Irelands most likely Olympic 2012 Medals

Dan man

swim2 wrote: »

Chris Bryan finished 11th in this mornings Open Water European Cup race, in a very good time of 1:53.31, 13 seconds off the winner

Encouraging performance there, sounds like a belter of a race, 13 secs between 1st and 11th. I really hope he makes the Olympics next year as he will be one of the athletes to watch, full of potential and going from strength to strength.

swim2

Its a pity it wasnt a qualifing event for the Olympics, but he is gaining valuable experience in international races. I do hope too that he makes it for next years Olympics:)

Dodge

Dodge wrote: »

Show Jumping (Sept 13-18: European Championships, Madrid, Spain)
Ireland will be looking to medal, team to be selected soon

Team was announced alst week, but I missed it.

The 5 are;
Nicola FitzGibbon; Puissance
Denis Lynch; Lantinus or All Inclusive NRW
Shane Sweetnam; Amaretto Darco
Niall Talbot; Nicos De La Cense
Billy Twomey; Tinka’s Serenade

To qualify the team for the Olympics Ireland must be in the top 3 of those who ahevn't qualified yet (Britain, Germany, France and Belgium)

Our likely rivals are Netherlands, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark

In 2009, Switzerland and Italy were gold & silver medalists - Netherlands have won 3 of the Super League nations Cups this year.

So while Ireland could be a medal contendor, they could also miss out on Olympic qualification

Dodge

BTW Current world rankings
6 Lynch
11 Twomey
77 Sweetnam
223 Fitzgibbon
316 Talbot

Not selected (there’s more but just a flavour…)
48 O’Connor
59 Kuerten
64 Breen
120 Lennon
141 O’Brien
144 Hughes

Dan man

Dodge wrote: »

Team was announced alst week, but I missed it.

The 5 are;
Nicola FitzGibbon; Puissance
Denis Lynch; Lantinus or All Inclusive NRW
Shane Sweetnam; Amaretto Darco
Niall Talbot; Nicos De La Cense
Billy Twomey; Tinka’s Serenade

To qualify the team for the Olympics Ireland must be in the top 3 of those who ahevn't qualified yet (Britain, Germany, France and Belgium)

Our likely rivals are Netherlands, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark

In 2009, Switzerland and Italy were gold & silver medalists - Netherlands have won 3 of the Super League nations Cups this year.

So while Ireland could be a medal contendor, they could also miss out on Olympic qualification

Qualification will be very difficult with some top nations still battling for those three spots. Don't discount Spain either, as they have a decent squad and of course are at home for the Championships. It would be devastating if we don't make it as it would be a second successive Games without an Irish showjumping team. Robert Splaine, the national team coach has been holding back most of our big guns this year with his focus on Olympic qualification, but there is no way of knowing how it will go on the day. Fingers crossed Team Ireland will do the business.

finbarrk

I wonder is there any TV coverage from Madrid next week?

Dan man

finbarrk wrote: »

I wonder is there any TV coverage from Madrid next week?

I think the BBC will be showing it live on the red button on Friday 16th September.

finbarrk

Good man Dan. Must remember that now. Should be intriguing.

finbarrk

Looks like it's Wed, Thursday and Friday for the team.

http://www.europeanjumping2011.com/campeonato_programa.aspx

Dan man

In Modern Pentathlon, Irish athlete Natalya Coyle took another step towards qualification for next summer's Olympic Games by qualifying through to the final of the World Championships in Moscow this weekend. She put in an amazing performance, particularly in fencing, where she was very impressive as well as setting a new P.B. in the swimming pool and shooting without error in the combined run/shoot event. This is a huge result for Natalya as she will have a chance to secure vital Olympic qualification points to add to those that she has already accumulated throughout the season. 36 athletes will compete in tomorrow's final, where the top 3 will secure automatic qualification for the Olympics. Well done Natalya.

Dan man

Irish canoeist Eoin Rheinisch has had a miserable world championships at the Canoe Slalom World Championships in Slovakia. He finished a disappointing 54th in the K1 Slalom heats missing out on a top 40 qualification spot. His Irish compatriot Ciaran Heurteau however has made it through the qualifiers, placing 38th, and will take his place in Sunday's semi-finals. The top 15 boats in the K1 discipline will book their places at next years Olympics so Heurteau has kept this dream alive. Good luck to him in this weekend. Patrick Hynes placed 80th. The Irish ladies did not perform well as both Hannah Craig (66th) and Aisling Conlon (61st) failed to make it past the qualification round. Next years European Championships will provide our athletes with a final chance to qualify for the Olympics, but the stakes are high as only 2 boats will qualify from this route. So Eoin Rheinisch, who placed a magnificent 4th at the Beijing Olympics is facing a hugely difficult task now just to make next year's showpiece. However, Ciaran Heurteau could do Eoin a huge favour by qualifying a boat for the Olympics this weekend (the quota spot is awarded to the country, not the athlete who achieved the result). Ciaran will have a decent chance because although there are 40 competitors left in the competition, there are a lot of athletes from the same country and the Olympic quota spots are limited to just 1 per country. So 15 countries will leave Slovakia this weekend with quota places in the K1. Come on IRELAND.

Dan man

Irish triatlete Gavin Noble has placed a decent 26th at the Triathlon World Championships Grand Final in Beijing to add more vital Olympic qualification points to his tally. Gavin is a solid performer and he is looking more and more likely to be on the start-list at the Olympics next year. Aileen Morrison competes at the same venue tomorrow in the women's equivalent.

Dan man

Irish Olympic hopefuls Peter O'Leary and David Burrows have finished 4th at the European Star Class Sailing Championships in Dun Laoghaire this week, another good performance by the duo. I'm not sure why they weren't awarded the bronze medal as the Canadian team finished in third place and as it is a European Champs, can't understand why they are elligible for a medal. In any case, this result is another pointer to the potential of the Irish duo and they should be threatening the medals at the World Championships at the end of the year.

Dan man

Ireland's Ciaran Heurteau has finished 28th at the Canoe Slalom World Championships in Slovakia. As a result, Ireland has missed the opportunity to qualify a boat for next year's Olympics at this championships. Ciaran needed to finish amongst the top 15 countries but alas placed 18th best country. However, all is not lost as two more boats will qualify via the European Championships next year and as a lot of European countries have booked their spot at the Olympics at these champs, Ireland will have a decent chance of attainig qualification next year. Not a bad performance by Ciaran this weekend.

Dan man

At the Modern Pentathlon World Championships, Ireland's Natalya Coyle has finished in 32nd position. She has had a very good year. Remember she is still a junior athlete and as the country does not have a strong tradition in this sport, her achievements have been nothing short of outstanding. We have top-class juniors coming through in the men's equivalent also and the likes of Eanna Bailey and Arthur Lanigan-O'Keeffe have the potential to raise the status of modern pentathlon in this country not to mention young Emily Greenan from Letterkenny who competed well at last year's youth Olympics in Singapore. Modern Pentathlon is certainly heading in the right direction in Ireland and is in good hands.

Dan man

Aileen Morrison has placed 18th at the Triathlon World Championships Series final in Beijing today. Another solid performance by Morrison so lets hope she can carry this forward into next year. There is very little separating her from the very best in the world and she will have the advantage of an Olympics virtually on her doorstep next year. I'm expecting big things from Aileen as she seems to really throw herself into serious training and another year stronger will see her really perform at the top end of this sport.

Dan man

Irish swimmer Sycerika McMahon has produced some fantastic performances at the Youth Commonwealth Games in the Isle of Man. She won a total of 3 golds and 2 silvers but it was her record-breaking form that was very impressive. In the 100m breastroke, Sycerika took gold in a new senior Irish record of 1:07.93mins. This is a very impressive time as it is inside the A-Standard for the Olympics (although this meet is likely not an elligible event to achieve qualification) and is less than a second outside some of the world's top swimmers. She also set a new Irish senior record in the 50m breastroke. Not sure why her performance here has gone under the radar as this is a very positive development. It suggests that she will achieve the A-standard for a number of Olympic events and she is rapidly progressing towards a top-class international swimmer. Well done Sycerika.

Dan man

Team Ireland have had a very shaky start at the European Showjumping Championships in Madrid. In their final chance to secure a team place at next year's Olympic Games, the Irish are lying well down the leaderboard in 9th place and more importantly are only 5th of the non-qualified teams. With three Olympic qualifying spots up for grabs, the Irish seriously need to have a really good day tomorrow to challenge those above them. It is very reminiscent of the last time we failed to qualify for the Olympics 4 years ago. However, the positive is that they are not too far behind the third best non-qualified nation, Spain. But there is little margin for error now. The top 10 countries advance to Friday's final after tomorrow's action. Here is the standings after the speed competition:

1. France (already qualified for Olympics) 5.90
2. Germany (pre-qualified for Olympics) 8.84
3. Sweden 13.50
4. Netherlands 14.87
5. Great Britain (pre-qualified for Olympics) 18.94
6. Belgium (pre-qualified for Olympics) 19.58
7. Spain 23.06
8. Italy 25.00
9. IRELAND 26.26
10. Switzerland 29.34
11. Portugal 30.44
12. Austria 39.19
13. Norway 45.79
14. Denmark 46.45
15. Hungary 48.76
16. Poland 86.10

finbarrk

Thanks Dan. Missed it yesterday because of Listowel. Eurosport later.

Dan man

finbarrk wrote: »

Thanks Dan. Missed it yesterday because of Listowel. Eurosport later.

No problem, I worked out the scores myself so apologies if there are any errors. Fingers and toes crossed the Irish can push up the leaderboard and their rivals have a shocker.

Dodge

Your scores are wrong Dan. They discount the highest score

Here's standings
1 France – 2.95
2 Germany – 4.41
3 Sweden – 6.74
4 Netherlands - 7.42
5 Great Britain - 9.46
6 Belgium - 9.78
7 Spain - 11.53
8 Italy - 12.49
9 IRELAND - 13. 12
10 Switzerland - 14.66
11 Portugal – 15.21
12 Austria - 19.59
13 Norway – 22.89
14 Denmark – 23.22
15 Hungary – 24.37
16 Poland – 40.29

Individually they rank

6 Billy Twomey
27 Shane Sweetnam
51 Denis Lynch
53 Nicola Fitzgibbon

Lynch in particular will be eager to improve on that. The top 25 will go forward to the individual round

Live scoring here; http://results.scgvisual.com/2011/ec-jumping/index.html

Dan man

Thanks for that Dodge, I took into account the discard score but it seems that they have halved the penalty count from the speed comp. I had a feeling my scores were wrong. Ireland still had a bad start but as the penalty scores have been halved, then it means we are much closer to the teams above us. All to play for. I think the more technical the course layout is, the more it will play to our advantage.

Dodge

While I’m here, Ireland is in with a shout of qualifying 4 cyclists for next year’s Olympic Road Race. We’re currently ranked 15th in the world, and the top 15 qualify 4 riders.

There’s only 2 events left with the Tour of Beijing and the Giro di Lombardia classic. It will be very, very tight though. Here’s the state of play

Those within reach are
13 Denmark 285
14 Kazakhstan 234
15 Ireland 219
16 Slovenia 219
17 Slovakia 208
18 Colombia 175
19 Portugal 163

Nicolas Roche is defnitely riding Beijing and Lomabardia. Dan Martin is likely to ride Lombardia.

Denmark looks safe but a top 8 position in either would see us leap frog Kazakhstan. Prominent cyclists from other contending countries include Slovenia - Brajkovic, Bole, Bozic, Slovakia - Sagan, Velits x 2, Colombia – Uran, Portugal – Rui Costa)

Dan man

Dodge wrote: »

While I’m here, Ireland is in with a shout of qualifying 4 cyclists for next year’s Olympic Road Race. We’re currently ranked 15th in the world, and the top 15 qualify 4 riders.

There’s only 2 events left with the Tour of Beijing and the Giro di Lombardia classic. It will be very, very tight though. Here’s the state of play

Those within reach are
13 Denmark 285
14 Kazakhstan 234
15 Ireland 219
16 Slovenia 219
17 Slovakia 208
18 Colombia 175
19 Portugal 163

Nicolas Roche is defnitely riding Beijing and Lomabardia. Dan Martin is likely to ride Lombardia.

Denmark looks safe but a top 8 position in either would see us leap frog Kazakhstan. Prominent cyclists from other contending countries include Slovenia - Brajkovic, Bole, Bozic, Slovakia - Sagan, Velits x 2, Colombia – Uran, Portugal – Rui Costa)

Yes, I have been keeping a close eye on these rankings. Although if they finish in the top 15, technically they qualify 4 riders, however, the rule is that nations who do not qualify a quota (top 15) but with a rider with a ranking on the world tour, take places away in reverse order from those countries in the top 15. So these unqualified countries eat into the quota of those who countries who finished in the top 15, beginning with the 15th country on the list and continuing to the top nation and so on until all the spots are filled. Sorry, it is difficult to explain.

Dodge

At the halfway point in the 2nd round the relevent scores are

Sweden (6.74) 8 + 8
Netherlands (7.42) 0 + 9
Spain (11.53) 4 + 14
Italy (12.49) 16 + 20
IRELAND (13.12) 8 + 21
Switzerland (15.21) 4 + 9

Portugal are finished To their Rd 1 score of 15.21, they added 12 + 4 + 5. All scores count

We'll should be OK to qalify with 2 good round by Lynch and Twomey but overhauling Spain could be a major challenge if they don't go clear. Luckily italy will definitely keep at least the 16 score.


best possible score for each country is (assuming 2 clear rounds each with last 2 riders)

Netherlands 7.72
Sweden 14.74
Spain 15.53
Switzerland 19.21
Ireland 21.12
Italy 28.49

So we really need Sweden, Spain and Switerland to rack up those faults.

Dodge

Dan man wrote: »

Yes, I have been keeping a close eye on these rankings. Although if they finish in the top 15, technically they qualify 4 riders, however, the rule is that nations who do not qualify a quota (top 15) but with a rider with a ranking on the world tour, take places away in reverse order from those countries in the top 15. So these unqualified countries eat into the quota of those who countries who finished in the top 15, beginning with the 15th country on the list and continuing to the top nation and so on until all the spots are filled. Sorry, it is difficult to explain.

No I understand that. 35 nations have won UCI points.

I believe all 20 (outside the top 15) will earn places through the regional tours.

13 European nations (16 slots available)
4 American nations (6 available)
2 Asian (4 available)
1 OCeanic ( 1 available)

The only problem may be ireland qualifying riders through the European rankings to take the 3rd and 4th spots

finbarrk

Unlucky Dennis there.

Dodge

finbarrk wrote: »

Unlucky Dennis there.

His 9 means if Twomey scores 7 or more, Portugal will leap frog Ireland

Dodge

Right with one rider left for each country.

Here’s the scores for the unqualified

Netherlands 7.42
Sweden 18.74
Switzerland 27.66
Spain 29.53
Ireland 30.12
Portugal 36.21
Italy 36.49

So there’s less than a fence covering Switzerland, Spain and Ireland for that last spot.

Worst case scenarios are

Netherlands 16.42
Sweden 26.74
Portugal 36.21
Switzerland 40.66
Ireland 51.12
Spain 51.53
Italy 56.49

Dodge

Twomey goes clear and we're at least into the top ten (ahead of Switzerland and Portugal)

Hope revived for that 3rd spot

As an aside. Twomey is 2nd overall ATM. Worst he can place is 3rd (going into tomorrow)