This week much of the focus in the Olympic community has been on the release of the playbooks which is a framework which will underpin how all the various stakeholders are expected to behave at the Olympic Games. What these playbooks have outlined is an emphasis of the IOC and the Tokyo Organising Committee on how the Games will take place, rather than if they take place, and an outline of Covid-19 countermeasures that outline the behaviours that will ensure that safe Games remains the priority.
As a reminder, the current status of Team Ireland with 160 days until the Tokyo Olympics is that we have 54 guaranteed athletes travelling to the Games, with many more sitting within qualification. The full details of the team can be found AT THIS LINK which is regularly updated.
All sports are at different stages within the qualification process; for some the qualification cycle is complete (Hockey, Equestrian, Cycling), and for others the process is ongoing. Some sports like Athletics, Rugby 7s and Judo will have qualification events right up until late June/early July. Over the coming weeks and months, we will flag some of these key qualification events in advance of the competition, with the collaboration of the various National Governing Bodies.
OLYMPIC FEDERATION OF IRELAND UPDATES
This week the OFI in partnership with the OFI Athletes’ Commission kicked off the Tokyo Ready Athlete Journey series, a set of four webinars aimed at engaging with athletes who are currently on the long list for Tokyo. The first session included an update from Tricia Heberle, the Chef de Mission for Tokyo, based on the IOC briefing on the Athlete Playbook. The athletes also heard from Team Ireland Sports Psychologist Dr. Kate Kirby, and Team Ireland Chief Medical Officer, Dr. James O’Donovan.
TOKYO UPDATES
This week the main Tokyo focus was on the unveiling of the much anticipated Playbooks. These are the basis of the IOC collective plan to ensure that all Olympic and Paralympic Games participants are safe and healthy, as well as the people of Japan. The four Playbooks are as follows: athletes and officials here, press here, the International Federations here, and broadcasters here. These are live documents that will be constantly updated – with the next significant update scheduled for April.
They outline the responsibilities of all Games participants and the rules that must be followed – starting 14 days before travel as well as entry to Japan, throughout the Games, and departing. They have been developed jointly by the IOC, the IPC and the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee, and are based on the extensive work of the All Partners Task Force, which also includes the WHO and others. This is a useful FAQ section.
Athletics
High Performance athletes are competing at a variety of events around the world on a regular basis, and results from recent meets have shown that athletes like Nadia Power and Sarah Lavin are in top form. This week’s significant result came from thrower Eric Favors (Raheny Shamrocks AC), who smashed his own National Record by adding 19cm to his record Indoor shot put throw while competing for the University of South Carolina earlier this week. The 24 year old threw a 19.68m (64’5ft) which was the biggest throw by an Irish athlete in 28 years.
Canoe
Liam Jegou is still in Renuion on a warm weather training camp, with many Tokyo Olympians (and hopeful qualifiers) from around Europe. Last weekend a small international race was held for the athletes training on the course. Liam came away with 3rd in this race, competing against a lot of the same athletes he will be lining up against in Tokyo in July. It’s a great marker of things to come, and shows his current form
Golf
The LPGA Tour returns from Feb 25th for the Gainbridge LPGA Championship, and Stephanie Meadow and Leona Maguire are currently in pre-season training in the US in preparation for this.
Both Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry are also on an off week as the PGA Tour travels to Pebble Beach for the AT&T Pro-Am.
On the amateur scene it was confirmed this week that Olivia Mehaffey and Julie McCarthy have accepted invitations to play in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur from March 31 – April 3. This will be the second staging of this event after the 2020 rendition was cancelled due to Covid-19.
Sailing
Tonight, the Irish Sailing Awards took place online, with 17 year old Eve Mc Mahon of Howth winning youth sailor of the year. Eve is a training partner of Olympic Silver Medallist in the Laser Radial, Annalise Murphy. The senior award went to Tom Dolan, the Irish sailor who is based in France. Read more HERE.
Swimming
Swim Ireland – Performance Racing Series
Over the most recent two weekends, the Swim Ireland identified athletes who can train onshore in our approved training hubs have raced time trials in ‘home’ venues (Dublin, Limerick and Bangor) – their first racing of 2021 and a first true venture into the long course season. This series continues with two more events in March as a last preparation into the Irish Open in April (20-24).
BEIJING UPDATES
On the 4th February 2021 it was exactly one year to go until the Winter Olympics in Beijing 2022, and for Team Ireland athletes targeting qualification, competition is underway across the sports. We caught up with Cross Country Skier Thomas Maloney Westgaard and Luge athlete Elsa Desmond last week, when they spoke about training and their plans with Cliona Foley. WATCH IT HERE.
Luge
Elsa Desmond is Ireland’s first female luge international athletes – and last weekend she finished 29th in the Nations Cup in St. Moritz.
Snow Sports
This is the height of the season for our snow sport athletes, with Alec Scott, Cormac Comerford and Tess Arbez currently in Cortina, preparing for the World Championships next week.
Earlier this week Alec Scott had a spectacular performance at the Europacup in Berchtesgaden GER on a very icy & challenging slope. This is the historic nest of Alders team, Germany, and he competed in a race with some of the best World Cup circuit names. In the second run, Alec finished within 0.03 seconds of the winner, with was the best result ever in Europacup from an Irish athlete, which bodes well for the World Championships next week.
The race schedule for the World Championships is as follows:
18th February: Qualification race for men’s GS (Alec/Cormac) + WSC women’s GS (Tess)
19th February: WSC men’s GS + quali race women’s SL
20th February: WSC women’s SL + quali race men’s SL
21st February: WSC men’s SL
