Team Ireland needs to keep adapting to evolving Games in drive for Olympic medals

The IOC is an imposing skyscraper, its height and stature a symbol of its permanence, but it operates a revolving door policy at the ground floor when it comes to sports and disciplines, so Ireland’s medal opportunities may well look very different by the time we reach Los Angeles in 2028.

MUST KEEP EVOLVING: Men’s Double Sculls Final bronze medal winners Philip Doyle, Daire Lynch and Light Weight Double Scull winners Fintan McCarthy and Paul O'Donovan celebrate. Picture: ©INPHO/James Crombie

The term ‘minority sports’ isn’t one that anyone regards with affection. It’s up there with the awful ‘Tier 2’ that goes around rugby circles and the condescending ‘weaker counties’ tag that gets bandied about in hurling.

It’s at once demeaning and unhelpful but it is a moniker that, like it or not, holds an undeniable grain of truth. Sport, like everything else, has its hierarchy but even minority pursuits can be stratified into the haves and the have-nots.