Gymnasts Return to Sport Ireland Campus

The equipment at the National Gymnastics Training Centre on the Sport Ireland Campus was back in action yesterday with a small number of Ireland’s high performance Gymnasts back in training there for the first time since March.

The Government confirmed last week that high performance athletes, identified by a sporting NGB, could travel further than the remaining restrictions in order to access training.

“It’s great to be back, it really is. To be training in this amazing facility is just fantastic,” said pommel-horse star and Olympic hopeful Rhys McClenaghan, pictured above in a shot by Ramsey Cardy of Sportsfile.

Youth Olympic Games finalist Emma Slevin, World Cup medallists Meg Ryan and Jane Heffernan plus team-mates Kate Molloy & Blathnaid Higgins are also among those who were going through their routines.

“Our thanks to our partners in the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, Sport Ireland, the Olympic Federation of Ireland and the Federation of Irish Sport for all the efforts that went into making this happen,” said Ciaran Gallagher, CEO of Gymnastics Ireland.

“Our clubs continue to work along our wider Gymnastics Ireland Return to Sport plan ensuring all necessary measures are put in place to protect the health of our members.”

“We await final confirmation that they can return to activity in the near future.”

Gymnastics has been hit hard by the lockdown with many of the clubs facing pressure on rented facilities.

The size and scale of the Gymnastics ecosystem is large with clubs ranging in size from those catering to 100 members and generating €50,000 in annual turnover to the larger ones catering to 2,000, employing up to 40 staff and generating turnover of over €1,000,000.

Back in April, Sport for Business spoke to CEO Ciaran Gallagher about the challenges the sport was facing.