Planning for Rio already under way, says Kirwan

Irish plans for the Olympic Games in Rio have been ongoing since early this year, according to the Irish Sports Council’s performance director Finbarr Kirwan.

Having watched Ireland win five medals in London he felt they had got value for their investment as the Games came to a close.

“The performances of the Irish athletes at the Games have been remarkable but not a surprise,” he said. “I think a lot of credit goes to the athletes and the coaches and the performance directors of the sports for stepping up to the challenge that was London.

“From our perspective the feeling would be that the quality of the athletes was never in doubt. We just needed to make sure that the structures and the systems were put around them to be able to deliver at this level and they certainly have with five medals and two fourths, a fifth, a seventh and a 10th.

“Certainly I think things have progressed substantially. There was a pretty substantial investment put in — about €40m over the last four years — and this is a pretty good return on that investment for the council, for the state as well. We are very, very pleased.

“One of the lessons we would have learned post Beijing is that you need to kick on after the Games and you have to be prepared in advance of the Games for what comes after the Games.

“I suppose there are two aspects that we would look at. Firstly there’s a process of debriefs that will begin next week with the national governing bodies and the outcomes of those debriefs will form the planning for the next quadrennial cycle into the Rio Games.

“The second piece then is making sure the athletes get the proper support when they come back from the Games and come down from what is a lifetime experience. There is a transition programme that has been put in place by the Institute of Sport — again supported by the Olympic Council and ourselves, and Gary Keegan and his team are leading that project.

“The preparation for this transition for the athletes has been under way since the beginning of the year. The process will properly kick in post London. Every athlete will have the opportunity to get a proper debrief after their experience here and hopefully be able to be able to re-enter back into normal life as you would hope.”

As regards A standards and B standards, he said he did not have any issue with A standards being the requisite.

“To send A standard athletes was a decision the Olympic Council took a number of years ago and I think when you look at the standard of competition that athletes face here in London it’s clear that you have to be at the very top of your game to be able to compete.

“It’s our belief that we have an excellent crop of young athletes coming through — look at Thomas Barr, Jessie Barr, Mark English, Kate Veale — all of these athletes are at the very highest level in either U23 or junior championships. We believe they will be in an excellent position come Rio.

“We are absolutely delighted with the boxers. It’s not a surprise because Billy [Walsh] and Zaur [Antia] and the IABA have done remarkable work in getting the boxers ready for this tournament. It doesn’t happen over a two-week period, it happens over multiple years and the high performance unit in the IABA has really delivered.

“I think as well when you look specifically at the preparation that Billy has put in place — going to the Ukraine before the Olympic qualifier and then, in turn, going to the camp in Assisi in Italy and sparring with the very best boxers in the world.

“You can see that the boxers had a tough draw this time but now they are the tough draw and people want to avoid Irish boxers.

“That doesn’t happen by accident. It happens because people are putting really great effort in and the credit goes to Billy and his team and the IABA.

“There are two European champions at home. Particularly Joe Ward — it’s very unfortunate. I watched Egor Mekhontcev, the Russian light heavy, make the Olympic final last nigh. Joe comfortably beat him at the Chemistry Cup and it’s very disappointing that he is not here but hopefully he’ll have his day in Rio.”

But Kirwan emphasised that this is not just all about two weeks in the public eye every four years. It’s not all about the Olympics either. It’s about consistency across all of the age groups.

“Some statistics worth noting are that in the Athens cycle, 2000 to 2004, there were 54 medals won at junior and senior levels at European, world and Olympic levels — in Beijing the number was 70 and we are tracking to 125 in this cycle.

“What you are seeing is not just at the Olympics — it’s across the board. Hopefully that augurs well for the future. It’s across the range of funded sports and the graph is upwards.”