Five rings; 365 days
“A NUMBER of competitors in athletics, swimming, shooting and sailing have achieved the qualifying standard for the Olympics but many others have not yet had the opportunity to do so.
We cannot see that the anticipated number will exceed 59 and is likely to be closer to 50.
We hope to have athletes from around 10 sports representing Ireland in Beijing next year. But I want to stress that nobody has been selected for the Olympics — and that includes those who have achieved their qualifying time. We have agreements on this with the various governing bodies. The selections will be finalised next year — conditional on the competitors maintaining form.
What can we hope for results-wise? We prefer to play expectations down. One can always hope and aspire. The biggest hope is that everyone who gets on the Irish Olympic team will perform better than they have performed before.
Preparation wise we are ahead of schedule and that is a viewpoint which is shared by the Olympic chiefs in Beijing. I am spending the week in China for the Chef de Mission seminar and from my previous trips out there I expect the Games to be a tremendous success.
All the venues will be ready well ahead of time and will be spectacular. The transportation system is incredible out there. In fact they will be taking all the cars off the roads for the duration of the Games.
A lot of people have expressed concerns about the air quality but this is something which has been addressed. Ironically, one of the biggest pollutants was something very small — little burners used in almost every household to cook meals. But all of these have been banned and the air has improved.
This week’s meetings will cover everything you could imagine. There will be two or three representatives from each of the competing nations all in one huge room. I must admit that it is both a great privilege and a proud moment for me to be there. There will be desks dealing with ticketing, with transport, with food. Basically every conceivable aspect to these Games is there. One of the big things is put in your bid for your place in the Olympic Village. We have already done this but this week is almost like the sledge hammer moment to try and drive your bid home. Ultimately though they tell you where you are going!
The fact that the games are on in China doesn’t create too much hardship for us when you compare it to Athens or Sydney. Two flights will get you there while the issue of visas isn’t a big headache as you need to have visas for every Olympic Games.
The biggest issue for us will be where athletes will train before the Olympics and that is something which we are working on with the various sports at the moment.
This time next year we will all be seasoned pros in Beijing. We will have been embedded out there for two weeks and will certainly know the lay of the land.
I love it all. It is a great honour to be Chef de Mission. It is great to be able to do it and work with the various athletes at the biggest sporting arena in the world. It isn’t easy but I didn’t expect it to be easy. What do I hope for? I’ll tell you the answer to that next September.”
“THE shooting season is winding down for us now so the next really big event is a pre-Olympic meet in March at the actual venue which will host the tournament during the Games. Kevin Kielty, our High Performance Director will be putting the training schedule together while we have an Italian coach which will mean lots of trips to Italy.
I understand what is involved as we have been working for this since Athens. This year we targeted a podium finish in our plans. I achieved that in Slovenia when I won silver at a world event.
Diet and physical training doesn’t come into shooting as much as it would in other sports but earlier this year I stayed clear of a few events to conserve energy and I plan to do likewise next year.
Apart from the obvious hand eye co-ordination, the majority of shooting is about the mental side as opposed to the physical. The mental side of the sport is about 80% and maybe that is an under estimation and I have a sports psychologist Peter Terry to assist in that aspect. At the level which we compete, the mental strength is the decisive factor. Any of the top 30 shooters in the world on any given day can win an event on sheer shooting talent. But the mental side of things can be the difference between 1st and 30th.
I am ranked number five in the world at the moment but that is something which fluctuates from week to week and month to month depending on competitions.
It doesn’t worry me that competitors like me are not as well known as some of the athletes. To be honest publicity is something I like to shy away from. Maybe from the point of view of gaining sponsorship it would be a help. But other than that I like to keep away from the limelight. I’ve been lucky enough since 2003 with pretty decent help from the Irish Sports Council. Without that it would not be possible to do what we do. This year has been better planned than previous years and the funding has made all of that possible.
My ambition? To make the final. Anything is possible after that.”
“I QUALIFIED for the Olympic Games last week when I was the fourth fastest in the men’s 200m breaststroke at the US National Championships in Indianapolis. (Bree swam in a time of 2:13.44 seconds, breaking the three-year-old Irish senior record by 0.72 of a second).
Next year’s Olympics has been on my mind for the last four years. I represented Ireland in Sydney in 2000 but missed out on Athens by .4 of a second. So I am thrilled to have qualification achieved with a year to go. But qualification is only step one in the equation for me.
I have tried a few new things over the last couple of months, things which have proven successful and now I want to keep on that path. Primarily, over the last two months I have been working inside my own head and that mental work has paid off. Before my race last week, I knew how I’d feel, before, during and after and that was a huge factor in the outcome. It wouldn’t be all about the mind games though. I want to put on about 10 pounds of muscle; I stand at just under 6 foot 6 and want to bulk up. So that will require a lot of hard work in the gym and a look at nutrition and the like.
Basically I have broken down my sport and am putting it all together piece by piece.
I’m not looking at today as being a year to go to the Olympics. The way I’m working is on a day-to-day basis. You might get lazy working on a broad level of months or years. Instead I want to ask myself questions at the end of every day. Was my water practice good enough? Did I eat right? Did I spend enough time in the gym?
By approaching it like that I am constantly refreshed and it helps me to stay on track.
Official training here in Tennessee starts back on August 23 and everything will be mapped out from there. I’ll consider the European Championships in Hungary in December which is a short course event. Then there is the European and World Long Courses early next year but I wouldn’t make any decisions on those until January or February. But there will be other meets along the way to ensure that all the preparation is going to plan.
But I know that I’m going to have to swim faster. I’m aiming for a 2.11 which would be a top eight in the Olympic Games. I made mistakes in my swim last week and if I can iron those out then I cut down the time.
Do I visualise winning a medal at the Olympic Games? Of course I do. I’m not travelling to Beijing just to try out the food.”
“THE city is developing extremely rapidly ahead of the Games. Infrastructure wise, projects that would have taken ten years to complete are being done in five with new subways, expressways and ring roads completed or nearing completion. The actual venues and stadiums are either on schedule or ahead of schedule and the Olympic chiefs have every confidence that all the projects will be completed at least a month before the Games.
But the two things that are difficult to control are the weather and the pollution.
There will be a practice run next month which will involve taking one million cars off the roads to see what effects that will have on easing the pollution. In the major cities, over 70% of pollution is now vehicle related whereas before it was related to industrial. With all the crazy construction going on, a lot of dust pollution is also proving problematic.
The weather, as it is all over the world, is going through complicated changes. It has certainly been one of the wettest summers since I have moved here. (Deaths from storms and floods across China this summer have reached nearly 700 with flooding affecting 119 million people).
Normally it is very hot at this time of the year. How they can cool it down remains to be seen. If anyone can control the weather the Chinese can. They are ahead technologically in these areas and have created lots of rain storms — I think by putting iodine crystal into the clouds.
They are well prepared in every conceivable area and I am certain it is going to be a fantastic success.
My role as attaché is to help resolve any problems, issues or concerns that the Irish Olympic Council may have and represent the Irish Olympic spirit in my actions.
The excitement throughout the country is growing every day. It is greatest obviously in Beijing but there are many venues outside of the city which will host events. The Chinese public are a very proud people and are very happy that they are finally getting the Olympics Games.”
“THE one year countdown doesn’t mean a lot to any of the competitors. Instead they have a multiple of competitions to focus on from Europeans to World Championships. The majority will be concentrating on achieving the qualification standards for Beijing or to measure their own progress ahead of the Games.
Preparation-wise we are going about things the right way. There is a very professional approach to the support of the athletes across the board. There has been an increase in the funding and the support structure from previous games so, yes, lessons have been learned for Sydney and Athens.
Our role is two fold; we provide financial support through the international carding scheme and then there is the non-financial support which would include medical back-up, sports science, psychology, bio mechanics and the like.
There is €2.25m for the carding which goes directly to the athletes while we also have a performance planning package which is a support scheme for the governing bodies and that is worth €5.3m.
Finance is critical. We are always looking to make sure that our athletes are properly coached and looked after. What we have seen in the past is that comparable nations to Ireland like New Zealand, Sweden, Denmark, have set up Institute of Sports to improve standards. We have done so now and this aims to deliver high performance goals, and continue to develop financial and medical supports.
We have a great relationship with the Olympic Council. The critical thing is the three weeks leading into the Games and ensuring the team get the full support. We are all working hard to ensure that the final three weeks are as smooth as possible and we are confident that will be the case.
It will be tough games from an environmental level with pollution and humidity. We have an acclimatisation strategy which will be rolled out and that has been developed with the Olympic Council. It draws on the experience of those who have been and competed at the highest level and there will be individual programmes for each of the sports. Pollution is going to be an issue — it will be difficult for every one but we are confident that we will be as ready as we can be for it.
And the talk of medals? Athletes go there with the intent of doing their best. Some have the capability of winning medals. We are not getting into the favourites. What we want to see are improvements. We want to see more getting out of first rounds and to semis, those who were making semis to make finals and so on. If you get an athlete into a final there is always a chance of a medal.”
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
