The OCI held an athlete conference at Tollymore Mountain and Conference Centre in preparation for London 2012, 9-10 December.
30 athletes attended from nine Olympic Sports such as Athletes:Paul Hession, Deirdre Ryan,Linda Byrne,Brendan Boyce;Boxers Darren O’Neill and Michael Conlan, Cycling’s Sam Bennett, Modern Pentathlon’s Natalya Coyle, Clay Pigeon shooter Derek Burnett, Equestrian riders Liz Power, Joseph Murphy, Cammilla Spiers, Men’s Hockey captain Ronan Gormley and Swimming’s Swimmer Sycerika McMahon.
Sonia O’Sullivan, Ger Hartmann, Phil Moore, Rod McLoughlin, Martin Burke and Stephen Martin conducted a range of sessions on all aspects of operational planning for London as discussed with Performance Directors. They covered training camps, Olympic village environment, medical issues, accreditations, performance, villages , ceremony,ASICS clothing updates, media management and defined what a multi sport team performance culture should look like.
Athletes were given the opportunity to input and feedback into the programme. They enjoyed the multi sports experience and the chance to develop a better team spirit in the build up to London 2012. Other key areas of athlete involvement related to addressing certain”pressure points” that may have a negative impact an performance. Athletes were given a clear picture of how the OCI and Institutes of Sport (IIS/SINI) engage with their PD’s performance programmes in order to add value to their programme in the build up to, during and post Olympic Games.
