The Olympic Council of Ireland, in association with the IOC’s Olympic Solidarity programme, has announced scholarship support worth over €100,000 to help selected Irish athletes prepare for the Rio Olympic Games.
Eight athletes in seven sports will benefit from the scholarship scheme, which will give the nominated athletes a monthly grant towards vital training and preparation costs in their quest to qualify for the Olympic Games in Rio 2016.
The recipients are: Chloe & Sam Magee (Badminton mixed doubles): Sanita Puspure (Rowing); Liam Jegou (Slalom canoeing), Bryan Keane (Triathlon), Lisa Kearney (Judo), Andrew Smith (Gymnastics) and Natalya Coyle (Modern Pentathlon).
Pat Hickey, President of the Olympic Council of Ireland commented: “We have worked very hard at international levels to ensure that Irish athletes benefit strongly from the International Olympic Committee’s Olympic Solidarity programme.”
He added: “We are very pleased that for the Rio Olympics, we have almost doubled the scholarship funding for Team Ireland over the London Games grant.”
The Olympic Council of Ireland will administer and monitor the scholarship programme and are very positive of the outcome of the initiative.
Kevin Kilty, Rio 2016 Team Ireland Chef de Mission said: “This is a real boost for Team Ireland on our Road to Rio programme. These athletes are well deserving of all the support they need in quite difficult financial and competitive circumstances, and it’s great that the OCI has landed financial support of this magnitude.”
