OCI Chief Executive Stephen Martin has been appointed by the Olympic Council of Ireland Executive Board to be Team Ireland’s Chef de Mission for the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympic Winter Games between 9-25th February 2018.
The double Olympic medalist said “It’s a privilege to lead the Irish Team in Pyeongchang following on from Sochi 2014” and added ” we are working closely with Winter sport to ensure we give targeted athletes the support required to help their qualification campaigns”
The Olympic Council of Ireland will be supporting athletes through the Olympic Scholarship programme which could see athletes qualify in Winter sport disciplines of alpine skiing, snowboarding, and skeleton.
Willie O’Brien acting President said, ” Winter sports are fortunate to have such an experienced and respected Olympian heading up Team Ireland” he added ”
Martin added,
“Our strategic framework includes a strong focus on operational planning for Olympic Games and we look forward to putting in place the best possible support for Winter sports in Pyeongchang.”
Martin will be in Pyeongchang for a Chef de Mission seminar in early 2017 and will also travel to meet the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee with a number of other NOC’s to discuss plans for Tokyo, including pre games training options.
Brief Bio:
Dr Stephen Martin MBE is a Double Olympic Hockey Medallist, and former Captain of both Great Britain and the Irish Hockey Teams.
He won a Gold medal in Seoul 1988, Bronze medal in Los Angeles 1984 and finished 6th in Barcelona 1992.
He played in 229 International matches for Great Britain (94) and Ireland (135), played in 3 European Cups, 10 Champions Trophy Tournaments, 1 World Cup and 3 Olympic Games before being awarded an MBE for Services to Hockey in 1993.
He was Deputy Chief Executive Team GB and Head of the Performance Unit with responsibility for the Olympic Medical Institute, Technical and Athlete Services departments providing elite service provision to Olympic athletes, coaches and scientific and medical support teams.He was a member of the UK Sports Institute Board.
He was Deputy Chef de Mission at Summer and Winter Olympic Games with Team GB in Sydney 2000 , Salt Lake 2002, and Athens 2004.
Martin has worked with Team Ireland in similar capacities in Beijing 2008, Vancouver 2010 and London 2012, Sochi 2014, Baku 2015, and Rio 2016.
