In the midst of a winter chill, it was hardly the most fitting time last week to launch another report about Ireland and the Olympics, especially one that focuses on the summer games of 2012.
The lengthy Athens Review, launched last March, is still being digested, and if there was a gold medal for Olympic postmortems it seems Ireland would be hard to beat. Yet there was something fresh about the report of the Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Sport and Tourism. It boldly announced that our Olympic focus needs to shift to the London games of 2012 if we are ever to maximise performance expectations - even if that means sacrificing our chances for Beijing 2008.
In other words, nothing significant has changed since the disappointment of Athens in terms of coaching, funding, facilities, sports science and other athlete supports. So why should we expect anything different for Beijing? It is not too late for London, however, and because it is practically a home Olympics, the committee sees it as crucial that we achieve at least some material success. In real terms, that means winning medals.
Nineteen specific recommendations were made regarding Ireland's Olympic participation, aimed at the principal Olympic players - the Irish Sports Council, the Olympic Council of Ireland and the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism. Among the main proposals is the establishment of a steering committee to co-ordinate a 2012 roadmap. The committee says the Sports Council should make the establishment of an institute of sport its main priority, and athletes with potential for 2012 should receive funding commitments for three to four years which should extend, in turn, to coaches.
The Sports Council has been impacting slowly on Irish sport since its statutory formation in 1999 but it has not yet adopted such a long-term strategy. It should do so. Those who will represent Ireland in Beijing are already training and competing at the highest level. They should be assisted by all concerned in every possible way.
Sebastian Coe, the chairman of London's successful bid to host the 2012 games, says that his Olympic ambitions began after watching the 1968 games in Mexico as a 12-year-old. It took him 12 years to fulfil that ambition when he won the 1500 metres at the 1980 games in Moscow. Olympic goals can take that long to achieve.
The Oireachtas committee's report will find its way to the Minister for Sport and the Sports Council. They can shelve it alongside the other Olympic reviews, or they can act on it. In preparing for the Olympics, there is no such thing as a head start.