Ireland National Thread

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 Ireland has its 4th qualifier in Athletics with Fionnuala McCormack (neé Britton) 5th in the Chicago marathon in a time of 02:26:47

 

Fionnuala was 20th in Rio

 

It means the Irish team with 26 qualifiers so far in 7 different sports 

[Olympian1010 7,973]

@OlympicIRL Is Rhys Northern Irish? If I remember correctly he represented them at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

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Just now, Olympian1010 said:

@OlympicIRL Is Rhys Northern Irish? If I remember correctly he represented them at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

 

He’s from Newtownards in Northern Ireland, yes (and won gold for Northern Ireland at the commonwealth games)

[Olympian1010 7,973]

15 minutes ago, dodge said:

 

He’s from Newtownards in Northern Ireland, yes (and won gold for Northern Ireland at the commonwealth games)

So why is he allowed to represent Ireland then?

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5 hours ago, Olympian1010 said:

So why is he allowed to represent Ireland then?

Because he’s an Irish citizen 

 

I won’t be getting into the politics of Northern Ireland but people from NI are free to represent either Ireland or Britain. The majority of athletes in the majority of sports from NI represent Ireland 

 

Many of the sporting federations cover both sides of the border. Irish Boxing, for example, has had multiple medalists from Belfast. Football (soccer) is the only sport that isn’t run on all-island basis

 

 

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An update on athletes and quotas where   currently occupies qualifying positions in the respective sports rankings (as of 14 October). I suspect these will change significantly but here we go...

 

Athletics

Leon Reid (200m) - 29/56

Marcus Lawler (200m) - 43/56

Mark English (800m) - 30/48

Thomas Barr - (400m H) 16/40

 

Phil Healy (200m) - 40/56

Michelle Finn (3,00m SC) - 31/45

 

Badminton

Nhat Nguyen - 25/38

Sam & Chloe Magee - 14/16

 

Golf

Rory McIlroy - 2/60

Shane Lowry - 12/60

 

Stephanie Meadow - 41/60

Leona Maguire - 44/60

 

Judo

Ben Fletcher (-100kg) - 10

nathon Burns (-66kg) -  31 (continental quota)

 

Megan Fletcher (-70kg) - 20

 

 

Triathlon

Russell White - 48

Carolyn Hayes - 52 (in thanks to "first flags")

 

 

Jack Wooley in Taekwondo may well be in the top 6 when their monthly rankings are published too.

 

Next up for Irish Olympic qualification hopes are the Hockey play offs. First up is the men in Canada on 26/27 October

 

[OlympicIRL 5,532]

16 hours ago, Olympian1010 said:

So why is he allowed to represent Ireland then?

 

Like dodge said, people from Northern Ireland can choose to represent Ireland or GB. 

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As of 24 October 2019...

 

29 quotas earned in 9 different sports

 

Sports with quotas earned in alphabetical order:

 

Athletics

 

• Ciara Mageean (1,500m)
• Alex Wright (20k walk)
• Brendan Boyce (50k walk)
• Fionnuala McCormack (marathon)

 

Others that would get place by virtue of their current ranking would be Thomas Barr, Mark English and Phil Healy. Of the highly rated juniors; high jumper Sommer Lecky and heptathlete Kate O'Connor have the best chance of making the early step up.

 

Canoeing - Slalom

 

• boat (men's C1)

 

Ireland are unlikely to qualify any more boats in canoeing with our best sprint canoeist being Jenny Egan who specialises in longer (non-Olympic) distances. Robert Hendrick qualified the boat but himself and Liam Jegou are set to fight for it

 

Cycling - Road

 

• Men's Road race (3 quotas)
• Men's ITT (1 quota)

 

With several riders at world tour level, the fight for Olympic spots will be on ext year.

 

Equestrian

 

• Eventing (team with 3 individuals)
• Dressage(team with 3 individuals)
• Show jumping (team and 3 individuals)

 

Finally a full Irish quota!

 

Gymnastics (artistic)

 

• Rhys McClenaghan

 

Rhys's bronze medal performance in the pommel final at the world championships was enough to earn him a spot. Megan Smith is first reserve on the womens side

 

Modern Pentathlon

 

• Natalya Coyle

 

Natalya will be hoping for her third top 10 placing in the Olympics in Tokyo. Arthur Lannigan O'Keefe could medal if everything goes right but he struggled with injuries. He needs to have a great start to 2020 to shoot up the rankings.

 

Rowing

 

• w1x
• w2-
• m2x
• lm2x

 

Whoever is with Paul O'Donovan in the lightweight double sculls will be a medal favourite in Tokyo. Paul has won the last two world championships, one with his Rio medal winning brother Gary and the other with newcomer Fintan McCarthy. Sanita Puspure is double world champion and only injury or horrendoes luck will stop her from medaling in Tokyo. The men's double won silver this year and are improving all the time. Ireland will try and qualify a womens 4 next year 

 

Sailing

 

• Laser Radial

 

Aisling Kelleher won the quota but Rio medalist Annalise Murphy has dropped her 49er FX plans to try and get in the Radial boat for Tokyo. The 49er crew have a good chance of qualifying in December and we might sneak in a Laser quota too next year with most European countries already in.

 

Swimming

 

• Darragh Greene (100m, 200m breast)
• Shane Ryan (100m back)

 

Irish swimming is one of the only sports that have stricted rules than the IOC for qualifying so neither of these may actually go. Greene achieved his time at the worlds so has to get close to it at the Irish nationals in 2020 to validate it. Everyone else, including Ryan, has to earn the OQT at the Irish nationals. Brendan Hyland and Mona Mcsharry look the two most likely to add to the team in individual events but swimmimg Ireland is aiming to bring a 4x100m medley relay team and is currently OK in the ranks

 

 

Likely/possible quotas in these sports

 

Badminton

Nhat Nguyen is currently in a rankings spot. The mixed doubles of Sam and Chloe Magee are also in a spot, but their quota is far less secured.

 

Boxing

Traditionally our strongest Olympic sport. Ireland will eb hoping to have at least 8 of the 13 quotas available next year. Our womens team is particularly strong and they'll hope to win 2/3 medals next year.

 

Cycling

On the track we may qualify at least 2 women (madison rankings) and maybe one man (omnium).

 

Diving

Oliver Dingley and Clare Cryan have hopes for next year through the world cup series. Dingley should be OK

 

Field Hockey

Both mens and womens team face Canada over the next 2 weekends time in the play offs. The World Cup runner up women are at home and hopefully qualify for their first ever Olympics!

 

Golf

Ireland will qualify 4 for golf next year with McIlroy and Lowry being medal contenders on their day in the mens. Leona Maguire and Stephanie Meadow will go in the women's event

 

Judo

We currently have 3 judoka in ranking positions; Ben Fletcher, Megan Fletcher and Nathan Burns and tey're listed in order of likely qualification. Ben will be in if he isn't injured.

 

Taekwondo

Jack Wooley is top 8 ranked in the minimum weight and should be OK to make his first games with average luck.

 

Triathlon

Russell White and Carolyn Hayes are our best hope of qualifying for Tokyo and both are just inside the quota spots at the moment.  Hayes was 6th at the European Championships in May and is a relative newcomer to the sport. She'll easily shoot up the rankings list with performances like that. The ranking period ends in May 2020.

 

It's unlikely we'll have qualifiers in  other sports but  maybe the rugby sevens team can surprise us or someone new comes along next year!

 

 

 

 

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TEAM  is now at 45 with the addition of 16 women hockey players!

 

First ever women's team to qualify in hockey

 

First ever women's team to qualify in any team sport

 

 

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We can now add marathon runner Paul Pollock to the list. He ran 2:10.17 to easily make the quota 

 

we now stand at 46 in 10 sports. 5 in athletics