Paul Rouse: Could have been a contender? When Dublin dreamed of hosting the Olympics

In the 1930s, Ireland actually made bids to stage the Olympic Games. Indeed, it had attempted to stage the 1932 Olympics (awarded to Los Angeles) and the 1936 Games (awarded to Berlin) and then the 1940 Olympics.

Michael Carruth with his Gold medal won at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992. His success inspired the then-Lord Mayor of Dublin to look into the possibility of the Games coming to Ireland. Picture: INPHO/James Meehan.

There is a thing to watch in the coming days: Will any Irish politician be unable to resist the temptation to propose Ireland as a venue for the Olympic Games?

There is long form in this matter — its most recent manifestation was in 2017, when the then Minister for Sport, Shane Ross, said that the idea of the Olympic Games being staged in Dublin was “a real, realistic prospect.”