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The Daily PollIRISH ATHLETES WINNING medals at the Olympic Games is as wonderful as it is rare.
On the all-time list of medal-winning countries we come in about 60th place, depending on what exactly you’re counting.
As a small country it’s clearly very hard for Ireland to compete with the big nations but one of the suggestions that’s been put forward is only funding the sports where we have the best chance of winning.
It’s a model adopted by the similarly-sized New Zealand that has proved very successful in recent years.
In the latest episode of our Ireland 2029 podcast series, we take a look at whether Ireland could go down that route and what advantages and disadvantages there are to it.
But are the Olympics all about winning, or is taking part important too?
Poll: Should Ireland only fund Olympic sports where we have the best chance of winning?
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Other countries fund the development of athletes so they can progress to olympic standard and possibly medal. Oh but not Ireland. We will leave the athletes to make elite standard on their own and then consider funding. Makes no sense.
@Ardmore02: will they have to pay back funding because they certainly won’t be sticking around to pay tax in Ireland if ‘they make it’
@Alan Watts: where does Katy Taylor pay her taxes?
@Alan Watts: yes. For example Sonia o Sullivan milked the system, ending up being paid for by us and living and working in Australia. Is her daughter now doing the same thing ( I don’t know but I’d imagine she would as there is no reason to stop taking money from any source
@alan: Can you give other examples that are less than 20 years old? At the moment Irish athletes have achieved success at World and European events in sports such as gymnastics, badminton, boxing, athletics, rowing, diving, swimming and sailing at underage and senior grades. Most are based in Ireland and train at the National Sports Campus.
Most of the older examples had nowhere in the country to do elite training up to the last dozen years or so.
I could be wrong but the structures have improved dramatically for all sports in Ireland since Sonia’s time. As for her daughter she is only about 17 years old so it’s probably a little early to take pot shots at her.
@Justin Cosgrove: yes. Fair enough. But Sonia really milked the system. Like people who train here and move off to some other country to work. Should have stopped taking money once she moved away to Australia
@Justin Cosgrove: Sonia daughter train and runs in Ireland
@alan: I feel like it’s a bit harsh to say Sonia “milked” the system when realistically, when she was running 25 years ago, there was much of a system to be milked. She paid everything up front and got some of her expenses reimbursed if she was successful. Open to correction on that but I think that’s how it worked in the good aul days.
@alan: Sonia didn’t move to Australia full time till she retired. when she was competing where 90% of the circuit is in Europe, she was still living out of ireland.
There’s alot of sports that we don’t excel at but it helps keep kids fit, build confidence and keep them off the streets. Our local judo club got funding from the state but internationally we are one of the weaker countries for the sport. Still I wouldn’t like to see funding cut for it.
Sport isn’t solely about winning. It’s about a myriad of different things that benefit our communities.
We need to look at curling in a serious way
@Dow Dubrov: not just the hilarious way, how is sweeping ice a sport. No wonder the Scots love it, scrubbers. Though they will have to invent a new sport now as they can’t even win it now!
@Dow Dubrov: Yes in terms of Winter Olympic success
@Dow Dubrov:
We have never won a Winter olympic medal, that would be an amazing honour to be the 1st.
@Dow Dubrov: good idea
Absolutely not. They should invest in proper facilities, like athletics tracks, swimming pools, gymnastics centres. The positive aspect of immigration is evident in track n field, volleyball and gymnastics at the moment. Eastern European communities are bringing their expertise and knowledge to Ireland and Irish children are learning from them. Parents are coaching and we are seeing children develop a love for sports outside the norm. Tackle obesity give children proper sports facilities.
If we did that, then we’d look defeatist and cynical
@Mr.Misery: Not really, look at the success GB had pumping money into track cycling, rowing, gymnastics and others, it’s not defeatist to put more funding into the sports we are more likely to do well in and make a call on those we don’t.
@Alex Flynn: GB identified minority sports that they reckoned had medals up for grabs. Then they went into schools to identify athletes with genuine potential, ran physiological test on them to identify their strengths, such as endurance etc, and then put them into the relevant program. The result was a gold rush of Olympic medals. But it all cost a small fortune.
On the subject of track cycling, we dont even have a velodrome and have some great kids coming through like Lara Gillespie, who has potential to be a genuine world beater.
@James Wallace: Agreed, I was using track cycling as an example, however we do have a serious talent in rowing, we have a great crop of young sprinters and distance runners coming through, we have a number of very talented professional cyclists competing in World Tours. We should play to our strengths and the infrastructure we already have. A talent spotting program similar to what GB put in place would be a good place to start.
@Alex Flynn: we don’t have any history or expertise in coaching or developing elite level sprinters.
Distance running yes, boxing yes, rowing and sailing yes. Leave the sprinting alone, it’ll suck up resources best spent elsewhere and give no rewards in the process.
@Dara O’Brien: We may not have a long history of developing sprinters but we can still produce them, in the last 10 years we have had Paul Hession, David Gillick, Derval O Rourke, Brian Gregan and now Thomas Barr and Phil Healy, bunch of juniors and U23′s coming through now as well. It can be done
The taxpayer should not be asked to fund olympic sports people who are essentially
professionals who earn millions more from advertising and promotions than their GAA counterparts.
@Moorooka Mick: I don’t think you understand the first thing about the average Irish potential Olympian
@jamesdecay: I think you missed the sarcasm
@eric nelligan: I think you’re right. Apologies Mick. I need to get out of bed earlier. Cough.
The spirit of the Olympics is taking part, not winning. Anyone who is good enough to qualify should be sent.
Yes definitely.
I call for an immediate increase in funding to;
Whining,
Complaining,
Begrudging,
Footing turf,
Boiling the b0ll0cks out of vegetables,
Mumbling to national anthems,
Getting fatter; and
Only going on holidays to places where everyone speaks english and has Irish Pubs and Irish food.
Why wouldn’t you want to fund Ireland’s bobsleigh team??
@The Debater: because this ain’t Jamaica, be realistic
@The Debater: because that’s a slippery slope we don’t want to go down
@The Debater: The film script writes itself
@James Wallace: I feel this comment hasn’t got enough likes.
Everyone deserves a chance.
Minority sports should have funding increased and the main stream sports should be audited to see are we getting value for money. Many people do not want to do main stream sports but are limited in participation in other sports because of a lack of amenities, access and funding.
Get hurling, Gaelic football, Camogie Ladies Gaelic football, Rounders and handball recognised as Olympic sports. Then we’ll clean up!!!!
The money should be spent on eradicating poverty and homelessness.a country with a third world health service should not be squandering resources on elite athletes
@Thomas Devlin: just checking; are you being sarcastic? My meter is on the blink at the moment…
I hear the smart money is in Olympic diving in Tipperary these days
What we need is a State funded doping system to compete with other countries athletic drug systems.
No give more to the GAA as they are scared of everything and it will pay for the designated driver when you are leaving the club bar !!
No point spending cash on donkeys
have your say