The Irish team for the Special Olympics World Winter Games leaves Dublin today with high hopes for a medal haul, writes Joe Humphreys
Eight athletes from across Ireland will participate in three Alpine skiing events - the slalom, downhill slalom and giant slalom - at the games, which open in Japan on Saturday.
Ms Frances Kavanagh, director of sport at Special Olympics Ireland, said: "They are the best-prepared team we've ever sent to the Winter Games.
"They are really committed. The confidence going up there on the ski-lift is incredible. They just hitch up and away they go."
Conditions in Nagano, which hosted the 1998 Winter Olympics, are a good deal cooler than the team is used to.
The athletes' weekly training sessions take place on the artificial ski slopes of Kilternan, Co Wicklow.
For the first time, however, Team Ireland prepared for a Winter Games on snow at a training camp in Murau in Austria before Christmas.
"We might not be a strong skiing nation but I hope in the next few weeks you will be hearing a lot more about us," said Ms Kavanagh.
Four of the Irish competitors - Lorraine Whelan from Wicklow, Ryan Hill from Co Armagh, Warren Tate from Co Dublin, and Cormac Maguire from Dublin - are at intermediate level for the games.
The remaining four - Fiona Bryson from Co Dublin, Cyril Walker from Co Armagh, and Finbar Hughes and Liam Weir, both from Co Tyrone - are novices. The eight athletes will be joined by 11 family members who will lend their support during the games.
Some 26 fully trained Special Olympics Ireland volunteers who have collectively raised €200,000 for Special Olympics Ireland are also accompanying the skiers.
Members of the public can post messages of support for the team at the following website: www.eircom.net/teamireland
Around 2,500 athletes from 80 delegations are taking part in the Winter Games, which take place once every four years.
Ireland, which in 2003 hosted the Special Olympics World Summer Games, has competed just twice before in the winter event.
"It's a small programme but it's a very good one," said Ms Kavanagh.
"The World Games are the pinnacle. But the work we do, week in and week out to get there, is the nucleus of what the Special Olympics is all about" Ms Kavanagh added.
Sports at the games include skiing, snowboarding, figure and speed skating, snowshoeing and floor hockey.
Team Ireland is to stay in the host village of Mure, about an hour's drive from Nagano.
On arrival, the athletes will have a few days for acclimatisation and light training before they compete at the Ichinose Family Ski Ground in Yamamouchi Town.
They will also participate in an itinerary of cultural, educational and social events organised by the local community. (Additional reporting PA)