Hopes high for success of 41-strong paralympic team

HOPES of the Irish team’s success in the Paralympic Games are high as the games begin in Athens today with more than 4,000 athletes competing from 153 countries in the second largest sporting event the world.

Gary Messett, 17, a member of the Irish paralympic football squad from Bray, Co Wicklow, leads the 41-strong team in today’s colourful opening ceremony in the historic city.

The Irish are competing in eight different sports - athletics, cycling, equestrian, judo, sailing, soccer, boccia and swimming.

Irish Sports Council spokesperson Sinéad McElroy said they had bagged nine medals in Sydney four years ago, which was outstanding. But this time she warned the competition would be harder than ever, as the number of participating countries had risen from 100 to 144 and the number of competitors has spiralled from 3,000 to more than 4,500.

Government chief whip and Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach Mary Hanafin said yesterday the nation would be following the fortunes of our athletes with great interest and pride.

She said that to represent your country as a paralympian was a tremendous achievement and she wished the athletes, support staff, volunteers, the Paralympic Council of Ireland and all others involved every success over the coming 12 days of the Games. The determination, enthusiasm and focused approach of all the athletes was immense and admirable, said Ms Hanafin.

The minister plans to attend a number of the events and said there was great confidence among the team that they could achieve their personal goals, perform to the highest standards and bring home some medals from the Games.

She reiterated the Government’s commitment to supporting the Irish paralympic squad and said they had funded the team with more than €500,000 this year.

She said individual athletes had been supported under an international scheme overseen by the Irish Sports Council.

The team arrived at their training camp in Cyprus more than a week ago.