Sailing the main beneficiary of grants

SPORTS GRANTS: A busy two days for the Minister for Sports John O'Donoghue. Sorting out Ireland's woes at a macro level on Tuesday, it was the relatively minor sports that yesterday had their day as grants for the elite end of the market were handed out with a view on the up-and-coming Olympic Games in Athens this August.

In excess of €5.3 million to support high performance athletes preparing for the Olympic and Paralympic Games was announced and once again priority was given to those who are capable of producing world-class performances. In all 11 sports organisations have benefited with sailing taking the lions share of the pie with €370,000 closely followed by equestrian, which landed €350,000.

Boxing this year was also well up the list with the bulk of the €280,000 going to specific athletes, all of whom will be looking at this years European Championships, which also act as a qualification event for the Olympics. Kenneth Egan, James Moore and Andrew Lee scoop world-class two category funding with 19 others taking various amounts.

Once again the Athletics Association of Ireland represents the largest body of claimants with Olympic silver medallist Sonia O'Sullivan and 20k World Championship silver medallist Gillian O'Sullivan qualifying for the only world-class one funding of €30,000 each. In all just seven athletes, two from athletics, two from rowing, Gearoid Towey and Sam Lynch, and three from sailing, Mark Mansfield, Maria Coleman and Killian Collins, have reached the top standard of the carding scheme.

Not surprisingly it is those events where Ireland may have the best chance of winning medals along with boxing, which has traditionally been a strong supplier. Although getting to the games through the qualification process has proven a difficult prospect in latter years.

In rowing two boats have already qualified with the lightweight pair of Lynch and Towey arguably the most talented duo in the sport. "We aim to win medals in Athens," said Lynch with typical directness.

A name absent for the list is that of European short course silver medallist, Andree Bree. The breaststroke Irish record holder, who became the first male medallist at European level since Gary O'Toole, did not apply for a Sports Council grant. He is currently on scholarship at the University of Tennessee.

In addition the Olympic Council of Ireland has been allocated €650,000 to support their activities, which includes funding for administration and Athens-related programmes. There are currently 35 Irish athletes qualified to take part in this summer's games, where the OCI will run the Irish team.

"The focus of our programmes is on athletes. They will be supported in 2004 with direct financial support, science and medical backup, pre-games training camps and professional support staff. This is a complete range of supports, which will allow the athletes achieve to the maximum of their potential in 2004," said John Treacy, chief executive, Irish Sports Council.

Several sports have yet to go through a qualification process with the national women's hockey team scheduled to travel to New Zealand in March to play in a deciding competition. With €105,000 already in place, the team will receive additional funding if they qualify for Athens.