Olympics 2012

[99_oK?]

Looking like Ireland will be sending the smallest team in living memory to the 2012 Olympics judging by what as been set as the selection criterium by the Olympic Council of Ireland. On current/last season'sform at most 6 athletes would be eligible to compete for Ireland under this ruling and all bar 1 of these are already major championships medallists. Indeed some such medallists would not make the team and no upcoming athletes (e.g. Ciara Mageean, Kelly Proper) would be considered either.


Indeed only 1 of our medallists in the past (& we don't have that many of those either)would have made the team using this method of selection.


This is totally at variance with what the Irish Sports Council and Athletics Ireland have been working towards and is certainly contrary to what they have been publicising. Is this Pat Hickey is getting his retaliation early or is the problem more deep-seated? Bad enough that the sport is so poorly funded and that the facilities are almost non-existent, but why put even more barriers in the way of success?


Here is what Ian O'Riordan thinks: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2011/0215/12242898 28924.html


Now contrast with the selection policy of the most successful team in the history of the Olympics: http://www.usatf.org/events/2012/Oly...-Marathon/entr y/entryWomen/qualifyingStandards.asp


Does one wonder which policy is the correct one.......? No wonder Michael Cregan (aka Jim Hogan...) jumped ship.

[Eamo]

Correct policy is to send none, I don't want my tax euros financing junkets for anyone. We are friggin broke. Let's prioritise our spending.


As an adjunct why encourage Irish folks to visit the UK and spend their cash there?


The fewer we send the better.

[RED 49]

Seems simple enough to me , send those atheletes that make the
qualification standard , we need to reward and promote excellence
,leave the hangers on and officials travelling on junkets at home.

[Mack the Knife]

I couldnt care less, the olympics is a can of piss.

[WouldBHooker]

If they can't make the standard set down by the IOC, then why should we send them? Simple as.


There is more important things to spend money on.

[wildRover]

In fairness given the location of the games anybody who meets the basic standard should be allowed compete, and let it be at their own expense. A Ryanair flight and a few hotel nights wouldn't break most competitors.

[Random_punter]

In fairness given the location of the games anybody who meets the basic standard should be allowed compete, and let it be at their own expense. A Ryanair flight and a few hotel nights wouldn't break most competitors.

They won't let you, we had the same problems with the rowing union a few years back when they are short of funds to send a team that is offering to pay its own way for the privilege. Simply because they believe it will eventually lead to the situation where the people who can afford to race will race and the people who can't won't, regardless of which people are the ones who deserve to go. They think it would lead to privately funded teams going abroad and just getting rubber stamped by the union. Eventually they got around it by an "international levee" meaning you got selected and paid the union a sum to pay for your journey. It amounted to the same thing but it made them feel better.....

[99_oK?]

If they can't make the standard set down by the IOC - OCI* are setting different standards.... I mentioned US who go by OCI standards......., then why should we send them? Simple as.


There is more important things to spend money on - like the OCI....?.

Folks, it seems you didn't understand the facts and implications of what I posted above. Or is it bedgrudgery that we have some good athletes but we won't give them the chance to compete.


Why would we not have wanted to send Treacy, Coghlan or even Ronnie Delaney to the Olympics? Treacy had no qualifying time for the marathon in LA (he had never run the event), Ray Flynn had a quicker time at the 1500 to Coghlan and Ronnie Delaney wasn't even selected to go to Melbourne until a mystery donor sponsored him. So nothing changes.....


Or should we just tell our athletes (as many of you here seem to be doing) to compete for a country that will pay them (quite common these days...) or that will give them a chance - a few have indeed made this choice already.


If it's all about the cash then we should immediately withdraw all funding from sport - start with the cancellation of the plane to Edinburgh on Friday...... [img]smileys/shock.gif[/img]


------------------------------------------------------------ ----


* OCI - Olympic Council of Ireland has come up with this dictat even before standards have been set by either IAAF or OCI. Pat Hickey isn't doing this in the interests of Irish sport or athletes. Why do you think one of our best medal prospects for 2012 retired (well ahead of her peak)from the sport last year, or why our top distance runners don't even bother with targetting the olympics these days?

[RobbieG]

Where your tax dollars are going

[lahinch_lass]

Jaysus... some people..[img]smileys/sad.gif[/img]

My own view is that as many young athletes as possible as qualify by IOC criteria (not OCI) should be sent to London in order to give them a chance to experience a major championship and perhaps provide them with the shop window for sponsorship.

There is some greater benefit in funding elite athletes -
Success breeds interest in a sport, look at the numbers getting into rugby since Munster made it to HEC finals, and even more since Ireland started picking up Triple Crowns and then the 6N's.

The irish Sports council is not completely irresponsible either, they are very stringent with the various NGB's about where their funding is to go. For instance Surfing is classified as a recreational sport for 2 reasons - #1 It isn't an olympic sport & #2 the numbers in domestic competitions are not sufficient to justify pushing at international level. As a result of that the Irish surfing association is not permitted to use *any* of it's sports council grant for "high performance" activities. Basically that translates as no sports council funds to be used on sending teams/surfers to international contests. And this when we actually have a few surfers that are at least european medal standard and a couple of others with decent training/investment that could be world standard in their disciplines.

That sort of spending classification/restriction applies in all the sports.

BTW if anyone has insights on which sports Ireland are likely to have decent competitors in for 2012 please do share. The deadline for applying for tickets through the main website is April 26th this year.

[lahinch_lass]

Quick reminder the ticket application window closes on Tuesday. you can set highest & lowest category price you're willing to pay on the tickets you apply for, and you can view your selections in a calendar form.

The events that Ireland seem to have some vague chance at are:
Canoe Slalom mens K1 (Eoin Rheinisch was 4th in Beijing)
Equestrian Jumping
Swimming womens 800m freestyle - grainne murphy
Athletics - womens 100m hurdles - Derval O'Rourke
Atheltics - mens 200m sprint - Paul Hession
Athletics - Race walks mens & womens.

Anyone have any insights on other sports/divisions it be worthwhile applying for tickets in If you want to support irish athletes?

[padders]

wimmins boxing - K Taylor ?





have to say the application process is a load of s**te - you have no idea what you are applying for half the time

[lahinch_lass]

wimmins boxing - K Taylor ?





have to say the application process is a load of s**te - you have no idea what you are applying for half the time

Much as I admire Katie and the other boxers and their likely chances in London, it's not a sport I particularly want to go see, hence not applying for tickets for it.

[99_oK?]

Thanks for bringing this to the fore again L L.


Sports we are likely to do well in? Boxing would be top of the list but the Irish team have lost the guy who setup the assault on Beijing (more politics I'm afraid.....). Looks like Katie Taylor will not fit into the weight categories that are likely to feature in London (not been decided yet though), but reckon she'll go anyway. 1 swimmer in with a chance (her strongerst event isn't in the schedule either). Rowing just isn't where it used to be and Athletics (or Track & Field to give it the 'accepted' title) is a bity of a mess right now (thanks Pat, John and the rest of ya....). One or 2 of our walkers might be in with an outside chance. Sailing another long-shot possibility.


Longer term we have a few very promising athletes, but (esp. if Hickey has any say) they are unlikely to be sent for the experience.

[FORWARD....]

Tickets booked/applied for. Not sure how many millions are with me in the draw. I've gone for most of the athletics, Grainne Murphy 800m and a spot of cycling. The Visa will melt if I get them all.[img]smileys/biggrin.gif[/img]

[lahinch_lass]

finished my application last night too.. now to keep the card with enough credit from May 10th to June 10th !
Apparently that's the window for the ACTUAL ticket charges to be applied.
Of course I pretty much applied for the cheapest tickets for everything so my chances of getting any of them have to be pitifully low.

[rick88]

Its even crazier inswimming,theA qualifying time is even tougher compared to Athletics.


Only approx top10-15 currentworld rankings have made the A time.


As an example currentlyMichael Phelps hasn't made the100m freestyle time.


Barry Murphy has made the time in the 100m breastroke currently ranked 11th in world rankings and should do well in London.

[padders]

did ye have any luck with getting tickets lads ?

[blackadder II]

Correct policy is to send none, I don't want my tax euros financing junkets for anyone. We are friggin broke. Let's prioritise our spending.


As an adjunct why encourage Irish folks to visit the UK and spend their cash there?


The fewer we send the better.

Hello Dev, I didn't realise you'd risen from the grave!

[lahinch_lass]

did ye have any luck with getting tickets lads ?

Dunno yet.. I managed to lose my visa card and had to use my mothers card for the order so I don't have visibility on the transactions hitting it.
I did get a notice that most of the debits will be hitting cards next week.

There's also going to be a second chance sale of tickets for those who applied in the first window but didn't get allocated any tickets, or didn't get all the tickets they applied for.
So it's still a bit of a wait and see situation.

[Eamo]

Correct policy is to send none, I don't want my tax euros financing junkets for anyone. We are friggin broke. Let's prioritise our spending.


As an adjunct why encourage Irish folks to visit the UK and spend their cash there?


The fewer we send the better.

Hello Dev, I didn't realise you'd risen from the grave!

Haha Dev would have probably have me shot. I don't believe in taxpayers money funding sports even if we were not broke. If you wish to play then pay for it. Then again I believe most taxation is theft and democracy is enslavement of the clever by self-interested morons who should be euthenised pre birth.

[Beckinder]

did ye have any luck with getting tickets lads ?

Dunno yet.. I managed to lose my visa card and had to use my mothers card for the order so I don't have visibility on the transactions hitting it.
I did get a notice that most of the debits will be hitting cards next week.

There's also going to be a second chance sale of tickets for those who applied in the first window but didn't get allocated any tickets, or didn't get all the tickets they applied for.
So it's still a bit of a wait and see situation.

I got tickets, the money was debited this morning! Happy days [img]smileys/smile.gif[/img]

[lahinch_lass]

Correct policy is to send none, I don't want my tax euros financing junkets for anyone. We are friggin broke. Let's prioritise our spending.


As an adjunct why encourage Irish folks to visit the UK and spend their cash there?


The fewer we send the better.

Hello Dev, I didn't realise you'd risen from the grave!

Haha Dev would have probably have me shot. I don't believe in taxpayers money funding sports even if we were not broke. If you wish to play then pay for it. Then again I believe most taxation is theft and democracy is enslavement of the clever by self-interested morons who should be euthenised pre birth.

There is a logic behind it..
#1 spend money to help high performance => improve perofrmance at international level => greater profile for the sport
#2 If the sport has higher profile => attracts more interest at domestic level => higher number of participants
#3 More people actively participating in sports => better health levels
#4 Better health levels => lower health system costs

Put it this way the cost of repairing sports injuries is a heck of alot lower than the costs of the longer term side-effects of a sedantary lifestyle which can lead to obesity and all it's potential sideeffects like cancer, diabetes etc.

Granted healthy eating can eliminate a lot of that risk, but being active in sports can at least off-set a fair amount of the dodgy diet side-effects.


But of course when you're opposed to taxes in the first place, you're likely to be opposed to a public health service too. so a €100k spend on sports leading to a €1m reduction in health spending may be a non-equation. (BTW I've no idea what the exact potential correlation might be, but I'd suspect it should be at least that)

From an australian study on doing a very quick search on sport v illness costs
The estimate costs to the health service due to physical inactivity is estimated to be AU$377m per year. Granted they've a much larger population, but I think their public health service costs are likely to be lower than ireland for similar treaments etc.

[mikerob]

did ye have any luck with getting tickets lads ?

Yup - got 2 out of 3 that I applied for. One is beach volleyball [img]smileys/cool.gif[/img]The other is either track cycling or athletics - I don't know which one yet as they both had the same price.

[gunners37]

Do the people who got tickets know what they got tickets for? If so, how?

I have had money deducted from my account, but no notification via email as to what tickets I have paid for?

[lahinch_lass]

Today is the last day of ticket application processing, so hopefully there'll be an email tonight or tomorrow going out to notify which (if any) tickets were allocated to anyone who placed an order.
Or you could try logging into your ticket account on the website to check tomorrow morning. I know I still can't get into my account right now.

[lahinch_lass]

well i got an email to indicate I've been allocated at least some of the tickets I've applied for but the detail won't be available until the 24th.
And the next round of applications start at 6am on July 8th to 6pm on July 17th and are limited to a single application for no more than 3 sessions. And this application window will only be open to people that applied in the initial round but didn't get any or some of the tickets they applied for.

[padders]

fair play this has been a shambles from start to finish





leaves a sour taste in the mouth

[lahinch_lass]

Got an email this morning to indicate I got tickets for 4 of the sessions I applied for.
All of the race-walk sessions, and 1 of the showjumping sessions. Didn't get anything from the athletics, canoe-slalom or swimming [img]smileys/sad.gif[/img]

At least the dates of the 4 sessions I got are weekend days. evening session on Sat 4th, morning session on Sun 5th. Then morning & evening sessions on Sat 11th.

Now to decide which 3 sessions I shall attempt to apply for when the next round of applications are allowed in July.

[manofmunster]

I got fup all in the first round. Second round of sale is this friday from 6am for those who missed out first time round so I'll try again then.