Medals 'would be icing on the cake'

OLYMPICS:IF THE mood and goodwill vibes are anything to go by, then this may well be our best prepared Olympic team ever – and certainly looks like being the best dressed.

The official team announcement at the National Concert Hall in Dublin began with Pat Hickey, the president of the Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI), apologising, in jest, for the lack of “rows” that have overshadowed similar occasions in the past, and it finished with an impromptu fashion show where 14 members of the Irish team modelled their choice of outfits for competitive and casual wear in London – clearly cut to fit, in more ways than one.

With 14 sports represented it’s the most diverse Irish team in Olympic history, although the total of 65 competitors is not quite the largest: there is still the small window of opportunity for a few more, given the final deadline for qualifying in track and field is actually this Sunday, but for everyone else the only thing left to be said is “Let the Games begin . ..”

Hickey outlined some of the extra efforts that the OCI went to in order to ensure everything in London runs as smoothly as possible, including the fact that for the first time the Irish gear, a source of many a dispute in the past, was this time hand-picked by the athletes themselves.

“I also want to put on the record the fantastic work and co-operation that has happened in the last four years between the OCI and the Irish Sports Council,” said Hickey.

“Our two teams have worked together in a very, very special way, and I would include the Institute of Sport in that as well.

“Some of the media here might be disappointed that we haven’t had the big row yet, but we don’t expect one, so don’t expect any worries on that. And I think this is the best prepared Olympic team that we’ve ever had.”

Hickey did find himself briefly defending the fact that the 65 Irish athletes in London will actually be out-numbered by the 90 Irish officials: “But they’re not ‘blazers’, they’re ‘experts’, and by that I mean every sort of back-up that an athlete could need,” said Hickey. “The coaches, the physio, the nutritionists. Of those 76 are accredited, and the rest non-accredited, but we’re also able to rotate accreditations for the first time.”

As for the hopes and ambitions that the Irish team might bring home more than the three medals won in Beijing four years ago, all in boxing (silver for Kenny Egan, bronze for the late Darren Sutherland, and bronze too Paddy Barnes), that was directed towards London chef de mission Sonia O’Sullivan, the silver medallist over 5,000 metres in 2000.

“We definitely have a team capable of winning medals in a number of different sports,” she said, “and I think we do have a very strong team this year compared to Beijing. But I think it’ll be very, very difficult to see medals in track and field. I think the best chance is with someone like Rob Heffernan or Olive Loughnane, in the race walk. They’re in events that are very technical, which could be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on the day.

“But overall I believe it’s a very high quality team, and I think one of the reasons is that a lot of the athletes have been inspired to achieve the required standards, and fulfil their Olympic dreams, due to the proximity of London to Ireland.”

O’Sullivan has certainly warmed to the role of chef de mission, even if she’s still figuring out the range of responsibilities that it entails: “Not a day goes by when someone doesn’t ask me what this role involves. And I don’t think I’ve come up with the same answer. It is an individual role, but I am primarily working for the athletes.

“I can only ask that everyone tries their best, athletes and staff, and they reach and achieve the standards that got them to the Games. That’s the very least we can expect. If they can do a little more that’s fantastic. If they’re inspired to do a lot more that’s brilliant. And if we come home with a few medals that’s the icing on the cake.”

One of O’Sullivan’s responsibilities is to decide who carries the Irish flag in the opening ceremony on July 27th – but only now is she giving that some thought: “I said we would wait until we had everybody on the team because it would only be fair to do that. Everybody would like to do it, as an honour, but we don’t want to compromise anybody.

As a veteran of four Olympics O’Sullivan is also keen to pass on as much good advice as possible – including some of the mistakes she made during her own time as a competitor: “There’s a time when everyone does need to go off by themselves, and to focus and prepare. But there’s also time that you need to spend with your teammates and, whether it’s within your own sport or across other sports, that allows you to relax and be distracted.

“So you’re not always looking at the same thing, and talking about the same thing. I would definitely encourage the athletes to support each other and to be involved with each other in what they’re doing, before they go focus on their own things.”

In other words the Olympics where perhaps everyone will finally get along.