The 2024 Olympics have ended with Team Ireland winning a record 7 medals, split with 4 gold medals and 3 bronze medals. Our medal winners were Daniel Wiffin winning Gold and Bronze in the pool, Mona Mc Sharry won Bronze, Paul O Donovan and Fintan Mc Carthy won Gold in rowing, Rhys Mc Clenaghan won Gold in the pummel horse final. Phillip Doyle and Darragh Lynch won Bronze in rowing. Kellie Harrington doubled up winning Gold in boxing and defending the crown she won in Tokyo in 2021.

Other Team Ireland members like the women’s 4×400 were 4^th in an Olympic Final and there time would have been good enough to win medals at every Olympics barring 1988. That fact will cut little ice with the team of course but the achievements of making the Final last Friday cannot be understated.

Rhisdat Adeleke was also 4^th in the 400m women’s final, so on the track it was an extremely successful time although there was no medal on this occasion, the future does look bright for athletics in Ireland. Sarah Lavin advanced to the semi-finals of the 100m hurdles but bowed out at that point but can be so proud of her efforts in the Stade De France.

Team Ireland had countless strong finishes in many sports from rugby 7s through to canoeing. Like always the talk has now moved onto what can be done with more investment in facilities around Ireland to help many sports kick on from the strong finishes at Paris 2024.

For the athletes involved I am sure it will be now be time with family and refection on what has been achieved over the past few weeks as well as over the last few years.

We have managed our best medal haul at the modern olympics. Irish medals at Olympics are a scarce commodity so each one as I mentioned last week should be applauded and treasured. They are hard won and to have a few athletes over the past two Olympics back up their efforts from 2021 at Paris 2024 is special namely Kellie Harrington, Paul O Donovan and Fintan Mc Carthy.

The welcome today for the majority of Team Ireland at Dublin Airport was special and well deserved and then of course onto O Connell St for the official welcome home. The past few weeks has seen us all become experts in a range of sports from the 100m to Speed Climbing to name a few.

 It takes a special type of person to become a Olympian and then to medal in their chosen sport is another step entirely. Let’s hope the talk of more investment in coaching and facilities isn’t just idle talk and LA 2028 can be as successful if not more successful than Paris 2024.

Some organisations have to get around the table and see where they want their chosen sport to go into the future.

The talk from government about investment needs to see it put into practice and not be sitting here after another World Championship, European Championship or LA 2028 and be talking of the same issues. The time to act is now and we owe it to current athletes as well as the future athletes to act now rather than sit on our hands and make false promises.

We have seen what constant investment has done for other sports so let’s see some action over the coming months from the all parties that have a vested interest in the direction of Olympic sport here at home.

Huge congratulations to all of Team Ireland on their showings at Paris 2024 including of course our medallists. Well done too to the backroom teams of coaches, administrators, medical staff and anyone else involved with Team Ireland at Paris 2024.

The Paralympics will take place later in August and will I am sure garner similar degrees of interest from the Irish public….  

It has been a historic week in Paris with Team Ireland winning 6 medals so far with more chances to come over the next few hours as well as over the next 7 days. Mona Mc Sharry won bronze and that got the ball rolling.

Another medal in the Pool followed with Daniel Wiffin winning Gold on Tuesday evening. Success then followed in the rowing with Paul O Donovan and Fintan Mc Carthy winning Gold and the team of Phillip Doyle and Darragh Lynch taking Bronze. Kellie Harrington will have the opportunity on Tuesday to upgrade from Bronze to either Silver or Gold in her 60kg lightweight final.

Rhys Mc Clenaghan won Gold in the pummel horse gymnastics final after his disappointment in Tokyo in 2021, yesterday he roared back to claim Gold in fine style. The past number of days has seen many terrific Irish performances across many sports and our team of 133 athletes isn’t finished yet with many more chances of Irish medals with Daniel Wiffin in action this evening in the 1500m final in the pool.

Rory Mc Ilroy is in contention in the golf and will look to finish strongly today. It really is great to see how many medals Ireland have managed to win with near misses also to the fore. We have also had many strong performances that may not have garnered medals but strong times and finishes.

 We will see Sophie O Sullivan in action on the track in the next few days. The 4×400 mixed relay team were just pushed out of a place in the Olympic final with the Netherlands winning Gold in last night’s final from the USA in the Silver medal spot.

The newly crowned Olympic champions were beaten by Ireland in the Europeans in Rome but came out last night a produced a stunning performance that saw Femke Bol run their final leg to come from 4^th to 1^st in the last 200m of the Final.

The USA had run a world record time in the semi-final and were looking to push home that advantage but the Dutch had their own ideas and secured Gold in a truly special moment on the track in recent Olympic memory.

It has been a great few days in France for Team Ireland and let’s see what the last few days of Paris 2024 may hold, we have secured 6 medals so far with Daniel Wiffin in action this evening in another Final and Kellie Harrington coming up early next week. Others will be looking to try and create their own history.

The track and field has begun and we have chances there also so strap in and enjoy what’s to come because the joy brought by the past few days has been great to see and read. The hard work and dedication of these athletes is a sight to behold as you don’t always earn the rewards your sacrifice, pain, sweat and tears warrants.

I mentioned last week, this could be a special time with our largest medal haul in the history of Irish Olympic sport. 6 medals have been secured with more opportunities on the horizon. Soak it in and enjoy because these are special days and moments….

We have just seen an incredible few days in Irish athletics with a number of medals coming back from the European Championships in Rome. Where the 4×400 mixed relay team won gold, Ciara Mageen is the new 1500m women’s European champion and we have also saw the women’s 4×400 relay team win silver just being denied by Netherlands with Femke Bol running to good last leg of that particular final to see off the late charge of Sharlene Mawdsley.

This week in Rome saw 4 medals come our way with gold coming to Ciara Mageen and the 4×400 mixed relay team, Thomas Barr, Chris O Donnell, Sharlene Mawdsley and Rhasidat Adeleke with silver going to the women’s 4×400 relay team of Sharlene Mawdsley, Sophie Becker, Rhasidat Adeleke, Phil Healy and Lauren Cadden and silver for Rhasidat Adeleke in the 400m, her first medal at senior level.

What the past week has shown is that good work is being done both domestically and on an international level where a number of our athletes are trained abroad. Time now for the feet to be put back firmly on the floor and see can the good work done at European level can that be transferred to Olympic level in Paris in a few weeks’ time.

We have always been able to win medals in one off situations but the key will be can we back up the great showings of the past couple of weeks again in Paris.

Of course some other members of the Irish team didn’t perform to their own expectations and will go back to the drawing board with coaches over the next while to see where improvements can be made for the tilt at the Olympics.

From a personal level, it was great to have my own Eamon Coughlan moment listening to Greg Allen call Ciara Mageen home to complete the set of European medals in the 1500m, she has now won gold, silver and bronze at European level and like others will want to see that good form translate to a strong showing in Paris.

I do remember Sonia O Sullivan winning silver in Sydney in 2000 where she kicked but Gabriella Shabo saw her off in dramatic fashion. Let’s see can our medal winners from Rome along with their team mates make the necessary adjustments to help them achieve good things.

A word too for all the backroom team members of the Irish team who keep these athletes in good shape in tight turn arounds in lots of cases. The work done by all again shows it is still a team effort even in an individual sport like athletics.

To see many people stop what they were at last weekend as Ciara Mageen won gold shows the appetite for  sport is still as strong as it always is in Ireland. The green singlet stills means as much as it did when Ronnie Delaney won gold in Melbourne in 1956.

All the best to all with preparations for Paris 2024, it was straight back to work for a number of our athletes as they returned to their respective  training bases all over the globe.

 A big summer of sport kicks off this evening with Euro 2024 taking centre stage but soon enough Paris 2024 will come into full view and who knows after the success of Rome, we may see another few Olympic medals come back to Ireland, a man can dream can’t he….

Aoife Mahony – American Dream

Local athlete Aoife Mahony will begin the trip of a lifetime in the next few weeks when she takes up an opportunity in the USA. After spending the last year in UCC, Aoife will now travel to Florida to take up a 4 year scholarship where she will train along with studying Social Work.

Her training will take place at 6am each morning after which she will attend strength and conditioning sessions and then head off to spend a few hours in lectures. Aoife competes in a number of disciplines namely the 400m, 800m, 1500m and Cross Country running also where she will concentrate on the 5km. Her preference is the 800m.

One of her main goals over the next few years will be to qualify for an Ireland Under 23 team as her days as juvenile athlete are coming to an end. She hopes that the next few years will help her achieve this ambition.

She hopes to help her new College into the Division 2 NCAA Finals. This particular goal will be difficult to achieve but you can be certain that Aoife will do her all to achieve this goal.

One of her hopes for the future may be to come home and join An Garda Siochana on the completion of her 4 years in the USA. This is a backup plan for Aoife if things do not work on the athletics front.

Having made contact with former Irish athlete Laura Tobin, who herself is in the US in her final year studying Business in Saint Leo University Tampa Florida.

This connection helped Aoife put some plans in place where she also made contact with her coach Kent Reiber with whom she finalised arrangements and she also used Facetime to keep him abreast of her college work, training schedules and results throughout the year.

All the very best to Aoife in her time State side and having kept a close eye on her progress in the last 18 months , You can be sure Aoife will give this opportunity her very best shot…..

By

Cian Mc Gibney

01/08/2018