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Road to Tokyo 2020 - Irish Olympic News

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  • Registered Users Posts: 10,113 ✭✭✭✭Dodge


    Anyone any insight as to why Gurley and Boylan were dropped for the women's track cycling? Seems unbelievable to me that the two individuals that won the qualification aren't going to be the two competing.

    They didn’t win it on their own. The team was alway mixed. 5 different combinations in the last 8 qualifying events

    2019 World Champs - McCurley/Boylan
    2019/20 World Cup 1 - Kay/Sharpe
    2019/20 World Cup 2 - Boylan/Gurley
    2019/20 World Cup 3 - Boylan/Gurley
    2019/20 World Cup 4 - Kay/Gurley
    2019/20 World Cup 5 - Boylan/McCurley
    2019/20 World Cup 6 - Kay/McCurley
    2020 world champs - Boylan/Gurley

    Kay was ineligible for the 2020 worlds and McCurley missed much of that season with injury. It’s also been well over a year since they last raced. We’ve no idea how they were looking in training etc

    I’m sure it was a tough selection. I genuinely think it’s the only really tough selection that had to be made for the Olympic team. I know Boylan was upset by the decision.

    It could have been any two from Boylan, Gurley, McCurley, Kay and even Lara Gillespie and I’m sure they all believed they should be one


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,988 ✭✭✭Cosmo Kramer


    So the final team has been confirmed - 118 athletes, although at most 116 will compete as there are two spare relay runners.

    A decent geographical spread also with 26 of the 32 counties providing competitors to the team by my count.

    Just nine days till the competition starts - hopefully the story of the games does not end up being scores of athletes having to drop out of events due to Covid but, looking at how the Lions tour has been going, it's a distinct possibility.

    Thousands of athletes from all around the world gathering in one location, mixed in with officials, staff and volunteers - what could go wrong...


    On that note I see that the SA 7s team, who are due to play Ireland, are already in quarantine.



  • Registered Users Posts: 2,256 ✭✭✭metaoblivia


    I'm excited to see Meg Ryan and Rhys McClenaghan in Tokyo. Meg is the first gymnast trained in the ROI to represent Ireland in the Olympics. Ellis O'Reilly, who was the first female Irish gymnast to qualify to the Olympics in Rio, was trained in England which has a strong program. So this is a huge step for the Gymnastics Ireland High Performance system. And Meg's teammate Emma Slevin, who also trains in Ireland, was literally right behind her in qualifications. I wish both could go to Tokyo, but I know Emma plans on continuing in the sport and I think she has a great shot at 2024. With Rhys being a medal contender on pommel horse and the women's program flourishing & producing homegrown talent, the future looks really bright for gymnastics in Ireland.



  • Registered Users Posts: 357 ✭✭Oldira


    I wonder is Danielle Hill injured? Her instagram has her on the beach in Greystones today? Surely she should be in Tokyo by now?



  • Registered Users Posts: 357 ✭✭Oldira


    Ok. She’s flying out tomorrow. Leaving it late and missed the training camp.



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  • Registered Users Posts: 39,478 ✭✭✭✭KevIRL


    The offical app is now showing the schedule in GMT.


    All kicks off in 12 hours with day minus 2 😀


    I see organisers are refusing to rule out the whole thing being cancelled though.



  • Registered Users Posts: 17,840 ✭✭✭✭Strazdas


    I can't imagine the Games being cancelled at 72 hours notice. It's a gigantic event across multiple locations and thousands of athletes have already arrived in Japan.

    It's possible I suppose that individual events could be cancelled if there was a big Covid outbreak in a specific location.



  • Registered Users Posts: 10,113 ✭✭✭✭Dodge


    It’s just politics

    There is zero chance of the games, or any events, being cancelled

    Baseball and football continue to be played with large crowds in Japan



  • Registered Users Posts: 17,840 ✭✭✭✭Strazdas


    Indeed, and it's worth remembering that the Games are not a single 'event'. The rowing regatta takes place at one location, the sailing one at another, the equestrian at another etc. with large distances in kilometres between them. Cancelling the entire Games would be a crazy kneejerk reaction.



  • Registered Users Posts: 39,478 ✭✭✭✭KevIRL


    Ah yeah, think its just headline bait stuff.


    Looking forward to your Irish medal hopes preview, no pressure now....



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  • Registered Users Posts: 39,478 ✭✭✭✭KevIRL


    Day minus 2 well underway with Softball and Womens Soccer. Good result for Sweden beating USA in the soccer



  • Registered Users Posts: 45,535 ✭✭✭✭Mr.Nice Guy


    Bit disappointed at RTE's offering this time. Was it 2016 or 2012 where they had a fantastic interactive, online service allowing you to basically watch whatever you wanted? Doesn't seem to be on offer this time.

    'It is better to walk alone in the right direction than follow the herd walking in the wrong direction.'



  • Registered Users Posts: 39,366 ✭✭✭✭Itssoeasy


    2012 I think. Yeah it had all the sports in a grid and you could click on whatever you wanted and watch them live or some replays. Magic stuff.



  • Registered Users Posts: 21,444 ✭✭✭✭Skid X


    RTE and BBC don't have the same rights this year, they can only show a limited number of hours.

    Eurosport Player is the place to go for multiple streams



  • Registered Users Posts: 45,535 ✭✭✭✭Mr.Nice Guy


    Yeah it was quality. Loved the option of flicking through whatever sport I wanted. Gave me a chance to check out those less popular sports that I tend to miss through regular coverage.

    Don't think I'll bother with Eurosport as I've signed up to enough stuff as it is.

    'It is better to walk alone in the right direction than follow the herd walking in the wrong direction.'



  • Registered Users Posts: 17,840 ✭✭✭✭Strazdas


    The boxing draw has been made. Tricky draws for Michaela Walsh and Aoife O'Rourke, but if they could get past them, they would only be one win away from a medal, as they are already in the last 16. Emmett Brennan also has a difficult enough draw, but the other four boxers will be happy enough, including Kellie H.

    https://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/olympics/olympics-2021-kurt-walker-first-up-for-irish-boxers-while-kellie-harrington-gets-bye-to-last-16-40680059.html



  • Registered Users Posts: 7,139 ✭✭✭MrMusician18


    The EBU won the rights for its members in 2012, hence the quality of the offering back then



  • Registered Users Posts: 3,988 ✭✭✭Cosmo Kramer


    Since Irish involvement in the Olympics kicks off in a few hours I might as well throw up my almost certainly incorrect predictions for posterity. The possibility of Covid affecting both Irish competitors and rival competitors makes this Olympics very hard to predict and it will almost certainly impact us in some way. Anyway I'm going for five Irish medals - 1 Gold, 1 Silver and 3 Bronze.


    🥇O'Donovan/McCarthy - Rowing

    🥈Harrington - Boxing

    🥉Puspure - Rowing

    🥉Byrne/Doyle - Rowing

    🥉A Walsh - Boxing


    And here are my 10 best hopes for Irish medals in order of likelihood...


    1️⃣ O'Donovan/McCarthy

    2️⃣ Harrington

    3️⃣ Puspure

    4️⃣ Byrne/Doyle

    5️⃣ A Walsh

    6️⃣ McClenaghan

    7️⃣ M Walsh

    8️⃣ Keogh/Lambe/Murtagh/Hegarty

    9️⃣ Murphy

    🔟 Lowry



  • Registered Users Posts: 2,884 ✭✭✭Rigor Mortis


    One of our showjumpers will medal.

    If the sevens get a result against the US they could have a decent shot of a medal.



  • Registered Users Posts: 3,988 ✭✭✭Cosmo Kramer


    Comfortable win for Sanita Puspure in her heat. A bit of a disaster for Byrne and Doyle though - last of four in their heat and now have to go into the repechage tomorrow morning. That would have been well below expectations, an awful start for them.



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  • Registered Users Posts: 448 ✭✭Happyhouse22


    Las Olympics I watched mostly on BBC and it was great as they had a variety of channels I could watch on Sky. As has been mentioned earlier in this thread this will no longer be an option.

    is a Eurosport subscription by best/only option for this? I have RTÉ, BBC and Eurosport 1&2 with sky to presumably will get quite a lot of coverage without paying extra...


    Love to hear what other Olympic fans are doing :)



  • Registered Users Posts: 11,379 ✭✭✭✭klose


    Did soemthing happen to the double or did they just not have the pace? That has to go down as a shock, thankfully they've a rep but its not a great start.



  • Registered Users Posts: 357 ✭✭Oldira


    Based on that result there isn’t a hope of a medal there. Getting anxious about all our rowers now.



  • Registered Users Posts: 39,478 ✭✭✭✭KevIRL


    Yeah bad to see that result. Definite concerns. On the plus side Sunita got through as heat winner comfortably.

    Shane Ryan out of his best event the 100m backstroke.



  • Registered Users Posts: 11,379 ✭✭✭✭klose


    There were surely atleast A final material going on results recently so today is a shock by any stretch.


    The LW double should win gold bar any major events and Sanita has as good a shot as any for a medal too.



  • Registered Users Posts: 3,988 ✭✭✭Cosmo Kramer


    It wasn't good at all. They got off to a slightly slower start than the other three boats but had pulled themselves back into third by 1000m. At that stage, given that it was three from four to go through, you would have expected them to manage the race from there but by 1500m they were last again and never looked like making up the difference in the last 500m. In the end they pretty much packed it in with 100m to go, presumably realising that they weren't going to make it back and to conserve energy for the repechage.

    The only positives I could offer were that there were only small gaps between the four boats throughout and possibly the poor start might have killed their rhythm. Also the heats are very forgiving in that, unless they are absolutely awful, they will get through the repechage. I think the whole stage only results in the elimination of one boat, from 13 down to 12.

    However it means taking on an extra race than their main competitors which is likely to reduce any remaining chance of a medal. They skipped the mixed zone after the race so no explanation of what happened.

    Puspure looked decent but there's a lot of dead weight in that event so she didn't beat much in relative terms. You could see enough from the winners of the other heats to realise that she'll have plenty of competition for a medal in the final if she gets that far.



  • Registered Users Posts: 21,444 ✭✭✭✭Skid X


    That was a much earlier than usual appearance in the Parade Of Nations, we are usually in the Iran Iraq Israel sandwich


    Japanese Alphabet rules.



  • Registered Users Posts: 218 ✭✭The Buster


    Has anyone any good ways of following when Irish athletes are competing. I have downloaded app and checked few different websites and i can't find a way to tag athletes/nations. I would like a quick overview that i can look at to see when irish are competing. I know RTE/other news sites will have it each day but I want to see it now!!!



  • Registered Users Posts: 28,668 ✭✭✭✭HeidiHeidi


    On the official app, in the Schedule section, you can filter by country/sport



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  • Registered Users Posts: 3,988 ✭✭✭Cosmo Kramer


    Team Ireland schedule for Tokyo. Note that some of the rowing times have since been moved with the Monday rowing schedule moving to Sunday.


    Absolutely huge day tomorrow to properly kick us off with rowing, cycling, boxing, gymnastics, taekwondo, boxing and swimming involving Irish competitors. Dressage too but that's probably one to skip since there's loads of more interesting stuff (apologies to any dressage enthusiasts on the forum!). With a team of 116 it will be harder to stay on top of it all than previously but it's great at the same time.


    I'm on three weeks paternity leave so the timing couldn't be better really, cover the nights and watch the Olympics at the same time.😀



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