At the start of August, the Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) confirmed that only athletes achieving ‘A’ standards will be selected for the London 2012 Olympic Games. The OCI said "This confirmation follows media speculation regarding ‘B’ standards in athletics. We both are absolutely and totally committed to ‘A’ standards only”
In a recent article in the Sunday Independent, Eamonn Sweeney makes a case for including 'B' standard athletes as well. He argues that the 'A' standard only qualification is just a reaction to public opinion and that the experience gained by younger athletes would stand to them for future events.
He is obviously not alone in that thinking with the likes of Eamonn Coghlan also making the case for 'B' standard.
The article can be seen here HERE
John,
ReplyDeleteHow many ‘suits’ were flown out to Beijing and what was the long term benefit to our athletes in that. What was the cost? Has the OCI one ounce of strategic reasoning. Think of the immense value that the experience would bring to young athletes. Every athletic event should have the maximum number of possible participants, with the non-A people chosen from talented U-25’s of B standard. I thought we had a minister for sports in this government. London is on our doorstep, it is as close to home games we are ever going to get. If they are worried about costs they could fly people over the week of the games [for half nothing on Ryanair]. I’m sure the athletes could stay with their English cousins and keep accommodation costs down. If we discovered or brought on “1” athlete it would be a worthwhile exercise. There will probably be more Irish media, officials and politicians at the games than there will be athletes.
A-team more like E(xpenses)-Team
Fergus
While I agree with Eamonn Sweeney on most things, I think he need's to look a bit closer to home in terms of who the OCI are afraid of, namely his colleagues in the media.
ReplyDelete