The Road to Paris 2024-Irish Olympic news and updates.

Oldira

Believe it or not but the first qualifying event for Paris takes place later this month with the World Triathlon Mixed Relay Finals where the winners qualify for Paris. Lots of sports have now published their qualification criteria although not the big ones..Swimming, Athletics, Cycling. Below is a link if anyoe is interested:

https://olympics.com/ioc/documents/olympic-games/paris-2024-olympic-games

Other big Qualification events this Summer are the World Sailing and Equestrian championships in August.

As for Ireland our medal hopes will again be in Boxing, Rowing, Taekwando and Gymnastics.

Here's to the next two years of scouring the internet for qualification information.

phelimcas

Would like to think that a few more sports will perform as well.

Possibly more finalists in swimming and athletics and also more competative in equestrian sports and rugby sevens.

Some notable younger athletes but competition is really strong so medals will be really hard to come by.

Oldira

First qualifiers for Paris 24 in any sport (bar the hosts) are the British Mixed Relay team in Triathlon!

Only another 10,000 more to go.

Cosmo Kramer

Good to see the 2024 thread up and running. Hopefully Boards.ie is still a thing by the time the Olympics come around two years from now. No guarantees on that front unfortunately.

However I'm posting as I see the equestrian team have qualified tonight - they have had their battles to qualify in the past so good to see them get it done two years in advance this time around.

Strazdas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119466086#Comment_119466086

That's excellent news for them. Takes the pressure off them and gives them a full two years to prepare for Paris.

Irish Sports Follower

See below for my post.

Irish Sports Follower

I have tried to summarise key recent developments for our Olympic hopefuls and the impact they have had on our medal prospects for Paris.

Athletics:

·        Rhasidat Adeleke has lowered her PB over 400m to 50.5 seconds. With Adeleke due to start training specifically for this event for the first time this winter, she should mature into a strong medal contender for Paris should she avoid injury.

·        Ciara Mageean is currently amongst the world's top 5/6 1500m runners. However, given the strength of the top 3/4 athletes, she remains a very remote medal contender at world level.

 

Sailing

·        Channelling the disappointment of failing to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics, Finn Lynch has emerged as a major medal contender for Paris – he won the silver medal at last year’s World Championships before finishing in sixth place this year.

Boxing

·        Despite the current anarchy surrounding the IABA, we have at least retained the services of Zaur Antia whilst the funding of our high performance athletes has been ringfenced in the run-up to Paris. With a litany of Olympic, World, European and Commonwealth medallists still within our amateur ranks, I believe we are well placed to win more medals inside the ring in Paris than in Tokyo notwithstanding the best efforts of the IABA to disrupt the team’s preparation as much as possible.

Showjumping

·        Our showjumping team came fourth at the recent World Championships (qualifying for the Olympics in the process) and looked imperious in winning the Aga Khan trophy last week. With Conor Swail currently ranked fourth in the world and Cian O’Connor always delivering at Olympic Games, we should have a strong chance of winning an Equestrian medal in Paris.

Rowng

·        Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy look very well placed to retain their Olympic title in Paris, with the latter reportedly improving significantly over the past year. Whilst the upcoming World Championships will give us a better insight into the medal credentials of our other crews, the Women’s Four looked relatively impressive in winning the silver medal at the European Championships.  

Gymnastics

·        Rhys McClenaghan was off his very best at the recent Commonwealth Games and European Championships but will hopefully return to his best form in time for Paris, whereupon he would be a major medal contender.

Swimming

·        Mona McSharry and Ellen Walshe won medals at the World Short Course Swimming Championships last December raising hopes that they could morph into global medal contenders in the 50 metre pool. Whilst Mona performed admirably at the European Championships last week, her times have not improved from last summer – she will need to find at least another three or four tenths of a second in the next two years to challenge for an Olympic medal. Ellen’s withdrawal from the European Championships ensures that her potential in a long-course global meet remains difficult to gauge. Elsewhere, Daniel Wiffen continues to improve exponentially at each championship he part-takes in (his new PB over 800 metres would have placed sixth at the World Championships this year) – should this [progression continue over the next two years, he may well become a realistic medal contender for Paris.  

Strazdas

^ Rhys McCleneghan seems to have had a huge loss of confidence in the last couple of years. He had already lost his form even before Tokyo. Still plenty of time for him to recover, but the jury is out at the moment.

KevIRL

Men's rugby sevens team just got bronze in the world cup. Beat Australia in the 3rd place match with wins over england and hosts south Africa earlier in the tournament. Only lost to New Zealand in the semi final by a single score

Strazdas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119604420#Comment_119604420

And the women finished 7th - seems both teams are in great shape.

Irish Sports Follower

Since my last post: Ciara MaGeean elevated herself to world-class level beating Laura Muir twice at the end of her season suggesting she may well be a medal contender at global level; Ireland won three medals at the World Rowing Championships in Olympic boats; Ireland won seven medals at the women's European Boxing Championships; Rory McIlroy regained his status as the world's number one golfer whilst Seamus Power won his second title on the PGA Tour and; Rhys McClenaghan won gold at the World Gymnastics Championships. I really believe Ireland is capable of having a breakthrough Olympics in Paris and could claim up to eight or nine medals. Let's hope these great performances continue over the coming months.

Strazdas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119838720#Comment_119838720

Yes, there appears to be a host of medal prospects coming through. The women boxers look like they could win a number of medals in Paris - two 2022 world champions and an Olympic champion on the current team. The rowers seem to be going from strength to strength.

Rhys McClenaghan hitting top form is very welcome, that was probably the best performance of his life today.

finbarrk

What's the story with both the Rugby 7's and qualification?

Strazdas

Rhasidat getting faster and faster : that's a very quick time, even by global standards

https://twitter.com/AlmeidaVictorK/status/1616921626922164225

finbarrk

A chance of qualifying, Women's Rugby 7's.

https://www.balls.ie/rugby/stacey-flood-ireland-sevens-olympics-549685

Oldira

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120471693#Comment_120471693

They should have had qualification wrapped up but the last two tournaments were disasters and are not barely ahead of Fiji and GB. I hope GB get the spot if we dont as we would be very strong favourites for the European Qualifier.

KevIRL

The women's sevens team have qualified

finbarrk

Anyone get any tickets in last months lottery?

Lost Ormond

Mens 7s rugby side into european games semi final. play Georgia or Portugal in that. if they win the european games they qualify for Paris and if not will be in world repechage

fits

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120720944#Comment_120720944

Men’s 100m final and Individual showjumping final. Delighted!

Strazdas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120769420#Comment_120769420

The boxers are going well too. A load of them are closing in on qualification, mostly on the female side.

Lost Ormond

Mens 7s comfortably winning their semi final against Portugal

GB or Spain in final.

Lost Ormond

24-0 win

Lost Ormond

men beat gb 26-12

Strazdas

Men's 7s have qualified for Paris - completely outclassed GB in the European final.

Oldira

So far two quotas won. Amy Broadhurst failing to win her quarter Final is a major surprise. The move up to 66kg might be a step too far.

Happyhouse22

Love this thread. (And others from previous Olympiads)

Is Adeleke a serious medal prospect? Would be amazing to get a track medal..

Strazdas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120905668#Comment_120905668

Assuming she keeps on lowering her time, she could well be a medal prospect by this time next year. Gold would be a big ask, but you wouldn't rule out a podium finish for her.

Oldira

Not a bad Summer for gaining quots for Paris.

5 in Boxing

3 in Swimming

1 in Sailing

7 in Athletics.

The latter is more than I expected. Last Olympiad we only had only 4 direct qualifiers on the Track and this time after jusr 2 months we are already at 7. Not to mention two genuine medal contenders. We also have 2 contenders in Swimming so its great that we have chances of medals in the two core Olympic sports.

Next up is the World Rowing Championships next week. I would expect we will qualify 4-5 oats there with a possibility of 1 or 2 more in the FQR.

Team now up to 46.

At the same stage in 2019 we were at 13. Sevens Rugby being the big difference.

Strazdas

Rhys McClenaghan retains his world gymnastics title and qualifies for the Olympics in the process:

https://twitter.com/RTEsport/status/1710663400118690277

Cosmo Kramer

Worrying signs on boxing for 2028. When you factor in the lightweight rowing going as well it feels like any olympic sport we find a niche for ourselves in and do well at ends up getting pulled.

2024 should hopefully be our most successful Olympics ever but we may need a significant shift of focus after that to avoid going backwards. Anyone up for a game of flag football..?