The 2016 Summer Olympics opening ceremony is one year away but qualification is well underway in many sports on the Road to Rio. Here's how Team Ireland is lining up.

Irish athletes/teams qualified for Rio Olympics

Athletics

To many, Track and Field is still the blue riband sport of the games. Ireland has only earned six medals with Ron Delaney's win in the 1,500m in 1956 being the last of our gold medal winners. So far, 10 of our athletes have qualified.

Mark English - 800m
Thomas Barr - 400m hurdles
Kerry O'Flaherty - 3,000m steeplechase
Sara Treacy - 3,000m steeplechase
Michelle Finn - 3,000m steeplechase
Breege Connolly - Marathon
Alex Wright - 20k walk
Rob Heffernan - 50k walk
Brendan Boyce - 50k walk
Tori Pena - Pole vault

Irish athletes have until July 11th 2016 to reach the standard and we're sure runners like Ciarán Ó Lionáird, Mary Cullen and Ciara Everard will get the standard quickly enough once fit. 19 individuals qualified for London as well as a women's 4x400m relay team. The men's equivalent could qualify this time and Athletics Ireland will be hoping to match the London total for athletes.

Boxing

Of the 28 Olympic medals won by Ireland, 16 of them have been in boxing. 7 of them in the last 2 games! Boxing qualifying can be complicated but we have already qualified 2 lads through the World Series of Boxing.

Paddy Barnes - Light fly (49kg)
Michael Conlan - Bantam (56kg)

Both lads won medals in London and will be hoping to repeat in Rio. Next step is the World Championships in Qatar in October. If they finish in the top 2/3 they'll be in the Olympics. Next year sees continental qualifiers with at least 3 more spots up for grabs meaning European fighters have more chances to qualify in 2016 than previous games.

The Women's World Championships are next February with the top 4 qualifying. We expect Katie Taylor to be one of them but unlike 2012, there is a second chance with continental qualifiers later in the year.

Swimming

So far only one Irish swimmer has qualified for the Olympics

Fiona Doyle - 1oom breaststroke

Doyle qualified at the World University Games where she picked up 2 medals. In London, 4 Irish swimmers qualified. Sycerika McMahon will hope to regain her form and qualify for Rio again.

Equestrian

We have qualified one team of four riders so far in 3 day eventing

Team (4 individual) - 3 Day Eventing

The Irish team finished 6th in the 2014 World Equestrian Games which secured the team qualification. The riders will be picked next year. Aoife Clarke was top individual at that games, and also the 2012 Olympics.

For showjumping the Irish team missed out on qualification by one fence at the same 2014 World Championships. There are still 3 team spots up for grabs at the European Championships starting August 17. Ireland must finish in the top 3 of nations who haven't already qualified (ie Netherlands, France, Germany and Sweden) to ensure we get 4 riders to the games. Our likely rivals are Britain, Belgium, Italy and Switzerland. We will likely qualify one rider if the team fail.

Sailing

We have qualified 3 boats for the games so far through the 2014 World Championships

Annalise Murphy - Laser Radial
James Espey - Laser
Ryan Seaton & Matt McGovern - 49er

Murphy was so close to a medal with her 4th placed finish in London. More Irish boats are expected to qualify at the 2015 World Championships too.

Road to Rio

Apart from the sports above, who will likely add more, here's some sports where Ireland will definitely, or very likely, have qualifiers.

Hockey

The men's team finished tenth in the World Hockey League and so far 8 teams have qualified from the WHL. If the continental champions already qualifed via the WHL then the places are re-allocated. Essentially Ireland is waiting on two things to happen.

1. One of Ireland, England, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands or Spain win the EuroHockey title in August. (Only outsiders France and Russia can deny us here)

2. Australia wins the Oceania Cup (ahead of New Zealand) in October. (They've won the last 5 but it is being held in New Zealand)

Recommended

If both of those happen, Ireland are in the Olympics for the first time. We went through the history of Ireland at the Olympics in Team Sports recently.

Golf

Golf qualification is based on the end of year World Rankings. Ireland will comfortably have 2 men at the Games. At the moment our 2 representatives would be Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry. They're ranked 1 and 20 in the Olympic ranks but Lowry's position isn't set in stone with Graeme McDowell and Padraig Harrington all set for a place if they can overtake him.

In the women's tournament, we have 2 in qualification spots at the moment. Stephanie Meadow looks comfortably in and despite only playing one professional tournament (as an amateur), Leona Maguire is currently 55th in the Olympic ranks. She may need another couple of tournaments to cement her place and Ireland's second qualifier. Galway born Alison Walshe would be our highest ranked golfer if she switches from representing the USA.

Cycling

Road race (and time trial) qualifiers are done through UCI World Tour and Europe Tour ranks. Ireland is currently in 22nd place in the World Tour which is outside the Top 15 cut off to ensure 4 riders. With essentially the top 25 or so European countries qualifying 2 riders through the UCI Europe Tour, it's likely that we'll have this at a minimum. The only riders who can earn World Tour points are Dan Martin, Nicolas Roche and Philip Deignan. All three are expected to ride the Vuelta Espana and Martin always finishes the season strongly.

On the Track, Martyn Irvine will be hoping his season picks up and he gets one of the 18 spots available for the Omnium. Ireland is currently ranked 22nd. In the women's Omnium Ireland are ranked 20th but Caroline Ryan has been flying recently and could push into that top 18 soon.

Badminton

In individual events, there are 38 spots with a maximum of 2 per nation for the top 16. Scott Evans is currently ranked 26th and comfortably in position. He'd be the 15th highest Olympic qualifier. Chloe Magee is 42nd in the world and would be 22nd in the Olympic ranks. Again, comfortably inside the cut off.

In mixed doubles, only 16 pairs qualify. Chloe and Sam Magee are 22nd in the world. That's 16th in the Olympic rankings and right on the bubble.

Rowing

In mixed doubles, only 16 pairs qualify. Chloe and Sam Magee are 22nd in the world. That's 16th in the Olympic rankings and right on the bubble.

Canoeing

In slalom, qualification hasn't started yet. Our best male chance of qualifing is Liam Jegou and the young man already has a fine 20th place in a recent world cup event. The World Championships are in Nottingham in September and there's a further European qualifier next year. Hannah Craig, who finished 10th in London, is again in the hunt for 2016 qualification.

In sprint events qualification starts with the World Championships in 2 weeks, and again there's a European qualifying event next May. Andrzej Jezierski and Jennifer Egan will be likely qualifiers for Ireland.

Triathlon

There are several ways to qualify for Rio in Triathlon but the most likely route for Irish competitors is the world ranking. Aileen Reid is currently 5th in the World Cup and Olympic standings and will qualify easily.

In the men's event Bryan Keane is currently outside the top 39 but he has plenty of events to make up that gap.

Modern Pentathlon

There are 3 ways for Irish athletes to qualify for the Games. At the European Championships in 2 weeks time, at the 2016 World Championship in May and at the end of the world ranks in June 2016. In total 36 qualify for men's and women's events. Arthur Lannigan-O'Keeffe is currently ranked 28th in the world and with many ahead of him already qualified, or ineligible due to national limits, he will be very disappointed if he doesn't qualify. Natalya Coyle, who finished 9th in London, is ranked 48th but she'll be quietly confident of making the games again.

Rowing

The first race towards qualification for rowers is the World Championship at the end of August. Between 9 and 11 boats can qualify in each event. Sanita Puspure, who has finished 3rd and 5th at the last 2 European championships, is likely to qualify. The Lightweight women's double sculls also made a European final this year and they'll be hoping to improve again at the Worlds. There is a final qualification regatta next year.

Gymnastics

As with London, Kieran Behan is our best hope of qualifying. He gets a first opportunity at the upcoming World Championships with a more likely route being the Olympic Test Event in January. His recent good form at the European Games bodes well.

Rugby 7s

Both Irish teams have qualified for the final Olympic qualifying tournament but must win it to qualify for the inaugaral rugby 7s event. The final make up of the tournament isn't know yet (as continental qualifiers continue) but it's hard to see how the men would qualify ahead of seasoned 7s campaigners like Samoa/Tonga. The women's team have a much better chance with the final spot likely to be between them, Spain and Russia. They have improved a lot in this, their first year at international level and it wouldn't be a major shock if the Irish made it to Rio.

It is unlikely that Ireland will qualify competitors in other sports but a new star may emerge like Kieran Behan did for London. With a year to go, we look like bringing a record amount of Irish athletes to an Olympics. The more the merrier!