ANNOUNCEMENT: Seven Winter Olympic Scholarship places Awarded

The Olympic Federation of Ireland today announced seven scholarships worth $65,500 USD ahead of the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing 2022. The following athletes were successful:

Brenden Doyle – Skeleton

Tess Arbez – Snow Sports – Alpine Skiing

Cormac Comerford – Snow Sports – Alpine Skiing

Alec Scott – Snow Sports – Alpine Skiing

Seamus O’Connor – Snow Sports – Snowboard freestyle

Thomas Westgaard – Snow Sports – Cross Country Skiing

Maggie Rose Carrigan – Snow Sports  – Alpine Snowboard

 

The total bursary amounts to $40,500 in core scholarship funding, and $25,000 in available travel support grants that can be drawn down with receipted travel expenses following the qualification period. The funding is provided through the IOC’s Olympic Solidarity programme.

Making the announcement Olympic Federation of Ireland CEO, Peter Sherrard said,

“While much of the focus this year is on Tokyo 2020, we are delighted to be able to provide support for our Winter Sport athletes in preparation for Beijing 2022. The International Olympic Committee’s solidarity funding for the scholarships has been significantly increased ahead of Beijing 2022 with a much longer lead-in during which support is provided.

“We are also happy to be able to continue our Discretionary Funding programme for our member federations in 2020, whilst spending a record €3m on operations in Olympic year.

The 2020 Discretionary Fund of €50,000 for OFI members opens today until Thursday February 20th.  Applications can be made by National Federations to support specific Olympic focussed projects. The number of eligible applicants for 2020 support is significantly reduced this year, as many National Federations have already received a maximum of two grants during the funding cycle, 2018-2020, during which €500,000 in Discretionary support was allocated by the OFI to its members.

 

The Beijing Winter Olympic Games take place in February 2022. OFI Performance Manager, Nancy Chillingworth made an initial site visit to Beijing in November 2019 to begin preparations for Team Ireland.

 

About Winter Olympic Scholarships

 

  • IOC Olympic Solidarity programme criteria states the athletes have to be of international-level, practising an individual sport included in the Beijing Olympic programme, and have the technical level required to be able to qualify for the Beijing Olympic Games.
  • The International Olympic Committee stipulates that teams from Ice Hockey and Curling may only apply for Team Support grants through their National Olympic Committee when they have already qualified or are in the final qualification round for Beijing 2022. These applications open at a separate time in 2021.
  • Eligible National Federations put forward the criteria for each their athletes, recommending them in rank order to the OFI Selection committee. The recommendations were then reviewed by the International Olympic Committee and the respective International Federation Technical Departments before final approval.
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