Four Irish set to compete in Winter Olympics

THE qualification of Wicklow’s David Connolly in an Olympic qualifying event in Germany this week ensures four Irish athletes have achieved the qualification standards for next month’s Winter Games in Turin.

There is a also a slim chance that the Hoey sisters may yet get a place in the Women’s Bobsleigh event, with final news expected early next week.

Connolly (25), achieved the difficult Olympic standard in the Skeleton discipline, an event in which Ireland’s Clifton Wrottesley missed out on a medal by a fraction of a second in the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City.

He joins top skiers Kirsty McGarry (Dublin), Thos Foley (Kerry) and Rory Morrish (Cork) in Turin, where Ireland will be one of 75 nations seeking Olympic honours. Over 2,500 athletes will compete in 15 sports in eleven major centres in the city and the surrounding Piedmont alpine region from February 10 to 26.

Said Olympic Council of Ireland president Pat Hickey: “For a non-alpine nation, Ireland’s growing stature in winter sports is remarkable and one in which we have an excellent sporting future. More and more Irish people are taking winter sports holidays and this has fuelled the interest in a major way,” he said.

Mr. Hickey paid tribute to the sterling efforts of those who made the team and to those who didn’t.

“The Hoey sisters, Siobhan and Aoife from Portarlington, are currently just outside the qualification mark for the Women’s Bobsleigh event. They’ve put in a huge effort over the past year and have finished ranked 16th on the Olympic list, the first 15 of whom gain entry. They are now relying on a fall-out from a crew ahead of them. It must be heartbreaking for them to be in this position but even if they don’t make it they can hold their heads high for a very valiant and brave effort.”

Stephen Martin, the newly appointed chief executive of the Olympic Council, added: “We plan to build on the competitive experience of Turin in order to develop a more diverse squad for the Vancouver Winter Olympics of 2010. We have already had preliminary meetings with the Irish Sports Council to develop a strategy for identifying and funding a small focused group of winter athletes. For instance, we hope for Vancouver to add qualifiers in disciplines such as curling, snowboarding, bob skeleton and even ice skating.”