Focus on London Olympics urged

Ireland's Olympic focus needs to shift to the London games of 2012, effectively by-passing Beijing in 2008, in order to maximise performance expectations, according to a new report.

The finding was made by the Oireachtas Committee on Arts and Sport, which examined Ireland's participation at the most recent Olympics, Athens 2004.

Its report comes on the heels of the Athens Review, an extensive review of the last Olympics, commissioned by the Irish Sports Council. The committee's report, Ireland and the Olympics: From Athens to London, recommends that a steering committee be set up to co-ordinate Irish participation in the 2012 games.

The Irish Sports Council should be involved in preparing the "roadmap" for 2012 and should make the establishment of an institute of sport its number one priority.

It says the "vacuum" situation surrounding the National Coaching and Training Centre in Limerick should be addressed.

The committee is chaired by Fianna Fáil TD Cecilia Keaveney. Few if any of its recommendations deal specifically with preparations for Beijing. Instead, the focus is clearly on the 2012 games in London.

"When the committee started taking evidence on the subject, the fiasco in Athens, perhaps an Irish Greek tragedy, was fresh in our minds," said Ms Keaveney.

"We were then overtaken by events in the awarding of the 2012 Olympics to London. Prior to that we had been focusing on Beijing, but London will in our opinion be a cataclysmic factor in Irish international sport. And for that we need to start preparing now."

There are several recommendations on funding, including a direct link between the sports council and carded athletes, and that athletes of 2012 potential receive financial commitments for three to four years. It also recommends that funding be extended to coaches.

The sports council should also define performance targets to measure value for money and progress, while the Olympic Council of Ireland should introduce quality control for all support team members.

Interestingly, the committee started out to assess whether the Olympics were worth investing in or if the money would be better spent on local participation in sport."We realise we do need both," said Ms Keaveney.

"The Olympics is a very important role model in sport and we have to recognise that."

However, Beijing wasn't being forgotten entirely. "I think we would be contradicting ourselves if we said we can't make improvements for 2008. But the reality in sport is that 2012 is not that far away, and we can't afford to mess up on such a major opportunity."

Olympic rower Sam Lynch welcomed the report as a useful addition to other findings on the Athens Olympics.

"I think it's very important that 2012 is being flagged already," he said. "There's no point in planning any more for Beijing. The people we'll have there are already performing at a high level . . . No one who isn't rowing at a high level now is going to be competing in Beijing and it's the same with running and most other sports."