 women.
• Qualifiers by province: Leinster (12), Munster (5), Ulster (5), Connacht (1)
• Kieran Behan (gymnastics qualifier) although born in London, England has Irish parents: mother is from Monaghan and father from Dublin.
• So far, just as many Corkmen as Dublin men have qualified (3 a-piece).
• 4 qualifiers were born in Northern Ireland, with Aileen Morrison the only female so far on the team from the 6-counties.
• Perhaps unsurprisingly, Murphy is the most common surname, with 3 Murphys on the team.
• Olive Loughnane is the oldest member of the team at 36 years age with the youngest being Grainne Murphy who will turn 19 in March.
• The average age of our women when the Olympics get underway is 28.2yrs and 27.3yrs for the men. Overall the average is 27.7yrs for our Olympians.
• 16 of the qualifiers will be first-time Olympians in London; 4 qualifiers are returning for a second time having previously competed in Beijing in 2008; 2 qualifiers (Derval O'Rourke and Alistair Cragg) will be appearing in their 3rd consecutive Olympic Games; and a trio of Olympic veterans will be returning to the Olympic stage to make a 4th appearance, namely Robert Heffernan and Olive Loughnane who will travel to their 4th consecutive Olympics and David Burrows, who made his Olympic debut way back in Atlanta in 1996 (missed out on Beijing).

• In terms of the sports in the London Olympic program, in most sports Ireland in the past has qualified an individual or team. Exceptions are table tennis, taekwondo, volleyball, beach volleyball, hockey, and handball. As things stand hockey is the only one of these sports that could make history and qualify its first ever representatives. Even better if we could manage both men’s and women’s hockey teams, but if either were to qualify it would make history.

• In terms of athletics, the pole vault is unique among the other track and field events in that it is the only event on the London 2012 athletics program in which Ireland has never before had a representative, male or female (women’s pole vault only introduced in Sydney 2000). This record may well be put well and truly to bed if Tori Pena can add 5cm to her Irish record over the next few months. As it stands she has the B-standard of 4.40m in the bag but needs to hit the A-standard of 4.50m to be certain of her place in London. She recently set a P.B. indoors of 4.45m so all the signs are pointing towards her achieving the A-standard by the end of the qualifying period (8th July 2012).

• Other events in which we have never sent an Irish athlete to the Olympic Games are the women’s high jump, women’s long jump, women’s triple jump, women’s shot put, women’s javelin and the women’s 4x100m relay. Out of these events, Deirdre Ryan has ensured that if she remains fit and healthy then we will have our first ever representative in the women’s high jump. She achieved the Olympic A-standard at the World Championships in Daegu last summer, where she cleared 1.95m to break her own Irish record enroute to finishing in 6th place, a magnificent result. Kelly Proper has an outside chance of becoming Ireland’s first ever female long jumper at the Olympic Games, but her form over the past 12 months has not been encouraging and she would need to jump 6.75m, 15cm further than she has ever jumped before to book her place in London. The other events are likely to remain as ducks on our Olympic stats, despite the women’s 4x100m relay squad initially looking reasonably well placed to make a push for qualification (top 16 international teams). Injuries and a bit of bad luck have dealt a blow to their chances of qualification.

• Staying with the sport of athletics, Ireland has a proud tradition in the men’s marathon, culminating in John Treacy’s incredible silver medal at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. It is also the event where we have been most successful in entering athletes for Olympic competition, and on no less than 6 occasions Ireland has sent a full quota of 3 athletes to take to the streets in the men’s Olympic marathon (1960, 1972, 1976, 1984, 1988 and 1992). Since then, our fortunes have dipped significantly with only one qualifier after 1992 (Martin Fagan qualified for Beijing but did not finish the Olympic marathon). However, recently our fortunes have improved with the qualification of Mark Kenneally and others knocking on the door of joining him in London.
• Other events where we have entered a full quota of 3 athletes for a single track and field event include the men’s 1500m (1984, 1996), men’s 5,000m (1980, 1988, 1992) and the sole women’s event to fall into this category is the women’s 5,000m when in both 1996 and in 2000 Ireland qualified the maximum quota of 3 athletes for the event.

• In 2012, there are a few events that could have 3 Irish competitors for the first time in history: the most likely candidate is the men's 50km walk which has seen two qualifed so far and at least another 2 or 3 capable of getting close to that Olympic A-standard to ensure that we will have 3 Irishmen take to the startline in London; the women’s marathon has already seen 2 Irish athletes qualify for London with the addition of a third a distinct possibility. The women’s 3,000m steeplechase may well see Ireland qualify 3 athletes with 2 qualifiers already and Beijing Olympic finalist Roisin McGettigan returning to the athletics scene this year could ensure a 3rd qualifier. However, Fionnuala Britton has suggested that she will opt instead to qualify for the women’s 5,000m and 10,000m in order to race in these events come London instead of competing in the steeplechase for which she has qualified. The men's 200m, although unlikely, could also see 3 Irish competitors in London (Hession, Colvert and Smyth all possible qualifiers).

• Ireland has never had more female track and field athletes than their male counterparts at a single Olympic Games. This may be another first in London as currently there are 7 women qualified as opposed to 6 men and with the women’s 4x400m relay squad looking likely to book their spot in London, there could well be a bigger number of women than men for the first time ever. In Beijing in 2008 Ireland sent an equal proportion of 8 men and 8 women for the athletics events, which was the first time there was parity amongst the sexes.

• Another event that will see surely see an Irish competitor in for the first time is in women’s boxing. As London will be the first Olympics in which women’s boxing is part of the itinerary it means that any qualifiers for women’s boxing will be sure to make Olympic history. However, one must caution that our star hope Katie Taylor has not qualified yet and she will have an opportunity to book her Olympic spot at the World Championships in China in May. It will be a daunting task as there are only a handful of quota places available in each of the women’s categories, but it is a task that Katie should be more than capable of dealing with.

• Two young women, Lisa Kearney and Natalya Coyle, will also be gunning to achieve firsts in their respective sports by qualifying for the Olympics in London in judo and modern pentathlon. Lisa Kearney competes in the lightest women’s category in judo (-48kg) and is on course for qualification, the first time that an Irish female judoka will have taken part in the Olympics. Natalya Coyle is improving all the time and this young pentathlete is in with a very good chance of qualifying for the Olympics and this would also be the first time that Ireland would be represented in the women’s event.

• Chris Bryan may also become Ireland's first competitor in the open-water swimming at the Olympics as he is performing strongly in the World Cup series and will have a chance to secure his place in London this summer at a final qualifying event in Portugal.

• Long jumper Kelly Proper jumps a season's best 6.34m at the National Indoors in Belfast.
• Joanne Cuddihy gets 2012 off to a flying start by posting an impressive time of 52.08secs outdoors at the Perth Track Classic down under. This is very encouraging for so early on in the year and it looks like she will have no bother in achieving the A standard of 51.50secs for Olympic selection. Even better, it looks as though she is returning to her best form which is also good for the women's 4x400m relay.
• Ben Reynolds sets a new Irish U23 record of 7.75secs in the 60m Hurdles at the National Indoors. This means that he is in tip-top shape and could challenge for an Olympic standard outdoors over the 110m Hurdles. His P.B. from last year is 13.75secs and needs to get down to 13.52secs for the A-standard. But this looks a distinct possibility given his good progression over the 60m Hurdles and this should translate also over the 110m Hurdles outdoors. Exciting talent he is.
• Amy Foster has run a series of P.B.s in the 60m this season and is within 0.02secs of reaching the World Indoor qualifying standard. This bodes well for the rest of the season. It will be still a tough ask for her to push on to an Olympic A-standard but she is putting herself in the frame to give it a real crack. Her best chance at getting the standard will probably be the 200m.

The airgun range mid-construction

• Ray Kane and Paul O'Boyle in Mens Air Rifle
• Aisling Miller in Womens Air Rifle
• Peter Friend in Mens Air Pistol

The Irish Team

• In terms of the volume of Irish competitors, Atlanta 1996 remains the benchmark with a total of 78 Irish Olympians that year.
• Sydney 2000 saw the record number of Irish female Olympians with 24. However it appears as though that record will be under serious threat this year with 10 already qualified and with a possible women's relay team in both swimming and athletics as well as other qualifiers in dressage, eventing, badminton, judo and other athletics disciplines, this years total should exceed the previous record.
• The ratio of men/women in the Irish Olympic team was at its most equal in Sydney 2000 with 40 men/24 women (ratio of 3 women for every 5 men on the team). I think this years ratio will be somewhat similar, perhaps a little more even in terms of distribution.

Sparks wrote: »

Dan, those times are Irish local time, not Finnish time. So 0900 Irish time for Peter and 1245 Irish time for Aisling.

Dodge wrote: »

Irvine finished a fine 8th in London. Polish cyclist was 7th but I'd expect both to go to the Olympics

Dodge wrote: »

http://corkindependent.com/stories/item/7457/2012-7/O%25E2%2580%2599Leary-plots-course-for-gold

• Ireland has participated in 19 Summer Olympics (first time in Paris 1924) and London 2012 will be the country's 20th appearance at the Games.
• Ireland missed out on the 1936 Berlin Olympics when the O.C.I. chose to boycott the Games in response to a ban on the N.A.C.A.I. (National Athletic and Cycling Association of Ireland). Their ban was centred on the wrangling between the British and Irish delegations over the issue of Irish unity. When the I.A.A.F. ruled that the Irish team should confine themselves to political boundaries and green-lighted the ammalgamation of the English, Scottish, and Northern Ireland AAA's, the N.A.C.A.I. refused to accept this and protested the decision, leading to a ban. The O.C.I. then voted to exclude themselves from the Berlin Games on the back of this debacle.
• As of the Beijing Olympics in 2008, Ireland has been represented by 677 athletes (566 men/111 women).
• Ireland's youngest Olympian to date was Aisling O'Leary, who was just 15 years and 55 days old when she competed in the swimming competition at the Munich Olympics in 1972.
• Ireland's oldest participant to date was Joe McMenamin who was 59 years and 319 days old when he competed at the sailing competition also at the Munich Games in 1972 (excluding art competitions which are not officially counted in the I.O.C. tally).

• Carol Ui Fheargail (Badminton) - one of 24 umpires appointed to officiate in matches.
• Carol Metchette (Hockey) - one of 17 umpires appointed to officiate in matches in the women's competition.
• Colin Hutchinson (Hockey) - one of 17 umpires appointed to officiate in matches in the men's competition.
• Ray O'Connor (Hockey) - one of 3 men appointed to manage the men's umpires.
• Jack Roy (Sailing) - appointed to race management at the Weymouth regatta.
• Kate Horgan (Showjumping) - appointed as a steward for the showjumping competition in London.
• Hugh McAtamney (Triathlon) - one of 27 I.T.O.s (International Technical Officials) chosen to conduct affairs in London.

Dan man wrote: »

Ireland has another Olympian for London, pole vaulter Tori Pena achieved the A-standard of 4.50m at the Cerritos College Beach Classic in California last night. She is Ireland's 14th athlete through to the Olympics and we now have at least 35 on their way to compete in London in all sports.

Dan man wrote: »

Yes indeed it is great news. The pole vault was the only event on the current Olympic programme in track and field in which Ireland has never been represented male or female. Tori has put this statistic to bed and hopefully it can spur some much needed interest in the field events in this country.

Thanks also for the thumbs up on the posts, I do my best.