The Olympic federation of Ireland announced their first partner for Paris 2024; Deloitte Ireland.
This partnership is a four year deal which will includes three major Olympic Games, Tokyo 2020(1), Beijing 2022 and Paris 2024, as well as a host of youth events.
Deloitte Ireland also announced a significant recruitment drive, adding 300 new jobs.
This May school children around the country can join Team Ireland by following the Olympic Schools Challenge Road to Tokyo.
This interactive challenge was developed with the aim of getting schoolchildren active and engaged with Team Ireland, the Olympic Games and the wider benefits of sport.
Schools log activities which convert to kilometres, and they can watch their class move along the map from Ireland to Tokyo, unlocking videos, activities and challenges along the way. Register here. This is part of the Dare to Believe initiative which is supported by FBD Insurance.
Athletics
World Athletics has confirmed the invitation of both Ireland's Women's 4x100m team and the Mixed 4x400m to compete at the upcoming World Athletics Relays Silesia21 to be held in Poland on May 1st - May 2nd.
Boxing
Team Ireland have completed today a 10 day training camp in Belfast with Teams GB, Germany, France & Italy.
This provided an excellent opportunity for those athletes targeting Tokyo 2020+1 qualification in the run up to the European Olympic Qualification Event set to take place in Paris in June.
The coaching team are extremely pleased with the camp and the quality sparring our athletes have had throughout the camp and importantly are very happy with where the team is at this stage in our preparations.
The team return to training in the High Performance Unit in the Sport Ireland Institute next week to continue our preparations.
Diving
New dates - The FINA Diving World Cup will now take place form May 1-6 in Tokyo. This is the final diving Olympic Games qualifier and our original team selection of Oliver Dingley, Clare Cryan, Ciara McGing and Tanya Watson remains unchanged.
Equestrian
Irish Showjumpers enjoyed a winning streak during the 2021 Winter Equestrian Festival in Wellington, Florida scooping almost $1.1m in prize money on offer, and winning 16 competitions in total.
Gymnastics
Four gymnasts will be representing Ireland at the European Championships which take place in Basel, Switzerland from 21-25 April.
Ireland has already qualified one athlete spot in Gymnastics for Tokyo, thanks to the bronze medal won by Rhys McClenaghan at the World Championships in 2019 and this is the final Tokyo 2020 qualifier.
Hockey
This week Hockey Ireland cancelled a training trip to Malaysia, more information here.
Irish hockey player Anna O’Flanagan has been helping to promote the Olympic Schools Challenge, where she will teach schoolchildren some of the hockey drills she uses, while talking about sport in general.
Modern Pentathlon
After a good opening World Cup in Sofia last weekend, Sive Brassil finished 27th place, and Arthur Lanigan O’Keeffe finished in 22nd place.
This weekend Natalya Coyle and Sive Brassil are flying the Irish flag at the second World Cup in Sofia (II). While Coyle qualified for the final, she decided not to compete due to a number of positive covid-19 tests returned by competitors.
Thus Coyle decided to withdraw as she continues to focus on Tokyo 2020.
Rowing
Last weekend the Irish rowers showed their force once more, competing at the European Rowing Championships in Varese, Italy.
The team came home with a gold and a silver medal, thanks to the lightweight men’s double and the women’s four.
There were six crews in the A Finals at the Europeans, with significant performances from the two crews (women’s four and women’s lightweight double scull) that are still seeking Olympic qualification. They have one more chance, the Olympic Qualifier in Lucerne next month.
Sailing
The Irish Sailing Laser Men’s Team have their final opportunity to qualify for Tokyo next week when they compete for one of the two nation spots available at the Vilamoura International Regatta in Portugal. Competition starts on Monday April 19.
Swimming
Swim Ireland’s Irish National Team Trials for 2021 International Summer Meets start on Tuesday 20th April and will run to Saturday 24th April at the National Aquatic Centre on the Sport Ireland National Sports Campus.
Ireland’s best swimmers will have the opportunity to meet qualification standards for the 2021 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, the 2021 LEN European Championships in Budapest (Hungary) in May, and the LEN European Junior Championships in Rome, Italy in July.
