The Olympic Federation of Ireland (OFI) has named their Support Leadership Team for the European Games which take place in Minsk, Belarus from the 21-30 June. Accompanying the 65 athletes will be a team of thirty eight staff who will provide crucial support to the athletes throughout the games.
Last April the OFI announced a ground-breaking partnership with the Sport Ireland Institute, who provide key services to support high performance athletes, such as physiotherapy, nutrition advice physiological testing and life skills. The European Games is the first opportunity to activate the partnership at an event with Phil Moore (Head of Performance Support), Sarah-Jane McDonnell (Physiotherapy Lead), Jessie Barr (Psychologist), James O’Donovan (Chief Medical Officer), Dr. Sharon Madigan (Nutrition Lead) and Eimear Crowley (Physiotherapist) travelling.
Three staff members from Sport Northern Ireland will travel to Minsk; Laura Ostler (Performance Analyst), Damian Martin (Physiologist) and Lorcan McGee (Physiotherapist).
Highlighting the important role played by the Leadership Team, Chef de Mission Tricia Heberle emphasised,
“It’s important that we recognise the team behind the team. We watch the athletes compete on the big stage, and don’t always get an insight to the amount of work that happens behind the scenes; the tough schedules and rigorous routines. Working with them at all times are a whole team of backroom staff, fine tuning their performance. Their day to day work can sometimes go unseen, so it is important that we acknowledge them.”
Chef de Mission Tricia Heberle (OFI)
Deputy Chef de Mission Gavin Noble (OFI)
HQ Operations Manager Linda O’Reilly (OFI)
Head of Performance Support Phil Moore (SII)
Physiotherapy Lead Sarah-Jane McDonnell (SII)
Psychologist Jessie Barr (SII)
Chief Medical Officer James O’Donovan (SII)
Nutrition Lead Dr. Sharon Madigan (SII)
Physiotherapist Eimear Crowley (SII)
Boxing Physiologist Damian Patrick Martin (Sport Northern Ireland)
Boxing Physiotherapist Anthony James Peterson Clover (Sport Northern Ireland)
Cycling Performance Analyst Laura Ostler (Sport Northern Ireland)
The European Games take place in Minsk, Belarus, from the 21 – 30 June, with athletes competing across nine sports, five of which are part of the Tokyo 2020 qualification journey.
