Olympic Sport Weekly Update 16 April 2021

We have just passed the 100 days to go last Wednesday and have had a jam packed week on all accounts! Today we announced our first official partner for our Paris 2024 journey, Deloitte Ireland which you can read more about below. We also announced the Olympic Schools Challenge ‘Road to Tokyo’, which will get school children around Ireland active and excited about the Olympic Games this summer.

There has been a lot of sporting activity and we have included below updates from our sports, with some recent results as well as an account of key events taking place this weekend.  

As a reminder, the current status of Team Ireland for the Tokyo Olympics is 56 guaranteed athletes travelling to the Games, with many more sitting within qualification. The full details of the team can be found AT THIS LINK.

OLYMPIC FEDERATION OF IRELAND UPDATES

Today we announced our first partner for Paris 2024 – Deloitte Ireland. This partnership is a four year deal which will includes three major Olympic Games – Tokyo 2020(1), Beijing 2022 and Paris 2024, as well as a host of youth events. Deloitte Ireland also announced a significant recruitment drive, adding 300 new jobs.

This May school children around the country can join Team Ireland by following the Olympic Schools Challenge Road to Tokyo. This interactive challenge was developed with the aim of getting schoolchildren active and engaged with Team Ireland, the Olympic Games and the wider benefits of sport. Schools log activities which convert to kilometres, and they can watch their class move along the map from Ireland to Tokyo, unlocking videos, activities and challenges along the way. REGISTER HERE. This is part of the Dare to Believe initiative which is supported by FBD Insurance.

Official partner to Team Ireland, Circle K have announced that they will exclusively sponsor RTÉ’s coverage of the Tokyo 2020(1) Olympic Games, marking 100 days to go.

As part of the Don’t Scroll By Campaign launched earlier this year, the Olympic Federation of Ireland became official members of INAR (Irish Network Against Racism), who today stated that they cautiously welcome the Hate Crime heads of bill.

TOKYO SPORTS

The second edition of the Playbook which will determine the shape of the Olympic Games is due to be released at the end of the month, more information will follow in the coming weeks.

This week we held the third Tokyo Ready Athlete Journey webinar which dealt with heat management and included panel discussions with golfer Leona Maguire and triathlete Carolyn Hayes.

We also announced that Dr. Louise O’Connell has been appointed as Medical Officer for Team Ireland in Tokyo 2020 – to be based in the Athlete’s Village – she will be working primarily with the Women’s Hockey Team, MORE HERE.

Athletics

World Athletics has confirmed the invitation of both Ireland’s Women’s 4x100m team and the Mixed 4x400m to compete at the upcoming World Athletics Relays Silesia21 to be held in Poland on May 1st – May 2nd. More here

Boxing

Team Ireland have completed today a 10 day training camp in Belfast with Teams GB, Germany, France & Italy. This provided an excellent opportunity for those athletes targeting Tokyo 2020+1 qualification in the run up to the European Olympic Qualification Event set to take place in Paris in June. The coaching team are extremely pleased with the camp and the quality sparring our athletes have had throughout the camp and importantly are very happy with where the team is at this stage in our preparations. The team return to training in the High Performance Unit in the Sport Ireland Institute next week to continue our preparations.

Diving

NEW DATES  – The FINA Diving World Cup will now take place form May 1-6 in Tokyo. This is the final diving Olympic Games qualifier and our original team selection of Oliver Dingley, Clare Cryan, Ciara McGing and Tanya Watson remains unchanged.

Equestrian

Irish Showjumpers enjoyed a winning streak during the 2021 Winter Equestrian Festival in Wellington, Florida scooping almost $1.1m in prize money on offer, and winning 16 competitions in total – READ MORE.

Golf

The LPGA Tour LOTTE Championship started on Wednesday this week and Stephanie Meadow and Leona Maguire are right in contention after round one with rounds of 67 and 68. Full scoring available from Hawaii HERE.

Following The Masters last week, the PGA Tour has travelled to Hilton Head in South Carolina for the RBC Heritage. Follow the progress of Shane Lowry and Graeme McDowell HERE.

Gymnastics

Four gymnasts will be representing Ireland at the European Championships which take place in Basel, Switzerland from 21-25 April. Ireland has already qualified one athlete spot in Gymnastics for Tokyo, thanks to the bronze medal won by Rhys McClenaghan at the World Championships in 2019, and this is the final Tokyo 2020 qualifier.

Hockey

This week Hockey Ireland cancelled a training trip to Malaysia, more information here.

Irish hockey player Anna O’Flanagan has been helping to promote the Olympic Schools Challenge, where she will teach schoolchildren some of the hockey drills she uses, while talking about sport in general. She spoke about some of her challenges along the road to Tokyo here.

Modern Pentathlon

After a good opening World Cup in Sofia I last weekend, Sive Brassil finished 27th place, and  Arthur Lanigan O’Keeffe finished in 22nd place. This weekend Natalya Coyle and Sive Brassil are flying the Irish flag at the second World Cup in Sofia (II). Yesterday Coyle sailed through the qualification for the Women’s event, and will now compete in the finals tomorrow.  

Rowing

Last weekend the Irish rowers showed their force once more, competing at the European Rowing Championships in Varese, Italy. The team came home with a gold and a silver medal, thanks to the lightweight men’s double and the women’s four. There were six crews in the A Finals at the Europeans, with significant performances from the two crews (women’s four and women’s lightweight double scull) that are still seeking Olympic qualification. They have one more chance – the Olympic Qualifier in Lucerne next month.

Sailing

The Irish Sailing Laser Men’s Team have their final opportunity to qualify for Tokyo next week when they compete for one of the two nation spots available at the Vilamoura International Regatta in Portugal. Competition starts on Monday 19th April MORE HERE

Swimming

Swim Ireland’s Irish National Team Trials for 2021 International Summer Meets start on Tuesday 20th April and will run to Saturday 24th April at the National Aquatic Centre on the Sport Ireland National Sports Campus.

Ireland’s best swimmers will have the opportunity to meet qualification standards for the 2021 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, the 2021 LEN European Championships in Budapest (Hungary) in May, and the LEN European Junior Championships in Rome, Italy in July.

The Trials will be live streamed on RTE Player.

Further information including schedule, start lists etc… is available on the Swim Ireland Website.

Press releases with results will be issued daily.

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