The excellence on display in China is first encouraged at local level by men like Jack, writes Elaine Byrne
DENG XIAOPING, former leader of the Communist Party of China, made a series of speeches from 1978-1980 which promoted Chinese economic reform.
Realise the Four Modernisations and Never Seek Hegemony and We Can Develop a Market Economy Under Socialismfocused on the need to create incentives for rapid development through the delegation of authority and an opening up to the outside world.
The opening ceremony of the Olympic Games takes place at the Birds Nest Stadium in Beijing today and an article on the emerging Chinese economy seemed appropriate when I first sat down to write this.
But . . . I could have been a contender. From the age of 11 until my retirement at 14, I was engaged in a headstrong battle of wills with Jack Byrne, our athletics coach. With a no-nonsense, strong-on-discipline but deeply mischievous approach, Jack got the best out of us, despite ourselves.
"Ten sit-ups, Elaine."
"I'm not able to, Jack."
"Get up out of that and sprint up and down the bank 10 times and then come back here and do 20 sit-ups."
He would not let you catch his eye until the 20th one was done and in defiance you would do an extra sit-up. Jack would then give you that wink he was famous for and you would try your very best not to smile back.
Jack once told me, with a glint in his eye, that if I was serious about running I had to swallow three raw eggs mixed with lime juice each day. This was tried for a few months. To this day I have an unreasonable fear of soft boiled and runny fried eggs.
The Wicklow Community Games finals were held at our club grounds in Shillelagh village. From the rural west of the county, we considered ourselves from Wick-la, ran barefoot and had our changing rooms under the roof of an oak tree.
Jack's strategy was simple. "Keep up with them at the start, don't get boxed in, and at the bend for home, kick when I shout GO!"
For those years I alternated with competitors from Wicklow town to represent the county in the long distance at the Mosney Community Games Finals.
So intense was this rivalry, as rivalries are at 11 years old, I took the name of my arch-nemesis for my confirmation name. This is the first time I have admitted to this - my apologies to Aunt Margaret who was very kind to me on my birthdays.
Róisín McGettigan was another Wicklow town adversary and it was obvious even then that she was going to shine.
Tonight she parades behind the Irish flag in Beijing and will represent Ireland in the first Women's Olympic 3,000m steeplechase this day week.
My Gaelic football career, such as it was, was full of Jacks. Trainers who tested you and made you test yourself. Jack Bowes of Coolkenno GAA was also my mother's coach.
He was a man you completely trusted and believed in, who in turn made you believe in yourself. Jack guided Wicklow football to its first All-Ireland victory of any kind when we won the Ladies Junior All Ireland in 1990.
My manager at Monaleen GAA was George Fitzpatrick who insisted that the opposition ate hairy rashers and as such we had to run harder. When he told me to kick with my left foot, I told him I had always kicked with my right and wasn't about to change.
George had the same way of putting his hands on his hips and looking at you sideways that Jack did, which meant you did as you were told. Thereafter, George would take great delight in letting me know how many times I had kicked with my left in a game.
Last year the shoe was on the other foot when I became the Vienna Ladies GAA trainer. Two-thirds of the team were non-Irish, mostly from the Balkans, and apart from Youtube video clips, had limited experience of Gaelic football. I began to see things through Jack's eyes. Helping players improve their skills and watching them gain quiet satisfaction from their accomplishments was unexpectedly rewarding.
Tonight the Olympic opening ceremony will blow us away with its extraordinary spectacle.
A little more low-key but every bit as important, the 40th Community Games Finals will begin next weekend.
For the 500,000 participants and 20,000 volunteers that took part in the run-up to the finals, Mosney is their Olympics.
I never said thanks to Jack. He died last year but his legacy lives on in the very capable hands of a man known simply as Dooley. Every Olympic athlete had a Jack along the way.
For those who never made it that far, there was a Jack that taught us the meaning of the Olympics. If you give your best, this effort is a victory in itself.
To Róisín and the rest of the Irish Olympic team: Citius, Altius, Fortius!