Change of attitude must be enforced, warns Genesis
Despite Ireland’s medal-winning performances by Kenneth Egan, Darren Sutherland and Paddy Barnes in Beijing, Ireland ranked lowest of eight comparable nations in terms of Olympic success, according to the Review.
It also found there was no real enthusiastic partnership between the key stakeholders — the Irish Sports Council, the OCI, the Institute of Sport and the national federations.
And it warned that the overall culture and attitude of everyone in the system needs to be changed and urgent action required if the opportunity afforded by London 2012 is to be realised.
According to the OCI’s own review — they did not take part in the Sports Council review — Ireland has underperformed consistently over the past six Olympic Games compared to eight nations of similar population, namely New Zealand, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Lithuania, Croatia and Slovenia.
The Review blames Ireland’s comparatively low level of success on four predominant factors.
The first was the failure of the High Performance planning process put in place at the development of the High Performance Strategy by the Irish Sports Council in 2001. That called for a focus on a relatively small number of sports with medal winning potential (Super Effective Sports), the establishment of the Irish Institute of Sport — of which the National Coaching and Training Centre was to be an integral part -, and an effective partnership between the key organisations supporting high performance sport, especially the OCI and the Irish Sports Council.
There was also an apparent lack of direction and ambition shown by many sports despite serious levels of Governmental financial support. Notably, the Super Effective Sports proposed in 2001 have yet to be identified.
The report highlighted the confusion that exists about the role and status of the Irish Institute of Sport.
It is also critical of the exclusion of the OCI by the ISC in any real partnership role despite this kind of co-operation being established good practice in comparable nations.
The Review expressed concern about the apparent lack of preparedness by sports and the Irish Sports Council for the London Games.
It calls for a change in the overall culture and state of mind of Irish athletes, coaches, managers, sports and the ISC, stating that Ireland currently appears to lack the ambition, attitude and self-belief of comparable nations.
Genesis’s managing director, Alistair Gray, recommended that major initiatives be taken immediately to give Irish athletes any chance of meaningful and improved performances in London.
“The London Games are a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to achieve real change,” he said.
“The recently published review by the Irish Sports Council is welcomed and contains useful data and evidence of some improvement in performance but it provides little confidence that Ireland can achieve a 6-8 medal haul — a realistic target for a nation with the talent and resources of Ireland.”
Pointing out that the public will perceive the London 2012 Games as virtually a “home” Games and therefore the expectation level on performance is going to be greater than ever before the Review makes four Recommendations for Action:
nUrgently establish a performance planning group, chaired by the Minister for Sport and involving all key stakeholders in building the strategy and action plan for London 2012.
nThe OCI should be engaged and involved with the National Federations to insure provision of quality services to meet the needs of the athletes and coaches.
nAll stakeholders (ISC, OCI, IIS, NF’s, Coaching Ireland) should be fully engaged in preparing, developing and monitoring performance plans.
nTarget specific sports with the best chance of delivering success and then build plans to assure success in target sports/disciplines.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
