Shooting has appeared on every Olympic program except St Louis 1904 and Amsterdam 1928. The number and variety of events have changed many times over the Olympiads. Ireland has had a regular and strong presence in the shooting sports at the Olympics going back to early participation in the rifle and shotgun events.
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A sport as old as mankind itself. Since the dawn of time men have been pitted against each other in physical hand to hand combat, making this almost certainly the most ancient of Olympic sports. It’s a simple concept. Two men or women fight until one of them is subdued. But the techniques of wresting have become sophisticated and winning is about having the ability to use not only your weight and skill but also the weight of your opponent.
Wrestling is split into Greco-Roman and Freestyle disciplines. In Freestyle wrestling the competitors have a much greater freedom. They can use not only their arms and bodies, but also their legs and can take a hold of their opponent anywhere that allows them to overpower and gain total control of them.
For contact details of Irish Amateur Wrestling Association please click on Full story
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A sport about technique every bit as it is about pure strength. Weightlifting has been around as long as competition itself.
The sport of weightlifting is about lifting a barbell from the ground to above the head in two distinct movements: From the ground to under the chin (resting on the shoulder blades) and then to above the head. For contact details of Irish Amateur Weightlifting Association plesase click on Full story
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Traditional six-a-side indoor volleyball is referred to at the Olympic Games as volleyball. So the Olympic sport of volleyball has two disciplines – beach volleyball and volleyball. Both disciplines follow the same basic skills, and the flow of play follows similar lines: one team serves, the other tries to win the rally – or 'side-out' – with a pattern of dig, set, spike within the requisite three touches. For contact details of Volleyball Association of Ireland please click on Full story
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Triathlon pushes its competitors to the limits in three different sports: Swimming, cycling and running. Each sport requires the the competitor to be in peak physical condition and with three such individual sports it calls on the athlete to commit to a training schedule that is second to none.
The Olympic distance triathlon, which is one of the 28 Olympic sports, consists of: 1500m swimming, 40km cycling and 10km running. For contact details of Triathlon Ireland please click on Full story
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A sport that has been around since the Middle Ages, Tennis is a raquet and ball game that can be played either in singles or doubles over five sets (for men) or three sets (for women).
Tennis has evolved into a truly high profile international sport with the top players some of the highest profile sportsman and women in the world earning millions of pound in prize money. In the Olympics however, they play only for medals, like every other athlete. However, the top players still fight for places in their national teams.
Olympic Tennis competitions are open to men and women in singles or doubles, but mixed doubles are not part of the Games. For contact details of Tennis Ireland please click on Full story
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A Korean form of martial art, which has been the dominant form of martial art in that country since 1955. Each of the eight weight categories involves a single elimination tournament with a double repechage for the bronze medal contest. This means that, for an athlete to make it to the gold medal match, he or she must have progressed through the preliminary rounds undefeated; whereas the bronze medal match will be between two players who have each lost one contest. For contact details of Irish Taekwondo Union please click on Full story
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There are four table tennis competitions: men’s and women's singles, and men's and women’s team event at the Olympics.
All events follow a knockout (single elimination) format. For both singles competitions each match consists of the best four out seven games to at least 11 points, where the winner must win by at least two points.
There is a one minute break between games when players change ends, however, if both players are ready in less than a minute, play resumes. Each player is also allowed to take one 1-minute timeout per match. If the player who calls the timeout wishes to resume play in less than one minute, then play resumes. For contact details of Irish Table Tennis Association please click on Full story
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Swimming is a hugely physical and demanding sport, with athletes competing over distances from 50m to 400m, with races lasting from 20 seconds to over four minutes in length. Swimmers need huge strength and stamina to power themselves through the water, as well as perfectly honed technique.
Events for the Olympic swimming programme are held in a 50-metre-long pool and include 26 individual and six team relay men’s and women’s events. These include freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and the individual medley style. The team events are the freestyle and the medley relay. For contact details of Swim Ireland please click on Full story
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Sailing competition is run in different classes, or types of boats. In any race, only boats of the same class compete against each other. The classes used in the Olympic Games are known as ‘one-design’, meaning they are built the same to strict rules, so no competitor has a design advantage over another with their boat.
The classes of boats used in the Olympic Games are single-handed, double-handed or three-person and can be either women’s, men’s or open disciplines. The International Sailing Federation selects the classes for each Olympic Games and the classes do, and have changed over the years. For contact details of Irish Sailing Association please click on Full story
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A sport involving 14 different classes of boat and between one and eight rowers. Rowing requires athletes with incredible upper body strength and a commitment to the sport from an early age in order to develop the correct physical shape and muscle definition. For contact details of Irish Amateur Rowing Union please click on Full story
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At the Olympic Winter Games, women compete in an eight-team tournament whereas men compete in a 12-team tournament.
Each country may have one men’s and one women’s team. Men’s teams have 23 players (20 players and three goal keepers, while women’s teams have 20 players (18 players and two goal keepers), with a maximum of six players – including the goalie – permitted on the ice at any given time. Players may be substituted at any time during the game. For contact details of Irish Ice Hockey Association please click on Full story
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