O’Rourke slams treatment of Ireland’s elite athletes
The sprint hurdler claimed Irish athletes are severely disadvantaged by a lack of professional structures.
O’Rourke, who missed the World Championships in Moscow through an Achilles injury, also asserted that Ireland lags behind other countries in terms of the support networks to cater for top competitors.
“There is one full-time paid coach in Irish athletics and that job was only created this year,” she fumed on her Elverys Sports blog.
“I think in terms of talent and work ethic we are an incredible nation. But both of those factors are not enough to make finals or win medals.
“We expect athletes to be professional, but yet the structures in place are not professional structures.
“Are things better than they were in the sport 10 years ago? Yes.
“Are we near the levels of professionalism of other countries? No.”
O’Rourke also hit out at the consistent criticism of Irish athletes, again to the fore following below-par showings in Moscow, maintaining the problems within Irish athletics lie away from the track.
“Do I believe that there could be greater results for Irish teams at major championships? Yes 100%. The easy thing to do is to blame the athletes when things don’t work out but they are the people who, from my experience, are trying the hardest to be world class. I think insinuating that Irish athletes are soft or don’t train as hard as other nations is a ridiculous opinion, unless you spend a huge amount of time around the athletes in their training environment and witness this. Being an Irish track athlete is most definitely not an easy or cushy career choice.”
O’Rourke is hopeful fellow Corkonian Rob Heffernan can secure his first podium finish on the international stage when taking to the start line for this morning’s 50km event.
“The medals will go to the toughest and most prepared men out there. Rob will not depend on luck or who is the most deserving. He will know that he has done everything and with a few kilometres to go I believe he will be tougher than any of the rest of them.”
