Athletes get €9m Olympic boost as grants revealed

ATHLETES with their sights on the Olympic Games will get grants of up to €40,000 as well as benefiting from €5.935 million awarded to 15 focus sports for high performance plans and another €2.213m made available under the carding scheme announced by Sports Seamus Brennan, yesterday.

It was another bonanza day for Irish sport with an injection of €9m bringing the Irish Sports Council’s investment in high performance sport to over €30m for this Olympic and Paralympic cycle.

In the critical Olympic and Paralympic year, every athlete representing Ireland in Beijing will be comprehensively supported. The two established schemes of Performance Planning, coupled with the International Carding Scheme, will ensure the best possible supports in preparation and training are offered to elite athletes.

They will be augmented by a series of new programmes to be introduced in 2008 by the Irish Institute of Sport — each offering practical and significant benefits to Ireland’s sporting elite.

The International Carding Scheme is well established and remains a central pillar of the support system with 255 athletes (and four teams) from junior to contracted world class level supported in 2008 to the tune of €2.213m. For the first time the International Carding Scheme is the direct responsibility of the Institute as it assumes responsibility for services and funding for Ireland’s elite Irish athletes.

The carding scheme is augmented by the Performance Plan programme consisting of each sport’s specific elite campaigns from junior right through to world class level. Almost €6m is invested in the performance planning programme this year.

Designed and implemented by a Performance Director through a series of discussions with the Irish Sports Council and the Irish Institute of Sport, the plans cover training camps, competition requirements, coaching, sports science and medical support and equipment requirements.

Performance Directors ensure that the Carding Scheme and Performance Plans are complementary and, overseeing both schemes, ensure elite athletes are supported across all the financial and non-financial aspects of their programmes.

Ireland’s elite amateur golfers also receive significant support in the Performance Planning programme through the GUI and ILGU plans.

The Irish Institute of Sport has set out an ambitious programme of activity for 2008. A Performance Athlete Scholarship Scheme (PASS) will be the flagship lifestyle programme for the Institute this year, alongside a career development programme that is already being piloted, a quality assurance scheme for service providers, an applied research programme, and the development of a web-based injury management system.

Mr Brennan said they were building a high performance system that Ireland could be proud of and the work came into focus in an Olympic and Paralympic year.

“I am satisfied that every athlete who will represent Ireland in Beijing has been provided with the best possible support,” he said.

The chairman of the Irish Sports Council said they were using their investment in sport to bring about significant and rapid improvements in the way athletes are supported.

The new Institute of Sport adds an exciting dimension to athlete support and the executive chairman Sean Kelly said they had now set out a clear programme for Olympic year.

“We will work with coaches, athletes and all the support personnel throughout this vital year to ensure they have everything they require to maximize their performances,” he promised.

John Treacy, chief executive of the Irish Sports Council, himself an Olympic silver medallist, said their three strands of support, performance plans, carding and the Institute programmes would ensure athletes had a comprehensive support network.