OLYMPICS/Funding: Preparations for next year's Athens Olympics now benefit from an unprecedented level of cooperation between the relevant sporting bodies, according to John O'Donoghue, the Minister for Sport.
He was speaking at yesterday's announcement of the latest €10 million investment in Irish sport, which includes additional high-performance funding for the countdown to Athens.
Clearly, relations have improved between those primarily responsible for Olympic preparations: the Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI), the Irish Sports Council (ISC), the National Coaching and Training Centre (NCTC) and the eight governing bodies of sport selected for the Athens Enhancement Programme.
Also present at the announcement in Dublin was OCI president Pat Hickey, ISC chief executive John Treacy and NCTC director Pat Duffy, whose various relationships had been tense in the aftermath of Sydney 2000. Yet significant progress has been made in their implementation of the Sydney Review recommendations.
"I can say with great certainty that the level of cooperation between these bodies is now excellent," said O'Donoghue. "There have been some conflicts in the past, but they have come together as grown men, and realised they are all working off the same agenda."
The Minister also outlined the areas of the new investment, which is focused on the high- performance end of Irish sport. The total of €10.3 million will be distributed as:
€6.88 million for 42 governing bodies of sport
€1.59 million for the eight sports in the Athens Enhancement Programme
€553,000 for the Olympic Council of Ireland
€225,000 for the Paralympic Council of Ireland
€1.12 million for the National Coaching and Training Centre
The €1.59 million grant for the Athens Enhancement Programme, now in its second year, will benefit sailing, boxing, rowing, athletics, cycling, hockey, canoeing and clay pigeon shooting. The focus is now on the squads established by those sports, and to detail the training and competition schedules, as well as the performance targets for their potential Olympic athletes.
In most cases those sports have appointed high- performance directors or technical directors, with the main exception of the Athletics Association of Ireland, which hope to have their high-performance director in place by the end of next month. Those directors will also meet once a month to integrate their plans for Athens.
Treacy explained how the programme is aimed at enhancing the performances of the best Irish athletes, rather than enhancing the size of the team for Athens. "In our high-performance strategy urgent action was recommended for Athens 2004," he added, "and we have responded to each recommendation so that real progress can be made by our team."
The breakdown of the Athens Enhancement grants is as follows:
Sailing €370,000
Boxing €150,200
Athletics €240,000
Rowing €300,000
Hockey €90,000
Cycling €150,000
Canoeing €195,000
Shooting €90,000
Brian Samson of the ISC, who helped develop the Athens programme, said that of the 29 recommendations that came out of the Sydney review, "in excess of 85 per cent have now been delivered".
The €553,000 grant for the OCI is to help provide multi-sport training camps (now identified in Cyprus, Seville and Sierra Nevada), along with other supports in the run up to Athens. The OCI have recently appointed Martin Burke as their full-time technical director, and yesterday officially launched an improved website at www.olympicsport.ie, which has also laid down details of the road to Athens 2004.
With their grant of €1.12 million the NCTC in Limerick will continue to provide the main medical and sports science back-up as agreed with the Athens Enhancement plans, as well as the continuing coach education programmes and other services provided to elite athletes through the International Carding scheme.
The €6.88 million distributed among the 42 national governing bodies of sport is intended to strengthen the individual organisations primarily through the provision of additional staff. This support has also been provided against clear strategic plans, which the majority of governing bodies are now in the process of implementing.
NATIONAL GOVERNING BODY GRANTS 2003
Total Allocation (including Athens Enhancement): Athletic Association of Ireland a840,800; Badminton Union of Ireland a280,167; Comhairle Liathróid Láimhe na hÉireann a99,913; Cumann Camógaíochta na nGael a62,540; Cumann Peile Gael na mBan a85,500; Cycling Ireland a387,175; Equestrian Federation of Ireland a467,520; Golfing Union of Ireland a318,700; Irish Amateur Boxing Association a447,913; Irish Amateur Fencing Federation a21,517; Irish Amateur Rowing Union a545,700; Irish Amateur Weightlifting Association a10,075; Irish Basketball Association a374,573; Irish Canoe Union a439,988; Irish Clay Pigeon Shooting Association a90,000; Irish Cricket Union a100,625; Irish Gymnastics Limited a111,316; Irish Hockey Association a347,575; Irish Judo Association a118,800; Irish Ladies Golf Union a119,625; Irish Martial Arts Commission a8,900; Irish Orienteering Association a34,050; Irish Sailing Association a674,100; Irish Squash a102,741; Irish Surfing Association a42,910; Irish Table Tennis Association a70,000; Irish Taekwondo Union a3,650; Irish Ten Pin Bowling Association a15,271; Irish Tug-of-War Association a36,101; Irish Underwater Council a41,333; Irish Wheelchair Association a217,044; Motor Cycle Union of Ireland a74,985; Motor Sport Ireland a119,000; Mountaineering Council of Ireland a74,889; National Community Games a249,718; Pitch and Putt Union of Ireland a90,639; Racquetball Association of Ireland a16,600; ROI Snooker and Billiards Association a50,917; Special Olympics Ireland a302,000; Speleological Union of Ireland a14,990; Swim Ireland a357,596; Tennis Ireland a455,858; Volleyball Association of Ireland a139,840.
