SAILING:After four years and €2.8 million in Irish Sports Council funding, with more recent squad support from Providence Resources, Irish Olympic sailing has never been in better shape and expectations are high.

Nevertheless, striking gold is not a prediction even the biggest heavyweight nations can rely upon when it comes to sailing. The variables of athletic talent and fitness, equipment and weather give some hopes for the winners’ podium.

While Ireland remains a minnow in waters dominated by the heavy-hitting nations such as Britain, the national programme has evolved to a consistent standard that includes vital supports such as coaching and equipment.

Reliable backing has allowed the athletes to concentrate on their development programmes, while a pathway for younger up-and-coming sailors is more defined.

The path to the podium for the current sailing squad is dominated by monumental steps, each as significant as the previous in terms of effort: place in top half of regatta, improve to Gold fleet, improve further to consistent top-20 places, then the big breakthrough into top 10 places.

After that, it’s a matter of making top six or better places to feature steadily on the podium at key events.

And in exceptional cases, superstars such as Ben Ainslie (GBR), Iain Percy (GBR), Robert Scheidt (BRA) emerge as close to podium certainties as can be expected in this sport.

David Branigan

VERDICT –Medal prospects

Peter O’Leary and David Burrows (men’s keelboat – Star class) should reach the top six and are well capable of better. Elsewhere, Annalise Murphy (women’s single-handed dinghy – Laser Radial class) tends to mix the bad and the outstanding. Despite being only 23 she has a proven ability to reach the podium positions.