Even the best coaches and the most talented sportsmen and women will only thrive if they have the crucial ingredient of adequate resources. Any sporting year that delivers an Olympic medal or two as well as podium places at the Paralympics will always be assessed positively, irrespective of whether the country has disappointed in other international sports.
But when an Olympics year delivers four gold medals and three bronze and that is followed by a haul of six medals at the Paralympics, measuring the year becomes easy. It has been an outstanding 12 months for Irish sport, which underlines once again that proper investment in sport will yield results at the highest levels. Much of Ireland’s limited success at the Olympic games has been concentrated in sports such as boxing but the Paris Olympics also saw medal winning performances in swimming, gymnastics, rowing and, of course, boxing again. Complementing those achievements were world class performances by our female athletes on the track, only narrowly missing out on medals after reaching individual and relay finals. This did not happen by accident. Funding for high performance sport cost in the region of €25 million in 2024 but that figure represents real value when Ireland can finish in the top 20 of the Paris medal table. By comparison, greyhound racing got almost €19 million in funding in 2024 while horse racing received €76 million. It is a sobering statistic that Ireland only won six Olympic medals between 1960 and 1992 when investment in coaching and facilities was minimal. The incremental increases in funding over the last 30 years has only brought Ireland into line with other similar-sized countries. But we now have the proper foundations to maintain that level of success in years to come
Ireland Ireland Latest News, Ireland Ireland Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Source: IrishTimes - 🏆 3. / 98 Read more »
Source: IrishTimes - 🏆 3. / 98 Read more »