We’re only days after the Paris Olympics, but we’re already into the LA 2028 cycle. Some sports will drift into the background again to re-emerge in four years, while others will hope to build on the goodwill and interest that was created during the 2024 Games. Let’s have a look at the state of Olympic sports in Ireland with a view to LA 2028 and beyond.
Athletics
Rhasidat Adeleke will be 25 in LA and reaching the prime of her career. There’s no guarantee in sport, but if she continues her trajectory, she will once again be challenging for the podium in LA. Medals on the track are extremely hard to come by – 14 of the 120 medals available in individual track races in Tokyo and Paris were won by European-born athletes – so for Ireland to be competing at this level is, frankly, incredible. Field event medals are generally more achievable for nations like ours, and we have some green shoots there. Nicola Tuthill was 15th and the youngest competitor in the hammer in Paris. Thomas Williams won gold at the recent European under 18 championships in the men’s hammer and is ranked number one in the world. In the long jump, Liz Ndidi is number 3 in the world under 20 rankings this year. She could be joined in LA by Cork’s Reece Ademola who had to forego much of this year with injury as he inched towards Olympic qualification.
There are track athletes that may come into their own by LA too with Nick Griggs setting Irish age records nearly every week this year. In the 400m Conor Kelly looks a huge prospect. Most of these athletes will continue to be developed outside of Ireland with the university scene in the US providing the base for many. Loughborough in the UK has become an increasingly attractive option too, combining world class facilities with a short trip home. Athletics Ireland can only do so much with their limited resources, and they’ll hope that any new government funding will allow them to open up more tracks around the country to build for Brisbane 2032 and beyond.
Boxing
No sport faces as uncertain an Olympic future as boxing. Officially listed as “provisional” for LA, the sport faces a number of global issues. The discredited IBA reared its head during the Paris Games but for now, the rival World Boxing has yet to convince the vast majority of nations that it is fit to govern the sport. Last year an IABA vote to allow Irish boxing to leave the IBA and join World Boxing fell short by 5 votes. The IOC has made it clear that they will not have the IBA as part of the Olympic family, so the sport remains in limbo.
The Games saw controversy over boxers with DSD and the ever-present judging scandals so it’s far from just governing bodies that need to be fixed. The 10-9 scoring re-introduced by the IBA as they sought to “professionalise” the amateur ranks provides fertile ground for conspiracy theories with 90% of beaten fighters claiming they were robbed. Some of them maybe be right too. If boxing is to return, we might not have any idea of who will represent Ireland yet. Kellie Harrington retires with her gold medals and the women’s side may see significant turnover with a generally older profile. Lisa O’Rourke may have to step into the 60kg hot seat.
The men’s team had a younger profile in Paris and quarter finalist Jack Marley will still be only 25 in Paris. Ireland will continue to be one of Europe’s best but the real power in Olympic style boxing lies in Asia and with a disjointed world arena, it’s going to harder to gauge how we match up on the global scale. Unless, of course, boxing gets united soon.
Swimming/Diving
Paris was a very successful meet for Team Ireland with Daniel Wiffen and Mona McSharry winning medals. Both aged 23, they have taken different paths to their Olympic podiums. McSharry was an outstanding junior who re-invigorated her love for swimming at the University of Tennessee. Wiffen was a relative late developer in swimming who took off once he moved to Loughborough. McSharry has hinted at retiring, while Wiffen wants to win again in LA.
It's notable that despite Ireland sending their biggest ever aquatic team to an Olympics, none of the 5 individual qualifiers have strong ties to the National Aquatic Centre. Apart from our medallists, Ellen Walsh swims with Templeogue, Danielle Hill swims in Larne while recent recruit Tom Fannon splits his time between Dublin and the UK. The focus of Team Ireland in qualifying relays has allowed several to get to an Olympics, but it remains to be seen if some will be happy to only swim relays in future.
John Shortt is our best young swimmer. His winning time in the European Junior Championships would have seen him finish 14th in Paris in the 200m backstroke. That will be the qualifying time for LA so hopefully he can be challenging in 4 years’ time. Daniel Wiffen hopes his twin Nathan can join him in LA too.
In diving, Jake Passmore has stated that his appearance in Paris was ahead of schedule so we’ll see what he brings to LA when he’s 23.
Rowing
Our most consistent medal provider in recent games is set to undergo significant changes ahead of the LA Games. The removal of the lightweight categories sees the end of the reign for O’Donovan and McCarthy with both hinting they’d like to have a crack at the open weight boats. Phil Doyle, Aifric Keogh and Nat Long are the only Paris Olympians that are over 30, so the rest are all an age where they can be at their peak in LA.
The age group scene has blossomed in recent years with Brian Colsh, Konan Pozzaia, Andrew Sheehan, Holly Davis, Rachel Bradley and more winning at under 23 and junior level. The step up to seniors is still a big one, but the conveyor belt of talent is becoming consistent. The races in LA are set to be over 1,500m – shorter than the standard 2,000m – and it remains to be seen how that will impact every rower.
Beach and coastal rowing is set to be introduced for LA (effectively replacing the lightweights). Ireland has a strong recent history in the events with 2020 Olympian Monika Dukarska and the Killorglin club leading the way. She was 4th in the world championships last year in the beach sprints event (the new Olympic category). Competition is likely to increase now that it’s an Olympic sport and some have suggested that lighter scullers, who are nimble enough to navigate the course, may flock to the event.
SEE ALSO: Reviewing Team Ireland's Performance At The 2024 Olympics
Gymnastics
Rhys McClenaghan was the youngest gymnast in the top 6 at his event. He’ll be 29 in Tokyo but apparatus specialists tend to have longer careers than the all round competitors. While gymnastics in Ireland is at it’s highest level ever, we’re yet to see anyone close to Rhys’s level emerge. The goal for Gymnastics Ireland will be to develop a qualifier for the all-around in both men’s and women’s events.
Equestrian
The Irish show jumping team only qualified for one Olympics in the 5 Games before Tokyo, but there are some in the Irish sporting media that pretend that we’re a world powerhouse in the sport. We have had individuals, or rather combinations, that have excelled at the top level but it’s only in recent years that we have started to see some consistent results from the teams selected at the highest level. It is impossible to predict what riders and horses will be in form in LA, but we might have a slight advantage with some of our current best, Shane Sweetnam and Daniel Coyle, being based in the US.
In eventing, we continue to be let down by dressage scores. We’re pretty much always a top ten nation on the global scene but apart from one World Championships in 2018, we haven’t really threatened the medals.
Rugby Sevens
There’s no reason why Ireland can’t compete at the very highest level in rugby sevens. Having ignored the game as it began its Olympic journey, there seems to be an acceptance now that the format is here to stay and an acknowledgment that we should take it seriously. 6 of the men’s squad will be 32 or above in LA so there will need to be an injection of youth. We’ll see if the IRFU start planning for LA now, or continue to try an compete every year.
The women’s team are in arguably a better place to succeed with non-traditional rugby playing countries such as the US or Canada regularly winning at the highest level. As with the men, the focus should be on LA. They’ve shown in the past they can win, but they need to try and regain the consistency they had before losing their way slightly in the last 18 months.
Sailing
Provider of two medals so far in Irish Olympic history, Irish sailors have been present at every Games since 1972 – one of only 5 sports who can say that. Sean Waddilove and Robert Dickson were close to a medal in the 49er event, and they should be reaching their peak in LA. As with so many in this report, if they can become more consistent, they can challenge regularly at the highest level. Eve McMahon will only be 24 in LA but she’s a multiple world champion at age group level and showed promise in the senior ranks with her 13th place finish in Marseille.
Sailing, more than any other sport on this list, is an exceptionally expensive sport to take part in. To be competitive on a global stage will see that cost multiply exponentially. Irish Sailing, as a body, simply can’t justify paying the sort of money it takes to win medals at the top, so it’s left to individual and their own sponsors. If Eve McMahon is to develop into a top class senior sailor, and there’s plenty who think she can, she’s effectively going to have to devote herself to an expensive sport that offers little in the way of financial return for the next four years.
Cycling
The national veldodrome is scheduled to be built by 2027, but that will be too late to have any impact on LA. Cycling Ireland put all their resources into the women’s track team for the past 2 years with the goal of qualifying the team for Paris. That they did so ahead of the likes of Belgium, Spain and Switzerland without a home track speaks volumes.
Lara Gillespie remains the shining light on the team and after missing 18 months through injury, she should be stronger with a clear run at LA. She’s set to join the World Tour on the road next year and will split her time with the track. If Ireland are to qualify again, they’ll need to replace the retiring Kelly Murphy, but with talents coming through like Aaliyah Rafferty, Erin Creighton and most excitingly, Lucy Benezet Minns, we should be OK if they can translate their road power to the track. Benezet Minns won the European junior points race in July.
The men’s track team was down to JB Murphy over the last 3 years and it remains to be seen if our crop of young road stars can be enticed onto the track. In future years, the velodrome will be a huge help here as at the moment, they have to commit to travelling to Mallorca.
On the road, Ireland is entering a new golden age for men with Ben Healy, Archie Ryan and Darren Rafferty all likely to win multiple races over the next four years. It's a shame all our best mountain bikers are downhill specialists, but who knows for LA?
Taekwondo, Judo
Jack Woolley will be 29 in LA and I’m sure he’d love another chance to perform. His South Dublin clubmate Leroy Nsilu Dilandu will hope to join him.
In Judo Maxim Trigub won 3 fights at the European Championships in April to reach the quarter final That was the best performance by an Irish judoka since the retirement of the Fletcher siblings. We’ll see if he can push on over the next four years.
Badminton, Tennis, Table Tennis, Squash
Nhat Nguyen appears to want another Olympics. Rachael Darragh may repeat too. We’re unlikely to trouble the medals but badminton has a rich history here so perhaps their exploits will encourage to take up the sport and excel.
Hannah Craig is Ireland’s highest ranked squash player at number 85 in the world. Depending on nationality limits, that might be enough for qualification in the sport’s debut at the Olympics. We haven’t anyone near that high in the others.
Golf
We’ll likely have four qualifiers in four years’ time too. There’s no point in predicting who it’ll be but there’s no doubt Rory McIlroy would love a chance to finally make the podium. There’s been talk of a mixed event and even a switch to match play for LA, and that might have some legs. Stroke play was brought in as the players didn’t want to travel to Rio to be knocked out after one day. As most are based in the USA, the same barrier won’t exist. It will be interesting to see if it comes to pass.
Canoeing
Liam Jegou cam close to a medal in canoe slalom in Paris. He follows a 5th place for Ian Wiley and a 4th for Eoin Rheinisch in the past. Robert Hendrick will continue to carry the torch for our kayaks while the Corcoran sisters will hope to build on their Olympic experience. Our leading “sprint” canoeists continue to focus on the longer – non-Olympic – distances so unless they’re brought into the games, or someone emerges from nowhere, we’re unlikely to see representation there.
Cricket, Lacrosse, Football, Softball, Baseball
Football will be through the European under 21s for men and, likely, through the Nations League for women. The men came close to qualifying for the Euro finals last year. Cricket is likely to be limited to 6 nations with 1 or 2 assigned to Europe. If it’s two we might have a chance against Netherlands in qualifying. If it’s only one, GB will take it obviously.
Ireland has finished 12th at the last two World Lacrosse Championships for men and 13th in the last two women’s events. The team allocations have to be confirmed but they’re likely to only allow six in. Our softball era looks to have ended.
Hockey
Ireland will likely be ranked in the 9-15 range for both men and women for the foreseeable future. With 12 to qualify in both competitions, we need a little luck with the qualifying formats and draws but both should aim to be there. For the 2024-25 season both sides will play in the second tier Nations League.
The rest
2024 was the first Olympics without any Irish involvement in triathlon, and given the high participation numbers here we may see someone emerge at the world level for LA. Our Modern Pentathlon hopes have gone with the retirement of Natalya Coyle and Arthur Lannigan O’Keeffe after Tokyo.
We don’t really compete in the other Olympic sports. Hopefully some kids have been inspired by archery or climbing or skateboarding in Paris and become world class, but we’re not going to predict that.
In fact we won’t be making any predictions for LA 4 years away. We hope we’ve set out the state of play in Olympic sports though, and giving you some things to look out for over the course of the Olympic cycle. Paris was a very successful Olympics for Ireland by every metric, lets hope that LA continues our Olympic rise.
