The Olympic Federation of Ireland provides a detailed weekly round-up of qualifications, upcoming events and more regarding the likely makeup of Team Ireland in Tokyo.
With the games drawing ever closer we thought it would be of interest to share the update and keep you up to date with how the team is progressing and also as a round-up of the coverage we have been giving to the Games in the previous week.
As things stand at the moment we now have 69 athletes guaranteed a place in Tokyo, after the exploits last weekend of our rowers.
There are many others currently sitting within qualification based on rankings or waiting on final places to be determined.
Here are the latest updates from the OFI and the individual sports.
The Olympic Federation of Ireland held its Annual General Meeting this week and we will have a report on its outcomes on Sport for Business on Monday.
This has been the third week of the Olympic Schools Challenge Road to Tokyo which currently has over 48,000 school children around Ireland learning more about the Olympics, Team Ireland and getting active.
Athletics
Rhasidat Adeleke had a night to remember at the Big 12 championship this week, breaking Phil Healy’s Irish 200m record with a stunning 22.96 (0.8m/s). Adeleke finished second in her heat (4) when clocking the time while representing the University of Texas.
The feat was made all the more impressive in that she had earlier broken the Irish U20 & U23 100m records with an 11.31 (1.0m/s) to move to second on the all-time 100m list behind Phil Healy (11.28).
Brendan Boyce was also on form this week, finishing 9th in the European Race Walking Cup in Podebrady. This bodes well for Tokyo, for which two time Olympian Brendan has already achieved the qualifying time.
Badminton
In Badminton, the last three qualification events have unfortunately been cancelled, which ends the qualification journey for Chloe and Sam Magee, who were sitting just outside Olympic ranking prior to this announcement.
The official list of qualified athletes will be confirmed by BWF shortly, with Men’s Singles player Nhat Nguyen appearing to be comfortably inside the ranking points required.
Basketball
For the third straight edition of the European Games, the event will feature the best 3×3 basketball stars from across the continent after the European Olympic Committees (EOC) and FIBA reached an agreement for Krakow-Malopolska 2023 today. As at previous editions, 128 players in total will compete at Krakow-Malopolska, with an equal 16 teams of four making up the men’s side, and 16 teams of four making up the women’s.
Canoeing
Jenny Egan is competing this week in the Women’s K1 200m at the final Olympic Qualifier in Russia. Yesterday morning she finished 3rd in the Women’s K1 200m Semi-Final, moving to the Finals which took place this morning but sadly it was not to be.
Diving
Clare Cryan secured a second top 10 finish at the 35th LEN European Aquatics Championships in Budapest last Saturday. The 27-year-old went into the final ranked 11th, after scoring 270.85 points in the preliminary round and, she improved in that final to secure a finishing position of ninth in Europe.
Golf
The second Major Championship of the year is underway at Kiawah Island for the PGA Championship. Both Men’s Tokyo hopefuls, Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry are in the field.
On the LPGA Tour, Stephanie Meadow and Leona Maguire return from a short break for the Pure Silk Championship. Earlier this week Stephanie Meadow qualified for the US Women’s Open to be played from June 3 – 6.
Hockey
On the 15th May, Ireland Claimed 5-1 Victory Over Scotland in First of Two Match Series in Final Prep for Europeans in June.
Ireland then went on to secure a second win 4-1 over Scotland in the second match on the 16th May.
Yesterday Hockey Ireland announced the Irish Women’s squad to travel to the EuroHockey Championships in Amstelveen which get underway on June 4th
The tournament is Ireland’s first major ranking event since November 2019’s memorable Olympic qualifiers and will act not only as the Green Army’s key preparation event for this summer’s Olympic Games but doubles as a qualifier for the 2022 World Cup.
Modern Pentathlon
Two-time Olympian Natalya Coyle, who has already qualified for Tokyo, performed strongly all day at the UIPM 2021 Pentathlon World Cup Final in Hungary to finish fifth while Sive Brassil worked hard for a placing of 25th that keeps her in contention for a qualifying spot.
Arthur Lanigan-O’Keeffe’s dream of competing in a third Olympic Games this summer suffered a major setback as he was forced to withdraw from the UIPM 2021 Pentathlon World Cup Final in Hungary. The Kilkenny pentathlete now has only one remaining opportunity to qualify for the rescheduled Tokyo 2020 Games. Lanigan-O’Keeffe will have to achieve a high finish at the UIPM 2021 Pentathlon World Championships in Cairo in June, where three automatic quota places are on offer to individual medallists.
Rowing
The Irish Rowing Team qualified an additional two boats for the Olympics. There will now be six boats representing Ireland in Tokyo this summer.
The Women’s Four of Emily Hegarty, Eimear Lambe, Aifric Keogh and Fiona Murtagh qualified their boat by winning the Women’s Four Final and taking one of the two available slots. The Irish crew beat crews from China, Italy, Russia, Ukraine and the Czech Republic with a time of 06:31.99. Aoife Casey and Margaret Cremen secured the Lightweight Women’s Double for the Olympics by finishing third in the Final. They fought hard throughout the race and caught the Chinese boat in the final 600m and took the last Olympic Spot with a time of 07:09.22.
Swimming
The Team Ireland Olympic relay qualification bids continue this weekend at the LEN European Aquatics Championships in Budapest. So far four of our potential Olympic relay teams have swum, and all have set at least one new Irish Senior Record. The Men’s 4x200m Freestyle Relay team, which finished fifth in Europe on Wednesday, sits in the strongest position, but there are high hopes for the Men’s and Women’s 4x100m Medley Relay teams on Sunday – and the Mixed 4x100m Freestyle team swims on Saturday. The qualification period ends on May 31 and we are expecting to know whether we have qualified any teams shortly afterwards.
Triathlon
Russell White and Carolyn Hayes both competed in Yokohama last weekend, this was the first event in the re-opened qualification period for triathlon. Over a six week period, six events will be held, all of which will offer points before qualification closes in mid-June. Both Russell and Carolyn will hope to build on their opening competition, where Carolyn was 42nd and Russell DNF. This weekend they compete in Lisbon, Portugal.
The Olympic Federation of Ireland, Indeed and 30 National Governing Bodies of Sport are among more than 250+ members of the Sport for Business network of sporting and business organisations working together across a number of key areas.
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UEFA and the FAI are among more than 250+ members of the Sport for Business network of sporting and business organisations working together across a number of key areas.
Sport for Business Partners
