Sport Ireland Welcomes Significant Results for Irish Sport This Summer

Chairman of Sport Ireland, Kieran Mulvey, today welcomed the significant results achieved by Irish athletes and teams in the recent past, with success in rowing, hockey, athletics, para athletics, cycling, pentathlon and swimming capping an impressive summer so far for Ireland on the international stage.

Mr Mulvey commented: “It has been an exceptional period for Irish athletes and teams internationally. I am delighted to welcome home the Irish team from the Para Athletics World Championships which finished in London yesterday. The team represented their country with distinction, returning with four gold and three silver medals and the athletes are fantastic ambassadors for Ireland.”

The Irish Men’s Hockey Team achieved a significant milestone at the World Hockey League Semi-Finals in Johannesburg on Saturday, as they secured their spot in the 2018 Hockey World Cup in India by virtue of a 1-0 victory of New Zealand.

“On behalf of Sport Ireland I would like to congratulate the Irish Men’s team on qualifying for their first Hockey World Cup since 1990,” Mr Mulvey continued. “The team has demonstrated huge progression in recent years and their qualification is no surprise. We are hopeful that the Women’s Team will be able to secure a World Cup spot after another promising display in Johannesburg in the Women’s edition of the event where they just missed out on automatic qualification.”

There have been a number of other impressive senior international results with Irish athletes returning with three medals from the European Rowing Championships, three medals from the European Boxing Championships and a medal in the mixed relay at the Pentathlon World Cup, with Ireland’s Leona Maguire also winning the British Amateur Golf Championship.

Chief Executive of Sport Ireland, John Treacy, added: “The spread of performances across the sports is really encouraging and demonstrates how the high performance system here in Ireland has developed in recent years. What is also encouraging is the number of athletes putting in performances at junior level. In recent weeks and months we’ve seen the likes of Mona McSharry (swimming), who made her Senior World Championships debut at 16 years of age today, and Gina Akpe-Moses (athletics), who won the 100m in the European Under 20 Championships at the weekend, really making their mark and they are definitely two of many to look out for in the future.”

To support High Performance Sports in 2017, Sport Ireland has invested over €7.2m in National Governing Bodies high performance programmes and a further €1.7m in direct athlete investment through the International Carding Scheme. Furthermore, the Sport Ireland Institute continues to enhance the system by providing world class expertise and performance services to support our elite athletes, coaches, and performance directors. 

On recent developments, Mr. Treacy said: “Developments such as new Sport Ireland National Indoor Arena are vital for the future of Irish sport. The Arena, which is co-located with the new Sport Ireland Institute High Performance Centre, now provides many of our leading athletes with an opportunity to train here in Ireland all year around.

“We look forward to a continuation of this period of sustained success, with a number of key events coming up in the near future, including the World Swimming Championships in Budapest this week, the World Athletics Championships in London next week and the Boxing World Championships in Hamburg in August.”

Recent International Results for Ireland:

Senior:

Para Athletics:

Rowing:

 Golf:

 Boxing:

Pentathlon:

Junior:

Swimming:

Cycling:

Athletics:

Rowing: