Team Ireland's sailors ‘due a medal’

The expectations of Ireland’s sailors have been raised by Annalise Murphy’s fourth-place finish at the 2012 Olympics but the Irish Sailing Association’s performance director has described medal hopes at Rio next month as an outside shot.

“We’re due a medal,” said James O’Callaghan when asked if Ireland had underachieved at the Games. The only medal secured by the sport here was in 1980, when David Wilkins and James Wilkinson claimed silver in the Flying Dutchman class.

“The stated ambition was always a medal and the reason for that is that that’s where we want the bar to be. Whatever else that drops out of that will be a higher standard as a result of setting that goal and we weren’t a million miles off in London. So it’s not like it’s an unachievable aim.