IRELAND HAS been warned to continue to fund high-performance athletes or else suffer the consequences experienced by other countries that have slashed sports budgets.
Speaking at an Olympic Games-themed conference at the Mardyke Arena in University College Cork yesterday, John Treacy, chief executive of the Irish Sports Council, said there is a major drop-off in athlete performance levels when funding is cut.
“We have seen other countries where they were heading into the Olympic games and they cut off investment and the performances did drop. We can’t reduce it [funding] because if we do we will have a drop-off in terms of performance. Our athletes will inspire our young people to take up sport and lead a healthy lifestyle.”
Mr Treacy said Ireland’s best chances of winning Olympic medals are in boxing, swimming and sailing. However, even with all the preparation in the world, he admitted that “a rub of the green and a bit of luck” are always needed when it comes to medals.
Mr Treacy spoke of the competitive nature of track and field but stressed he was expecting strong outings from athletes such as Robert Heffernan and Derval O’Rourke. The Olympic silver medallist added that the Sonia O’Sullivans of the world are not born every week. “She is an outstanding and incredible talent.”
Prof Barry Houlihan, who specialises in sports policy at Loughborough University in England, said it was important to note that 80 countries that have participated in the Olympic Games have never won a medal.
He expressed concern that such is the emphasis on developing sports systems in rich countries, with a view to winning medals, that the less powerful nations are being pushed aside at the Olympic Games. “China is one of the few countries which is obtaining its medals from a fairly broad range of sports. What we are seeing is some degree of specialisation, concentration on resources around sports which they [countries] see as being their best medal prospects,” Prof Houlihan said.