Derval O’Rourke: We must keep our Olympic expectations in check

Derval O'Rourke racing at the London 2012 Olympic Games. Picture: Brendan Moran / SPORTSFILE

Just over 10 weeks out from what is supposed to be the opening ceremony for the 32nd hosting of the modern Olympic Games and the only certainty is that doubts over it actually happening will linger on for some time yet.

For every declaration of intent and positivity there has been a counter argument or expression of dissent over the intention to plough on with both the Olympics and the Paralympics in a country grappling with the pandemic.

So, while the World Health Organisation (WHO) endorsed the plans rewritten for a delayed, Covid-era Games late last week, an online petition in Japan calling for their cancellation, or a second postponement, has shot north of 300,000 signatories.

The divisiveness caused by the Olympics was apparent again yesterday when a protestor posing as a journalist in a remote meeting of the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) executive unfurled a banner and unloaded on the Games in general.

“No Olympics anywhere, f*** the Olympics, we don’t want the Olympics anywhere,” he declared.

As for Tokyo, the capital remains in a state of emergency, and will be until the end of May at the very least. So, the fact that all athletes and their support teams will be able to avail of the Pfizer vaccine jab after an agreement with the IOC was significant news.

“Sending all those athletes somewhere unvaccinated, I thought it would have been really unfair on them,” said Derval O’Rourke, the former World Indoor 60m champion and an ambassador for the Student Enterprise Programme.

“But, at the same time, I would have never wanted them to get vaccinated ahead of people who were more vulnerable. In terms of our athletes, it is important they go there and they feel protected, on a welfare level.

“And for Japan as a country, I have raced in Japan a few times, it is an amazing place. If you are putting this load of people into a country, they should be vaccinated. That is really important for the people there. So I am massively in favour of it.”

The sooner athletes are vaccinated, the better, given many are still traversing the continent searching for qualification times and in the knowledge that a positive Covid case at this late stage in the day could spell the end to their dreams.

O’Rourke will once again be providing analysis of the athletics in her role as a pundit with RTÉ television and she has asked viewers to “keep their expectations in check” when it comes to the track for at least two reasons.

The first is the across-the-board rise in standards since international sport resumed after the initial lockdowns last year.

The second is the funding in place for Irish athletes which, she believes, leaves them ill-prepared to succeed on the biggest of stages.

That issue is dealt with elsewhere in today’s pages.

The analogy she used compared the Olympics to a motorway with the best athletes placed in fast cars and the Irish athletes handed only a skateboard.

O’Rourke competed in three Games and she knows that health and fitness can play a cruel role to boot.

“I came home from the Athens Olympics (in 2004) having run dreadfully but having been in hospital three weeks before.

I was very unwell and I remember people in the pub asking me was I finished with the running now because I was so useless.

“Sometimes people’s understanding of what a high level the Olympics is might not be exactly where we want it to be. I think people are getting better but acknowledging that qualification achievement is important.”

Derval O’Rourke was speaking ahead of the Student Enterprise Programme National Finals on Friday, May 14. O’Rourke is an ambassador for the Local Enterprise Office initiative which is the largest student entrepreneurship programme in the country with 30,000 students taking part every year. The Finals will be broadcast live on Friday on www.StudentEnterprise.ie. Picture: Gerard McCarthy

Her hopes and wishes for the Games to come veer, understandably, towards her old area of expertise.

She would dearly love to see Sarah Lavin qualify in the hurdles and there is excitement as to what Thomas Barr can do in following up his superb showing in Rio.

Phil Healy offers a range of possibilities in different events, Nadia Power has produced exceptional performances in the 800m and Ciara Mageean is singled out as one of those in an Irish singlet that could reach a final.

“I was on the track in Doha watching her in a world final (in October of 2019) and the obvious next step from that is to make an Olympic final, and that’d be a tremendous achievement, so I hope I’m watching that in the RTÉ studio.”

The Irish track and field challenge will be bolstered by the presence of the mixed 4x400m relay team though O’Rourke was disappointed that the women’s 4x100m failed to book the same passage in failing to record a time that she felt was within their range.

“It was a big missed opportunity. I hope we learn from it and that we start putting even more robust structures in place to qualify relay teams. In Paris, we should have a full [complement] of relays. That would be a massive thing to fund and to aim at.”