Tracey: Investment needed for future Irish Olympians

The Chief Executive of the Irish Sports Council John Tracey has said that investment is the key to getting a medal return in high-performance competitions.

Tracey's comments come as Taoiseach Enda Kenny said he would not make false promises about future funding for Irish Olympians.

Team Ireland secured five medals at the Games - one gold, one silver, and three bronze - marking the most successful Irish Olympic campaign for almost 60 years.

Tracey said that this achievement should be the driving force in securing future financial support.

"If you're going to get a return on Irish performance, you're going to have to invest in it," he said.

"You have to put in the right people, the right coaches, the right performance directors, deliver the right services to our athletes at the right time, the athletes have to go to the right competitions and they have to go to the warm-weather training, and all that kind of stuff costs money.

"So we need to kick on and we need to continue to plan and raise the bar for ourselves and raise the bar for the sports."