The Irish Times view on Ireland’s athletics success: a breakthrough at the top

The success of the Irish team at the European Athletics Championships in Rome over the past week is without precedent. In the previous 25 iterations, across a span of 90 years, Ireland had never won four medals at a single championships before. A haul of two golds and two silvers surpasses the previous record haul of three medals in 1998.

Before last Friday, the only Irish person who had ever won a European athletics title was Sonia O’Sullivan. To our greatest ever athlete we can now add the names of Ciara Mageean and the 4x400m mixed relay team of Chris O’Donnell, Rhasidat Adeleke, Thomas Barr and Sharlene Mawdsley.

Adeleke’s three medals mark the Tallaght woman out as a generational superstar. At just 21 years of age, she has boundless potential to fulfil over the coming decade. In addition to the medals, Irish athletes in Rome posted national records, personal bests, season bests and top-10s across a broad spectrum of events.

This success has not come about by accident. The trend towards high performance in Irish sport over recent decades is beginning to bear fruit. Since athletics is truly global, there are few sports where the top level of competition is more ruthless.

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Thriving in that environment is a tribute to the talent and dedication of Irish athletes. It must be acknowledged, however, that they are still performing against the odds in many cases. While there have been some advances in terms of facilities over the past 20 years, we are still desperately lacking in enough grassroots outlets for children who have an interest in the sport.

Last year, Athletics Ireland received €1.3 million in funding while the Horse and Greyhound Fund was allocated €95 million. This is not the first government to spend far more money on supporting four-legged athletes than two-legged ones. When the cheering stops, the reality remains that Irish athletics is a minority sport run by enthusiastic amateurs. Until that changes, we should not be surprised if the results of the past week are the exception rather than the norm.