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Ireland at the Olympics

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Ireland at the
Olympics
IOC codeIRL
NOCOlympic Federation of Ireland
Websiteolympics.ie
Medals
Ranked 51st
Gold
15
Silver
10
Bronze
17
Total
42
Summer appearances
Winter appearances
Other related appearances
 Great Britain (1896–1920)

A team representing Ireland as an independent state or polity has competed at the Summer Olympic Games since 1924, and at the Winter Olympic Games since 1992.

The National Olympic Committee in Ireland has been known by three titles. It was originally called the Irish Olympic Council (IOC) from 1920 to 1952 (not to be confused with the International Olympic Committee, also abbreviated as IOC). It became the Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) from 1952 to 2018. It then became the Olympic Federation of Ireland (OFI) in 2018.

The Irish Olympic Council was formed in 1922[1] during the provisional administration prior to the formal establishment of the Irish Free State. The Irish Olympic Council (IOC) affiliated to the International Olympic Committee (also "IOC") in time for the Paris games in 1924.[1]

For many sports, the respective national federation represents the entire island of Ireland, which comprises both the Republic of Ireland (originally a dominion with the title the Irish Free State) and Northern Ireland (which following the founding of the Irish Free State as an independent dominion remained part of the United Kingdom). Northern Ireland-born athletes are entitled to represent either Ireland or Great Britain and Northern Ireland, as they are automatically entitled to the citizenship of both countries. As a result, athletes will tend to represent the National Olympic Committee of the nation to which their sport federation is aligned. The smaller competition pool will also see athletes choose to represent Ireland to ensure greater Olympic qualification chances, although athletes may also move in the opposite direction to increase medal chances, especially in team events. A number of athletes have represented both nations.

In addition, Ireland has regularly been represented by members of the Irish diaspora who are explicitly recognised in the nation's constitution, and who often have citizenship rights through family heritage, i.e. a parent or grandparent with Irish citizenship.[2]

From the first modern-era games in 1896 until the 1920 games, Ireland was represented by the Great Britain and Ireland team. In early editions of the Games, 'Ireland' as a team was entered in certain events as one of several Great Britain and Ireland entries that mirrored the Home Nations. Ireland was one of the nations that boycotted neither the 1980 Moscow nor the 1984 Los Angeles Games. Ireland did, however, boycott the 1936 Berlin Games in protest at a 1935 IOC ruling that restricted the Irish Olympic Council's jurisdiction from the entire island to the territory of the Irish Free State.[3]

The 2024 Summer Olympics was the most successful Olympics in the history of the nation, with Ireland breaking their previous record medal haul of 6 at London 2012 with a total of 7 medals having been won. The team also surpassed the Atlanta 1996 record of 3 Olympics golds in a games, including both a first Olympic medal and Olympic gold medal in Gymnastics as well as a first ever gold for the men in Swimming. The 2024 Paris games also marked 100 years since Ireland's first appearance at the summer games.

The highest number of golds achieved in a particular Olympic games is four, which was achieved at Paris 2024 with gold medals in swimming, rowing, gymnastics and boxing.

Boxing is Ireland's most successful sport at the Games, accounting for more than 50% of the medals won. Athletics, boxing and swimming have provided the most gold medals, with four.

Many of the sports most popular in Ireland are either not Olympic sports (such as Gaelic games, horse racing) or have only become so relative recently (golf, rugby sevens), and this is reflected in a somewhat moderate overall record for Ireland at the Games outside of boxing. Notwithstanding this, however, Ireland has been a consistent and enthusiastic Olympic nation, and its medalists are widely publicised and celebrated, while Olympic qualification is highly valued even without medal success.

Medal tables

[edit]
See also: All-time Olympic Games medal table

Medals by Summer Games

[edit]
Games Athletes  Gold  Silver  Bronze Total Rank
Kingdom of Greece 1896 Athens as part of  Great Britain (GBR)
France 1900 Paris
United States 1904 St. Louis
United Kingdom 1908 London
Sweden 1912 Stockholm
Belgium 1920 Antwerp
France 1924 Paris 49 0 0 0 0 –
Netherlands 1928 Amsterdam 29 1 0 0 1 24
United States 1932 Los Angeles 8 2 0 0 2 16
Nazi Germany 1936 Berlin did not participate
United Kingdom 1948 London 72 0 0 0 0 –
Finland 1952 Helsinki 19 0 1 0 1 34
Australia 1956 Melbourne 18 1 1 3 5 21
Italy 1960 Rome 49 0 0 0 0 –
Japan 1964 Tokyo 25 0 0 1 1 35
Mexico 1968 Mexico City 31 0 0 0 0 –
West Germany 1972 Munich 59 0 0 0 0 –
Canada 1976 Montreal 44 0 0 0 0 –
Soviet Union 1980 Moscow 47 0 1 1 2 31
United States 1984 Los Angeles 42 0 1 0 1 33
South Korea 1988 Seoul 61 0 0 0 0 –
Spain 1992 Barcelona 58 1 1 0 2 32
United States 1996 Atlanta 78 3 0 1 4 28
Australia 2000 Sydney 64 0 1 0 1 64
Greece 2004 Athens 46 0 0 0 0 –
China 2008 Beijing 54 0 1 2 3 61
United Kingdom 2012 London 66 1 1 4 6 41
Brazil 2016 Rio de Janeiro 77 0 2 0 2 62
Japan 2020 Tokyo 116 2 0 2 4 39
France 2024 Paris 134 4 0 3 7 19
United States 2028 Los Angeles future events
Australia 2032 Brisbane
Total 15 10 17 42 50

Medals by Winter Games

[edit]

As of the 2022 Beijing Games, Ireland's best result at the Winter Games has been fourth, by Clifton Wrottesley in the Men's Skeleton at the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City.

Games Athletes  Gold  Silver  Bronze Total Rank
France 1992 Albertville 4 0 0 0 0 –
Norway 1994 Lillehammer did not participate
Japan 1998 Nagano 6 0 0 0 0 –
United States 2002 Salt Lake City 6 0 0 0 0 –
Italy 2006 Turin 4 0 0 0 0 –
Canada 2010 Vancouver 6 0 0 0 0 –
Russia 2014 Sochi 5 0 0 0 0 –
South Korea 2018 Pyeongchang 5 0 0 0 0 –
China 2022 Beijing 6 0 0 0 0 –
Italy 2026 Milano Cortina future events
France 2030 French Alps
United States 2034 Salt Lake City
Total 0 0 0 0 –

Medals by summer sport

[edit]
SportGoldSilverBronzeTotal
 Boxing451019
 Athletics4217
 Swimming4037
 Rowing2125
 Gymnastics1001
 Sailing0202
 Equestrian0011
Totals (7 entries)15101742

List of medallists

[edit]

The following tables include medals won by athletes on OFI teams. All medals have been won at Summer Games. Ireland's best result at the Winter Games has been fourth, by Clifton Wrottesley in the Men's Skeleton at the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City.

Some athletes have won medals representing other countries, most obviously Great Britain, which are not included on these tables, and emigrant Irish throwing athletes were particularly successful competing for the United States in early Games. The most notable of the Irish athletes for other nations, however, is Tom Kiely, who won gold in the all-around athletics event in 1904, having refused offers of a free trip and reimbursement of travel expenses from British and American officials, paid his own way, and was insistent that he represented Ireland, even so far as attempting to replace the Union flag with its Irish equivalent at the medal ceremony. The disputed nationality of Kiely has historic statistical importance in both British Olympicism, and Olympicism generally, because it is his gold medal that allows Great Britain to claim to be the only nation to have won at least one gold at every Summer Games.[4][5][6]

Medallists

[edit]
Medal Name Games Sport Event
 Gold Pat O'Callaghan 1928 Amsterdam Athletics Men's hammer throw
 Gold Bob Tisdall 1932 Los Angeles Athletics Men's 400 metre hurdles
 Gold Pat O'Callaghan Athletics Men's hammer throw
 Silver John McNally 1952 Helsinki Boxing Men's bantamweight
 Gold Ronnie Delany 1956 Melbourne Athletics Men's 1500 metres
 Silver Fred Tiedt Boxing Men's welterweight
 Bronze John Caldwell Boxing Men's flyweight
 Bronze Freddie Gilroy Boxing Men's bantamweight
 Bronze Anthony Byrne Boxing Men's lightweight
 Bronze Jim McCourt 1964 Tokyo Boxing Men's lightweight
 Bronze Hugh Russell 1980 Moscow Boxing Men's flyweight
 Silver David Wilkins
James Wilkinson		 Sailing Flying Dutchman class
 Silver John Treacy 1984 Los Angeles Athletics Men's marathon
 Gold Michael Carruth 1992 Barcelona Boxing Men's welterweight
 Silver Wayne McCullough Boxing Men's bantamweight
 Gold Michelle Smith 1996 Atlanta Swimming Women's 400 metre freestyle
 Gold Swimming Women's 200 metre individual medley
 Gold Swimming Women's 400 metre individual medley
 Bronze Swimming Women's 200 metre butterfly
 Silver Sonia O'Sullivan 2000 Sydney Athletics Women's 5000 metres
 Silver Kenny Egan 2008 Beijing Boxing Men's Light Heavyweight
 Bronze Paddy Barnes Boxing Men's Light flyweight
 Bronze Darren Sutherland Boxing Men's Middleweight
 Gold Katie Taylor 2012 London Boxing Women's lightweight
 Silver John Joe Nevin Boxing Men's Bantamweight
 Bronze Paddy Barnes Boxing Men's Light flyweight
 Bronze Michael Conlan Boxing Men's flyweight
 Bronze Cian O'Connor Equestrian Individual Showjumping
 Bronze Robert Heffernan Athletics Men's 50 kilometres walk
 Silver Gary O'Donovan
Paul O'Donovan		 2016 Rio de Janeiro Rowing Men's lightweight double sculls
 Silver Annalise Murphy Sailing Women's Laser Radial
 Gold Fintan McCarthy
Paul O'Donovan		 2020 Tokyo Rowing Men's lightweight double sculls
 Gold Kellie Harrington Boxing Women's lightweight
 Bronze Aidan Walsh Boxing Men's welterweight
 Bronze Aifric Keogh
Eimear Lambe
Fiona Murtagh
Emily Hegarty		 Rowing Women's coxless four
 Gold Fintan McCarthy
Paul O'Donovan		 2024 Paris Rowing Men's lightweight double sculls
 Gold Rhys McClenaghan Gymnastics Pommel Horse
 Gold Daniel Wiffen Swimming Men's 800 metre freestyle
 Gold Kellie Harrington Boxing Women's 60kg
 Bronze Daniel Wiffen Swimming Men's 1500 metre freestyle
 Bronze Daire Lynch
Philip Doyle		 Rowing Men's double sculls
 Bronze Mona McSharry Swimming Women's 100 metre breaststroke

Doping

[edit]

Awarded:

Stripped:

Banned:

  • Michelle Smith de Bruin won three gold medals at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, for the 400 m individual medley, 400 m freestyle and 200 m individual medley, and also won the bronze medal for the 200 m butterfly event. Smith’s career was marked by allegations of doping, which were never proven. Smith was later banned for four years by FINA, the international swimming federation, for manipulation of an anti-doping sample by deliberate contamination with alcohol, a decision upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport when Smith appealed.

Medallists in art competitions

[edit]
Main article: List of Olympic medallists in art competitions

Art competitions were held from 1912 to 1948. Irish entries first appeared in 1924, when they won two medals; a third was won in the 1948 competition.

Medal Name Games Event Piece
 Silver Jack Butler Yeats 1924 Paris Mixed Painting Natation[12] ("Swimming"; now on display in the National Gallery of Ireland with the title The Liffey Swim[13])
 Bronze Oliver St. John Gogarty 1924 Paris Mixed Literature Ode pour les Jeux de Tailteann[12] (Tailteann Ode, which had won the prize for poetry at the revived Tailteann Games earlier that year[14]) Gogarty was awarded a bronze medal despite two silver medals being awarded in the category.[15]
 Bronze Letitia Marion Hamilton 1948 London Paintings Meath Hunt Point-to-Point Races[16] (a painting in 2012 "believed to be somewhere in the United States"[17])

Before independence

[edit]
See also: List of Olympic competitors from Ireland who represented other countries

Prior to 1922, Ireland was part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland: thus, competitors at earlier Games who were born and living in Ireland are counted as British in Olympic statistics. At early Olympics, Irish-born athletes also won numerous medals for the United States and Canada, notably the "Irish Whales" in throwing events.

The Irish Amateur Athletic Association was invited to the inaugural International Olympic Committee meeting in 1894, and may have been invited to the 1896 games: it has also been claimed the Gaelic Athletic Association was invited.[18] In the event, neither participated.[18]

Prior to the 1906 Intercalated Games, National Olympic Committees (NOCs) were generally non-existent, and athletes could enter the Olympics individually. John Pius Boland, who won gold in two tennis events in 1896, is now listed as "IRL/GBR".[1][19] Boland's daughter later claimed that he had objected when the Union Jack was raised to mark his first triumph, vehemently pointing out that Ireland had a flag of its own; following this, the organisers apologised and agreed to prepare an Irish flag.[20] While Kevin MacCarthy is sceptical of this story, by 1906, Boland was crediting his medals to Ireland.[20]

Tom Kiely, who won the "all-around" athletics competition at the 1904 Olympics in St Louis is also listed as competing for Great Britain.[21] He had raised funds in counties Tipperary and Waterford to travel independently and compete for Ireland.[2] American statistician Frank Zarnowski does not regard the 1904 event as part of the Olympic competition, and also doubts the story that Kiely had refused offers by both the English Amateur Athletic Association (AAA) and the New York Athletic Club to pay his fare and cover his travel expenses so he could compete for them.[2][22] British historian Peter Lovesey disagrees with Zarnowski.[23]

The British Olympic Association (BOA) was formed in 1905, and Irish athletes were accredited to the BOA team from the 1906 Games onwards. Whereas Pierre de Coubertin had recognised teams from Bohemia and Finland separately from their respective imperial powers, Austria and Russia, he was unwilling to make any similar distinction for Ireland, either because it lacked a National Olympic Committee, or for fear of offending Britain.[24]

At the 1906 Games, both Peter O'Connor and Con Leahy objected when the British flag was raised at their victory ceremony, and O'Connor raised a green Irish flag in defiance of the organisers.[1][25]

At the 1908 Games in London, there were multiple BOA entries in several team events, including two representing Ireland. In the hockey tournament, the Irish team finished second, behind England and ahead of Scotland and Wales. The Irish polo team also finished joint second in the three-team tournament, despite losing to one of two English teams in its only match.

At the 1912 Olympics, and despite objections from other countries, the BOA entered three teams in the cycling events, one from each of the separate English, Scottish and Irish governing bodies for the sport.[26] The Irish team came 11th in the team time trial.[26] The organisers had proposed a similar division in the football tournament, but the BOA declined.[27]

A 1913 list of 35 countries to be invited to the 1916 Olympics included Ireland separately from Great Britain; similarly, Finland and Hungary were to be separate from Russia and Austria, although Bohemia was not listed.[28] A newspaper report of the 1914 Olympic Congress says it endorsed a controversial German Olympic Committee proposal that "now—contrary to the hitherto existing practice—only political nations may participate as teams in the Olympic Games", with the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland" among these "political nations".[29] However, the games were cancelled due to the First World War.

After the war, John J. Keane attempted to unite various sports associations under an Irish Olympic Committee.[30] Many sports had rival bodies, one Unionist and affiliated to a United Kingdom parent, the other Republican and opposed to any link with Great Britain.[citation needed] Keane proposed that a separate Irish delegation, marching under the Union Flag, should participate at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp.[30] At the time the Irish War of Independence was under way, and the IOC rejected Keane's proposal, pending the settlement of the underlying political situation.[30]

Political issues

[edit]

The OFI has always used the name "Ireland", and has claimed to represent the entire island of Ireland, even though Northern Ireland remains part of the United Kingdom.[31] These points have been contentious, particularly from the 1930s to the 1950s in athletics, and until the 1970s in cycling.[2]

Northern Ireland

[edit]
Proposed Olympic flag for Ireland, the arms of Ireland.[32]

Many sports were codified and organised for the first time in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, and many of them were first done so within the then United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Early international sport was often played between representative teams of the constituent countries of the United Kingdom, and sports organised themselves with separate bodies for those countries. The governing bodies of many sports in the island of Ireland had been established decades prior to the 1922 partition, and most have remained as single all-island bodies since then with the singular exception of football.

Recognition of the Irish border was politically contentious and unpopular with Irish nationalists. The National Athletic and Cycling Association (Ireland), or NACA(I), was formed in 1922 by the merger of rival all-island associations, and affiliated to both the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF) and Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI).[2] When Northern Ireland athletes were selected for the 1928 games, the possibility was raised of using an "all-Ireland banner" as the team flag, rather than the Irish tricolour which unionists disavowed.[33] J. J. Keane stated that it was too late to change the flag registered with the IOC, but was hopeful that the coat of arms of Ireland would be adopted afterwards.[32] No such change was ever made, although Keane reported in 1930 that a council subcommittee had consulted the member federations and noted "a general desire towards agreement on a flag which would be acceptable to all parts of Ireland being substituted for that at present recognised ... by the International Olympic Committee [i.e. the tricolour]".[34]

In 1925, some Northern Ireland athletics clubs left NACA(I) and in 1930 formed the Northern Ireland Amateur Athletics Association, which later formed the British Athletic Federation (BAF) with the English and Scottish Amateur Athletics Associations.[2] The BAF then replaced the (English) AAA as Britain's member of the IAAF, and moved that all members should be delimited by political boundaries.[2] This was not agreed in time for the 1932 Summer Olympics —at which two NACA(I) athletes won gold medals for Ireland— but was agreed at the IAAF's 1934 congress.[2] The NACA(I) refused to comply and was suspended in 1935, thus missing the 1936 Berlin Olympics.[2] The OCI decided to boycott the Games completely in protest.[2][35] The UCI likewise suspended the NACA(I) for refusing to confine itself to the Irish Free State. The athletics and cycling wings of the NACA(I) split into two all-island bodies, and separate Irish Free State bodies split from each and secured affiliation to the IAAF and UCI. These splits were not fully resolved until the 1990s. The "partitionist" Amateur Athletic Union of Éire (AAUE) affiliated to the IAAF, but the all-Ireland NACA(I) remained affiliated to the OCI. In 1939, IOC President Henri de Baillet-Latour said that, on the precedent of "Bohemia and Finland in the old days", an all-island "Ireland" team would be permitted, but only if the BOA and British government agreed.[36]

At the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, the athletics events saw two rival Ireland squads: one nominated by the NACA(I) and approved by the OCI, the other nominated by the AAUE and approved by the IAAF.[37] Neither had the complete set of authorisations technically required for entry; just before the opening ceremony, the IOC and London organising committee jointly decided to disallow the NACA/OCI athletes and permit those from the AAUE/IAAF,[37] who were shunned by the rest of the Ireland at the 1948 London Olympics|1948 Ireland delegation.[2] NACA(I) nominees were similarly refused entry in the cycling events.[38] In the swimming events, two swimmers from Northern Ireland were prevented from competing for Ireland despite having Irish passports.[39] The entire swimming squad withdrew,[39][40] but the rest of the team competed.[41] This was a ruling by FINA (the swimming international federation) rather than the IOC; Northern Ireland athletes competed for Ireland in boxing, football, and rowing.[2][38] Some athletes born in what had become the Republic of Ireland continued to compete for the British team.[2]

In 1952, new IOC President Avery Brundage and new OCI delegate Lord Killanin agreed that people from Northern Ireland would in the future be allowed to compete in any sport on the OCI team.[2][42] Brundage's predecessor Sigfrid Edström had been sympathetic to the BOA.[43] In Irish nationality law, birth in Northern Ireland with a parent entitled to Irish citizenship grants a citizenship entitlement, similar to birth within the Republic of Ireland itself. In 1956, Killanin stated that both the OCI and the BOA "quite rightly" judged eligibility based on citizenship laws.[44] UCI and IAAF affiliated bodies were subsequently affiliated to the OCI, thus regularising the position of Irish competitors in those sports at the Olympics. Members of the all-Ireland National Cycling Association (NCA) with Irish Republican sympathies twice interfered with the Olympic road race in protest against the UCI-affiliated Irish Cycling Federation (ICF). In 1956, three members caused a 13-minute delay at the start.[45] Seven were arrested in 1972; three had delayed the start[46] and the other four joined mid-race to ambush ICF competitor Noel Taggart, causing a minor pileup.[47] This happened days after the murders of Israeli athletes and at the height of the Troubles in Northern Ireland; the negative publicity helped precipitate an end to the NCA–ICF feud.[48]

The Irish Hockey Union joined the OCI in 1949,[49] and the Ireland team in non-Olympic competitions is selected on an all-island basis.[50] Until 1992 the IHU was not invited to the Olympic hockey tournament,[50] while Northern Irish hockey players like Stephen Martin played on the British Olympic men's team.[50] In 1992, invitation was replaced by an Olympic qualifying tournament, which the IHU/IHA has entered, despite some opposition from Northern Irish members.[50] Northern Irish players can play for Ireland or Britain, and can switch affiliation subject to International Hockey Federation clearance.[51] The Irish Ladies Hockey Union has entered the Olympics since 1984, and in 1980 suspended Northern Irish players who elected to play for the British women's team.[50] The Ireland women's hockey team finally qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics; the men followed them in 2024.

Through to the 1960s, Ireland was represented in showjumping only by members of the Irish Army Equitation School, as the all-island civilian equestrian governing body was unwilling to compete under the Republic's flag and anthem.[52]

In November 2003, the OCI discovered that the British Olympic Association (BOA) had been using Northern Ireland in the text of its "Team Members Agreement" document since the 2002 Games.[53] Its objection was made public in January 2004. The BOA responded that "Unbeknown to each other both the OCI and BOA have constitutions approved by the IOC acknowledging territorial responsibility for Northern Ireland", the BOA constitution dating from 1981.[53] OCI president Pat Hickey claimed the IOC's copy of the BOA constitution had "question marks" against mentions of Northern Ireland (and Gibraltar);[54] an IOC spokesperson said "Through an error we have given both national Olympic committees rights over the same area."[55] The 2012 Games host was to be selected in July 2004 and so, to prevent the dispute harming the London bid, its director Barbara Cassani and the Blair government secured agreement by which Northern Ireland was removed from BOA documents and marketing materials.[56][42] Northern Ireland athletes retain the right to compete for Britain.[42]

Most commonly held passport in Northern Ireland (2011 Census)

In October 2004, Lord McIntosh of Haringey told the House of Lords:[57]

The longstanding practice relating to athletes in Northern Ireland who qualify for participation at the Olympic Games is that an athlete born in Northern Ireland who qualifies for participation at the Olympic Games and who holds a UK passport, may opt for selection by either Team GB or Ireland. The British Olympic Association (BOA) and the Olympic Council for Ireland (OCI) have recently confirmed this agreement.

By contrast, OCI officers Pat Hickey and Dermot Sherlock told an Oireachtas committee in 2008:[58]

If someone is entitled to an Irish passport and is in possession of that passport, he or she can qualify to compete for Ireland as long as he or she has not competed for some other country in a previous Olympic Games. If he or she had competed for another country previously, we might allow him or her to compete for Ireland...The Irish passport is used as the measurement.[...]As people from Northern Ireland can choose whether to have an Irish or a British passport,or both, athletes from that part of the world can choose whether to compete for Ireland or Britain.

The Irish have a long established record of encouraging athletes with direct Irish heritage to represent the nation under 'grandparent' citizenship rules, and the Irish Diaspora, including the large number of Irish heritage people in Great Britain, is explicitly recognised in the Irish constitution. The right of people form Northern Ireland to represent Ireland is however treated as a birthright, and such an athlete does not need to 'transfer' allegiance in the same way unless they have already represented another country.

Hickey also said:[58]

The council is proud that, like the Irish rugby team, it represents the island of Ireland. Ireland is unusual, in Olympic terms. The council is not the Olympic committee of the Republic of Ireland – it is the Olympic Council of Ireland. We have responsibility for the North of Ireland. We can thank my predecessor, Lord Killanin, for that.

In 2012, Stephen Martin, who has been an executive at both the OCI and the BOA, said "Team GB is a brand name. Just like Team Ireland. The British and Irish Olympic committees are seen by the International Olympic Committees as having joint rights over Northern Ireland."[59]

In 2009, rugby sevens was added to the Olympic programme starting in 2016. While World Rugby states players from Northern Ireland are eligible to compete on the Great Britain team,[60] the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) director of rugby said in 2011 that "with the agreement of the [English, Scottish, and Welsh] unions" the "de facto position" was that Northern Ireland players must represent an IRFU team.[61] In 2010 The Daily Telegraph opined that the IRFU would be entitled to refuse to release players under contract to it, but not to prohibit Northern Ireland players based outside Ireland; but that the issue needed to be handled "with extreme sensitivity".[62] As of 2024, two Northern Ireland players (Zac Ward and Ashleigh Orchard) have played for Ireland, none for Great Britain.

Name of the country

[edit]
See also: Names of the Irish state

The OFI sees itself as representing the island rather than the state, and hence uses the name "Ireland".[2] It changed its own name from "Irish Olympic Council" to "Olympic Council of Ireland" in 1952 to reinforce this point.[2] (The change from "Council" to "Federation" was a 2018 rebranding after the 2016 ticketing controversy.[63]) At the time, Lord Killanin had become OCI President and delegate to the IOC, and was trying to reverse the IOC's policy of referring to the OCI's team by using an appellation of the state rather than the island. While the name "Ireland" had been unproblematic at the 1924 and 1928 Games, after 1930, the IOC sometimes used "Irish Free State". IOC President Henri de Baillet-Latour supported the principle of delimitation by political borders.[2] At the 1932 Games, Eoin O'Duffy an IRA member, persuaded the Organisers to switch from "Irish Free State" to "Ireland" shortly before the Opening Ceremony.[2] After the 1937 Constitution took effect, the IOC switched to "Eire"; this conformed to British practice, although within the state's name in English was "Ireland". At the opening ceremony of the 1948 Summer Olympics, teams marched in alphabetical order of their country's name in English; the OCI team was told to move from the I's to the E's.[2] After the Republic of Ireland Act came into effect in 1949, British policy was to use "Republic of Ireland" rather than "Eire". In 1951, the IOC made the same switch at its Vienna conference, after IOC member Lord Burghley had consulted the British Foreign Office.[64] An OCI request to change this to "Ireland" was rejected in 1952,[65] In late 1955 Brundage ruled that "Ireland" would be the official IOC name, and Lewis Luxton of the Organising Committee for the 1956 Melbourne Games said that "Ireland" would be used on scoreboards and programmes.[66][2][44] The OCI had argued that this was the name in the state's own Constitution, and that all the OCI's affiliated sports except the Football Association of Ireland were all-island bodies.[44] However, in the buildup to the Games, Lord Burghley (now Marquess of Exeter) protested at the IOC decision and insisted that the athletics events would use the IAAF name of "Eire".[67] On the first day of athletics, "Ireland" (code "IRE") was used, but from the second day it changed to "Eire"/"EIR".[68]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]

Sources

[edit]
  • Dolphin, Karen (September 2016). Media Portrayals of an Irish Olympian: Ronnie Delany (PDF) (Master of Sport Administration). International Academy of Sport Science and Technology.
  • Hunt, Tom (2015). "'In our case, it seems obvious the British Organising Committee piped the tune': the campaign for recognition of 'Ireland' in the Olympic Movement, 1935–1956". Sport in Society. 18 (7): 835–852. doi:10.1080/17430437.2014.990689. ISSN 1743-0437. S2CID 143082690.
  • Liston, Katie; Maguire, Joseph (2 January 2022). "The 'Great Game' and Sport: Identity, Contestation and Irish–British Relations in the Olympic Movement" (PDF). Journal of War & Culture Studies. 15 (1): 21–41. doi:10.1080/17526272.2020.1864873. Retrieved 13 September 2024. [page numbers are from preprint PDF, not DOI version]
  • Llewellyn, Matthew P. (2015). "For a 'United' Kingdom and a 'Greater' Britain: the British Olympic Association and the limitations and contestations of 'Britishness'". Sport in Society. 18 (7): 765–782. doi:10.1080/17430437.2014.990687. ISSN 1743-0437. S2CID 144488353.
  • MacCarthy, Kevin (2010). Gold, Silver and Green: The Irish Olympic Journey 1896-1924. Cork University Press. ISBN 9781859184585.
  • The Official Report of the Organising Committee for the XIV Olympiad London 1948 (PDF) (Report). London: Organising Committee for the XIV Olympiad. 1951. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 7 March 2012.
  • "Ireland". Countries. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 19 April 2016.
  • "Ireland". Olympic Medal Winners. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 19 April 2016.
  • "Ireland". Olympics > Countries. Sports-Reference.com. Archived from the original on 22 April 2016. Retrieved 19 April 2016.

Notes

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  1. ^ a b c d "OCI History". Olympics.ie. Archived from the original on 7 May 2013. Retrieved 24 July 2024. Ireland was given formal recognition as an independent nation in the Olympic Movement at the IOC session in Paris in 1924 and it was at the Paris Games that Ireland made its first appearance in an Olympic Games as an independent nation., Olympic Council of Ireland
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t O'Sullivan, Patrick T. (Spring 1998). "Ireland & the Olympic Games". History Ireland. 6 (1). Dublin. Archived from the original on 9 June 2011.
  3. ^ "Ireland boycotted the 1936 Olympics in Berlin because of a controversial ruling on borders". insidethegames.biz. 20 March 2012. Retrieved 9 August 2024.
  4. ^ IOC database: Great Britain medallists at 1904 Olympics
  5. ^ Scanlon, Cronan (8 February 2013). "Olympic gold medal rower from Donegal?". Archived from the original on 17 November 2017. Retrieved 8 February 2013.
  6. ^ "From Pat O'Callaghan to the O'Donovan brothers – How Ireland's Olympic medals were won". Irish Independent. 22 July 2021. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
  7. ^ "50km walk men results – Athletics – London 2012 Olympics".
  8. ^ "The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) Upholds Six Appeals Filed by the IAAF Against Russian Athlete" (PDF).
  9. ^ Press Association (24 March 2016). "Irish race walker Heffernan to receive London 2012 medal over Russian doping". Irish Independent. Retrieved 7 May 2016. The IAAF will begin the process of reallocating two World Championship gold medals as well as Olympic medals following the CAS verdict. The IOC will formally redistribute the Olympic medals.
  10. ^ Cormican, Eoghan (4 November 2016). "Rob Heffernan finally receives his just reward – an Olympic medal". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
  11. ^ Associated Press (3 July 2005). "Medal to go to Brazil after O'Connor opts against appeal". NewsBank. Archived from the original on 25 September 2019. Retrieved 30 July 2012.
  12. ^ a b Les Jeux de la VIIIE Olympiade (in French), Paris: Comite Olympique Francais, 1924, pp. 605–612
  13. ^ "The Liffey Swim". National Gallery of Ireland. Archived from the original on 31 October 2012. Retrieved 30 July 2012.
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