Road to Tokyo 2020 - Irish Olympic News

Cosmo Kramer · 16-05-2021 6:46pm

11:36 in the 100m final for second place, so the Irish record survives for another little while at least. Ran in the winning relay team as well. Terrible weather conditions for it today though.

And 23:03 in the 200m final for second again. Really consistent running.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaCLdA3adeY

Chivito550 · 23-05-2021 12:49pm

Sanita only third in World Cup in Lucerne. What looked like a nailed on gold last year is no longer the case one year on. Had a terrible feeling this would happen.

LM2x won at a canter.

Dodge · 23-05-2021 1:48pm

Chivito550 wrote: »

Sanita only third in World Cup in Lucerne. What looked like a nailed on gold last year is no longer the case one year on. Had a terrible feeling this would happen.

The <new> Russian will win and Sanita will win silver. Sanita and Irish rowing happy with her performance today as she’s later to the programme than the others

The lightweight double will ease to gold if it not injured or ill

Important not to read too much into World Cup races in an Olympics year. It’s all about peaking for Tokyo

Irish Sports Follower · 23-05-2021 2:55pm

Huge performance from Ronan Byrne and Phillip Doyle this morning finishing a close second-place in the World Cup event. We can now categorise them as genuine medal contenders again.

Also, at the European Swimming Championships, the Irish men's medley relay team apparently took a giant step towards Olympic qualification by making the European final. They race again tonight in the final and will hope to go faster again.

Strazdas · 23-05-2021 10:13pm

Dodge wrote: »

The <new> Russian will win and Sanita will win silver. Sanita and Irish rowing happy with her performance today as she’s later to the programme than the others

The lightweight double will ease to gold if it not injured or ill

Important not to read too much into World Cup races in an Olympics year. It’s all about peaking for Tokyo

What is up with Sanita? Was she sick or injured earlier this year?

Oldira · 23-05-2021 10:33pm

Strazdas wrote: »

What is up with Sanita? Was she sick or injured earlier this year?

Nothing other than the fact she’s 39 and probably conserving energy for Tokyo. Unfortunately I think the postponement of the games has cost her Gold. Hopefully she gets a medal of some sort.

Oldira · 25-05-2021 10:53am

Cosmo Kramer wrote: »

Anyone know how we are doing in terms of overall numbers compared to previous years - any prospect of this being our largest ever team or anything like that? Having a full hockey squad going may help towards that.

If both our swim relay teams qualify, I think there is an excellent chance our team will hit 100. Depends on how many athletes and boxers make the cut even a conservative figure of 10 and 3 respectively then 100 is near nailed on.

Cosmo Kramer · 04-06-2021 7:21pm

Decent first day at the boxing qualifiers - five Irish fighters in action and all five won their bouts. That puts each of them one win from Olympic qualification, although there's a suggestion that Michaela Walsh's win today by itself may have given her enough ranking points to qualify regardless of how she does from here.

Strazdas · 04-06-2021 8:25pm

Cosmo Kramer wrote: »

Decent first day at the boxing qualifiers - five Irish fighters in action and all five won their bouts. That puts each of them one win from Olympic qualification, although there's a suggestion that Michaela Walsh's win today by itself may have given her enough ranking points to qualify regardless of how she does from here.

A great start in fact. Hopefully the likes of Harrington and Walsh can win their way straight through now and don't need any backdoor route or to win a box off.

Cosmo Kramer · 05-06-2021 3:46pm

Something of a reversal of fortunes with the boxers today - 0 wins from three bouts unfortunately. George Bates was the closest, a win for him would have qualified him for Tokyo but he was beaten by a split decision after a poor final round.

Four more to come later this evening, hopefully things will turn around for the team.

swim2 · 05-06-2021 4:04pm

Two relay swim Teams also qualified today for Tokyo

Strazdas · 05-06-2021 6:09pm

Kellie Harrington qualifies for Tokyo.....well done to her

Cosmo Kramer · 05-06-2021 6:10pm

Great win there for Kellie Harrington against a French boxer with a really good record. She's off to Tokyo.

That's great news about the swimmers also.

Cosmo Kramer · 05-06-2021 7:16pm

Great comeback win from Aoife O'Rourke there (or Awoofie as she was repeatedly called by the BBC commentator) and she's off to Tokyo as well.

Strazdas · 05-06-2021 7:17pm

Great performance from Aoife O'Rourke to qualify for the Games against the Polish boxer and No.4 seed Wojcik. Lost the opener but came back with two barnstorming rounds to win comfortably in the end....fair play to her.

normanoffside · 05-06-2021 7:18pm

Cosmo Kramer wrote: »

Great comeback win from Aoife O'Rourke there (or Awoofie as she was repeatedly called by the BBC commentator) and she's off to Tokyo as well.

The Scottish co-commentator correcting him was also miles off with his 'Effa' pronunciation.

Strazdas · 05-06-2021 7:19pm

Cosmo Kramer wrote: »

Great comeback win from Aoife O'Rourke there (or Awoofie as she was repeatedly called by the BBC commentator) and she's off to Tokyo as well.

Really gutsy stuff, didn't panic at all after losing the opening round and kept pilling forward - Polish girl looked knackered in the end.

Always_Running · 05-06-2021 8:30pm

Cosmo Kramer wrote: »

Great comeback win from Aoife O'Rourke there (or Awoofie as she was repeatedly called by the BBC commentator) and she's off to Tokyo as well.

The brits and Americans really struggle with Irish names

She's from great stock. Great grand daughter of Dan O'Rourke who coached Roscommon to senior football All-Irelands in 1943/44 and he was also the president of the GAA (1946-1949) she's also a decent footballer herself and younger sister Lisa is a boxer as well and will be hoping to follow in Aoifes foot steps.

First Roscommon Olympian since Dr Martin Feely in the 70s for rowing (he's been in the news and on TV plentiful the last year)

Cosmo Kramer · 06-06-2021 9:19am

Would be interesting to see a county by county breakdown of the qualifiers once they're all known, with a bigger squad this year there should be a decent spread. Would be great (albeit unlikely) to have all 32 counties represented. I'm sure someone somewhere will do one before the Olympics start.

Strazdas · 06-06-2021 1:28pm

Always_Running wrote: »

The brits and Americans really struggle with Irish names

She's from great stock. Great grand daughter of Dan O'Rourke who coached Roscommon to senior football All-Irelands in 1943/44 and he was also the president of the GAA (1946-1949) she's also a decent footballer herself and younger sister Lisa is a boxer as well and will be hoping to follow in Aoifes foot steps.

First Roscommon Olympian since Dr Martin Feely in the 70s for rowing (he's been in the news and on TV plentiful the last year)

I was very impressed with her fitness levels btw. The Polish girl was blowing hard and looked exhausted in the third round whilst Aoife was fresh as a daisy.

Strazdas · 06-06-2021 1:39pm

And we have another Tokyo qualifier. Michaela Walsh comfortably outboxes Stephanie Thour of Sweden to win the ticket straight through.....well done to her.

Edit : and now joined by her brother Aidan on the flight to Tokyo. It's been a fantastic 24 hours for the team.

Cosmo Kramer · 06-06-2021 3:23pm

Must be looking at somewhere north of 90 now for the team once the athletics team is finalised. Has been a really good weekend for the boxers and also with the confirmation of the swim relay teams.

Oldira · 06-06-2021 9:48pm

Cosmo Kramer wrote: »

Must be looking at somewhere north of 90 now for the team once the athletics team is finalised. Has been a really good weekend for the boxers and also with the confirmation of the swim relay teams.

I still think it will top 100 but that’s depending on a good few athletes qualifying. Also a shooter and gymnast.

flynng · 06-06-2021 11:39pm

Carolyn Hayes guaranteed a spot in Tokyo for Triathlon after her 10th in Leeds today. Well done!

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=4317605648284320&id=180216932023233

Cosmo Kramer · 06-06-2021 11:47pm

Seems like there may be an issue with the men's freestyle relay team qualification - the invitation announcement may have been premature and they may not actually be invited to compete.

Still to be clarified either way.

Dodge · 07-06-2021 12:33am

Cosmo Kramer wrote: »

Seems like there may be an issue with the men's freestyle relay team qualification - the invitation announcement may have been premature and they may not actually be invited to compete.

Still to be clarified either way.

The announcement wasn’t premature. They are very careful about this. They received an official invitation from FINA. It’s the medley team, not the freestyle. That’s not in doubt at all

The issue may have been that FINA didn’t invite Greece but Swim Ireland weren’t premature. They revived the invite and announced it

It’ll probably end up with 17 teams in two events (Switzerland are involved too).

The bigger issue will be the balls up they made about diving. We could have anything between 0 and 3 divers based on interpretation of their own contradictory rules

Dodge · 07-06-2021 3:19pm

Statement from swim ireland. Place was offered, accepted and then rescinded. They’re going with legal action...

https://twitter.com/swimireland/status/1401895481588977667?s=21

brendanwalsh · 07-06-2021 3:22pm

Sinead diver gets her spot on the Aussie team.
Absolutely disgraceful what the Irish team did to her. She would have been our best chance of a medal in a long time

dr.kenneth noisewater · 07-06-2021 3:38pm

brendanwalsh wrote:

Sinead diver gets her spot on the Aussie team. Absolutely disgraceful what the Irish team did to her. She would have been our best chance of a medal in a long time

What did they do? Always sounded like it was easier her to run for Oz as she lived there

Dodge · 07-06-2021 4:10pm

brendanwalsh wrote: »

Sinead diver gets her spot on the Aussie team.
Absolutely disgraceful what the Irish team did to her. She would have been our best chance of a medal in a long time

To be fair Sinead has absolutely no chance of a medal

I’m not commenting on how she was treated but she won’t be near a medal

Cosmo Kramer · 07-06-2021 6:00pm

It seems like the relay swimmers may be relying on goodwill from FINA here. Ultimately they're being invited to someone else's party and if the organisers no longer want them there they can presumably rescind the invite. Olympic pools are 10 lanes wide so they could possibly, in theory, squeeze them in, but it all feels a bit like Team 33 at the world cup after the Henry handball. Someone else's mistake, but we end up paying the price for it.

Dodge · 07-06-2021 6:51pm

Cosmo Kramer wrote: »

It seems like the relay swimmers may be relying on goodwill from FINA here. Ultimately they're being invited to someone else's party and if the organisers no longer want them there they can presumably rescind the invite. Olympic pools are 10 lanes wide so they could possibly, in theory, squeeze them in, but it all feels a bit like Team 33 at the world cup after the Henry handball. Someone else's mistake, but we end up paying the price for it.

It’s not really. They offered the invitation and ireland accepted it in good faith. There’s even a bit of precedence for Ireland when we were invited to the Winter Olympics because they forgot about Australia. Both nations threaten to sue and both nations ended up going...

In better news, Michelle Finn just ran a qualifying time at 3000m steeplechase

Strazdas · 07-06-2021 7:51pm

Yet another boxing qualifier : Emmet Brennan wins his box off after a ferocious battle with a Swede and a knife edge decision and gets the ticket to Tokyo.

jamule · 07-06-2021 9:37pm

dr.kenneth noisewater wrote: »

What did they do? Always sounded like it was easier her to run for Oz as she lived there

They didn't really do anything to her. They had a higher standard than the Q for the worlds, she got the standard, they said no, she was pissed, australlia atletics said yeah, she ran for austrailia.

Given the lack of forward thinking at the best of times, AAI were not going to change their qualifying time for a 33yr old that never ran in ireland or was ever on their radar.

Saying that if she was coached by Bideau back in 2013 the opposite would have happened!

Dodge · 07-06-2021 10:43pm

Updated state of play

https://www.balls.ie/olympics/updated-list-of-every-irish-athlete-qualified-for-the-summer-olympics-410870

The world judo championship is happening now. Tough draw for Megan Fletcher but even one win might be enough

Strazdas · 08-06-2021 1:36pm

Kellie Harrington wins the Olympic qualifier gold medal bout against the GB boxer Dubois with a high class performance. I believe she will now be the No.1 seed in Tokyo.

brendanwalsh · 08-06-2021 2:05pm

jamule wrote: »

They didn't really do anything to her. They had a higher standard than the Q for the worlds, she got the standard, they said no, she was pissed, australlia atletics said yeah, she ran for austrailia.

Given the lack of forward thinking at the best of times, AAI were not going to change their qualifying time for a 33yr old that never ran in ireland or was ever on their radar.
!

The adjustment of the qualifying time was nasty. She was the only Irish person to reach it iirc. Our best long distance runner runs for Australia, you couldn’t make it up

Dodge · 08-06-2021 2:48pm

Strazdas wrote: »

Kellie Harrington wins the Olympic qualifier gold medal bout against the GB boxer Dubois with a high class performance. I believe she will now be the No.1 seed in Tokyo.

She’ll likely be number 2. The world champion from Brazil will be number 1. Haven’t finished my calculation but Kellie can’t catch the Brazilian

Strazdas · 08-06-2021 3:02pm

Dodge wrote: »

She’ll likely be number 2. The world champion from Brazil will be number 1. Haven’t finished my calculation but Kellie can’t catch the Brazilian

Oh right, but that's still pretty decent. She looks in fantastic shape anyway, peaking at a perfect time.

Dodge · 08-06-2021 3:05pm

Strazdas wrote: »

Oh right, but that's still pretty decent. She looks in fantastic shape anyway, peaking at a perfect time.

Actually I misread the document. As there’s no qualifying tournament for America the Brazilian is automatically seeded number 3 (as are all the top ranked American qualifiers)

Kellie is indeed number 1 seed in Tokyo.

Pogue eile · 08-06-2021 3:42pm

brendanwalsh wrote: »

Our best long distance runner runs for Australia, you couldn’t make it up

She has lived in Australia for over 20 years and only took up any form of Athletics less than 10 years ago, there is nothing to make up here, it makes perfect sense that she is running for Australia.

Dodge · 08-06-2021 3:43pm

Pogue eile wrote: »

She has lived in Australia for over 20 years and only took up any form of Athletics less than 10 years ago, there is nothing to make up here, it makes perfect sense that she is running for Australia.

It’s also not that big a deal in terms of results. She might be top 20 at the Olympics. Fionnuala McCormack was 20th at the last one and it barely registered

Strazdas · 08-06-2021 4:26pm

Dodge wrote: »

Actually I misread the document. As there’s no qualifying tournament for America the Brazilian is automatically seeded number 3 (as are all the top ranked American qualifiers)

Kellie is indeed number 1 seed in Tokyo.

Better again then and she looks worthy of the No.1 seeding.

Chivito550 · 08-06-2021 10:09pm

jamule wrote: »

They didn't really do anything to her. They had a higher standard than the Q for the worlds, she got the standard, they said no, she was pissed, australlia atletics said yeah, she ran for austrailia.

Given the lack of forward thinking at the best of times, AAI were not going to change their qualifying time for a 33yr old that never ran in ireland or was ever on their radar.

Saying that if she was coached by Bideau back in 2013 the opposite would have happened!

That's not true. They only changed the standard from 2:43 to 2:33:30 after Sinead indicated she wanted to compete for Ireland in Beijing 2015 Worlds, having already bagged a 2:34 in late 2014. It was a deliberate ploy to avoid having to pick her. For Rio the next year, the qualification standard was back down to 2:45 or so.

It's indefensible.

Sinead wanted to run for Ireland. She always presumed she would, saying "I'm Irish after all".

Chivito550 · 08-06-2021 10:13pm

Pogue eile wrote: »

She has lived in Australia for over 20 years and only took up any form of Athletics less than 10 years ago, there is nothing to make up here, it makes perfect sense that she is running for Australia.

There are tons or articles online about this. Sinead wanted to run for Ireland. I've even heard her say it to me in the flesh.

Chivito550 · 08-06-2021 10:16pm

Dodge wrote: »

It’s also not that big a deal in terms of results. She might be top 20 at the Olympics. Fionnuala McCormack was 20th at the last one and it barely registered

There's more to the Olympics than medals, or top 8 placings. Sinead's story is truly inspiring. Athletics Ireland could have milked her big time. Their loss.

Had the Olympics been last year, I think Sinead could have hit top 8. Not sure what impact the extra year will have. Sinead in 2019 v Fionnuala in 2016 though is no comparison. Sinead was in much better form. Fionnuala has stepped up though since in the marathon and hopefully can threaten a top 10.

Dodge · 09-06-2021 1:57am

Chivito550 wrote: »

There's more to the Olympics than medals, or top 8 placings. Sinead's story is truly inspiring. Athletics Ireland could have milked her big time. Their loss.

Had the Olympics been last year, I think Sinead could have hit top 8. Not sure what impact the extra year will have. Sinead in 2019 v Fionnuala in 2016 though is no comparison. Sinead was in much better form. Fionnuala has stepped up though since in the marathon and hopefully can threaten a top 10.

A couple of days ago, someone here said Ireland lost its best medal hope. She has no hope of a medal. That was my point.

I don’t believe her story is that inspiring, and I don’t believe AI would have or could have milked it. It’s a strawman argument either way now as it won’t change. I actually think she got more press here by running for Australia but again, that can’t be proved either way

You and others are more qualified to comment on how she was treated. I know she was unhappy with it (from what I’ve read) but so be it. She’s decided to run for Australia and that’s that

Chivito550 · 09-06-2021 8:15am

Dodge wrote: »

A couple of days ago, someone here said Ireland lost its best medal hope. She has no hope of a medal. That was my point.

I don’t believe her story is that inspiring, and I don’t believe AI would have or could have milked it. It’s a strawman argument either way now as it won’t change. I actually think she got more press here by running for Australia but again, that can’t be proved either way

You and others are more qualified to comment on how she was treated. I know she was unhappy with it (from what I’ve read) but so be it. She’s decided to run for Australia and that’s that

I took it to mean our best hope of a medal we've ever had in the women's marathon, as no other meaning could have made sense. Of course, she has zero chance of a medal, but she'd certainly have been our best prospect of a high placing in the women's marathon for a few decades.

I find her story very inspiring, so we'll agree to disagree there.

Cosmo Kramer · 10-06-2021 4:29pm

Dodge wrote: »

Updated state of play

https://www.balls.ie/olympics/updated-list-of-every-irish-athlete-qualified-for-the-summer-olympics-410870

The world judo championship is happening now. Tough draw for Megan Fletcher but even one win might be enough

I see she finished 5th at the World Championship. Hopefully enough to get her to the Olympics.

Dodge · 10-06-2021 4:35pm

Cosmo Kramer wrote: »

I see she finished 5th at the World Championship. Hopefully enough to get her to the Olympics.

Making the last 16 meant she was safe. A very good day for her. Beat 2 women ranked above her

Road to Tokyo 2020 - Irish Olympic News

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