2012 Olympics

[liam88]

We were in our history lesson trying to find out the result when a massive cheer went up form the canteen downstairs
Been celebrating all day since!

Jaques Chriac! You a......!

[Peadar]

The IOC’s decision was welcomed by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern who offered his country’s help in providing accommodation for competitors.

"Ireland can contribute enormously to the success of the London Games through the availability here of excellent competition and training facilities not just for our own athletes but also for competitors from countries throughout the world in the build-up to 2012."

The top man agrees with me, Paul.
I rest my case!

[patsh]

The top man agrees with me, Paul.
I rest my case!

We will certainly be able to look after the swimmers and divers.........

[Peadar]

We will certainly be able to look after the swimmers and divers...

...and the tractor pulling teams.

Seriously though, who could be better to look after the Equestrian teams?

That fact that we did so well hosting the Special Olympics has to work in our favour.

[Schumi]

NYC's votes went from 19 in the first round to 16 in the second.

New York was practically out of the running after the first round though so people probably went with their second choice so they could influence the vote.

[Dublin12]

They've only had it in the bag for 4 hours and I'm already p1ssed off hearing about it ,ah well,only another 7 years to go

[dcfcsteve]

[size=2]From breakingnews.ie

[/size] Bertie numb-nuts Ahern said :

"The Irish Government has invested heavily in the provision of high quality sports facilities, catering for a wide variety of sports, right across the country.

What feckin facilities ?!?! Sports facilities in Ireland are a joke ! We had an Olympic medal winning swimmer who had to train in Holland because there isn't a SINGLE olympic swimming pool in the whole of the island of Ireland ! To show you how pants that is - my small University in obscure Bath has had one for a decade, for feck sake. The run-in to the Olympics is a crucial period for the sportspeople concerned. Now - which sports exactly does An Taoiseach think we have facilities that an Olympian would be keen to use :

Horsey events - our token strength.
Anything water based - no way.
Track and field - no way again.
Gymnastics and indoor athletics - unlikely.
Basketball - our faciltiies would do the job, but aren't great.
Football - noyt without a significant strecth of the aul' imagination

There are plenty of other sports, but the above list covers a wide range and shows our facilities are pish.

Of course Bertie's gonna be playing the diplomat and seeing Euro-signs in his generous 'offer' of the athletes to come to Ireland and line our pockets, but he's havin' a laugh here. Doubtless he'll promise the earth facilities-wise for 2012, but you can't believe a feckin' thing in this part of the world until the builders leave the site, so it's all just hot air at the mo. And just like in London - why should the Irish have to wait until one of our neighbours wins the Olympics before the Irish government gets its finger out to improve facilities here....!?

P.S. Feck Birmingham and Sheffield - watch the athletes fight over using Bath as their pre-Olympic base. 90mins from London, and a small friendly chilled-out city with some of the country's best sports facilities on a campus with ample quality accommodation and beautiful scenery. Ticks all the boxes.

[Peadar]

Horsey events - our token strength.
Anything water based - no way.
Track and field - no way again.
Gymnastics and indoor athletics - unlikely.
Basketball - our faciltiies would do the job, but aren't great.
Football - noyt without a significant strecth of the aul' imagination

There are plenty of other sports, but the above list covers a wide range and shows our facilities are pish.

Last summer there were 301 medal events from 28 different sports.
We don't need to provide facilities for all of them but certainly can cater for many.

Steve, I think you've been away too long if you don't recognise the pool facilities now available in Ireland.

90mins from London, and a small friendly chilled-out city with some of the country's best sports facilities on a campus with ample quality accommodation and beautiful scenery.

No bias here, I see.

[paul_oshea]

pools are available in dcu and ul steve.

[Peadar]

pools are available in dcu and ul steve.

Don't forget this...

[dcfcsteve]

Last summer there were 301 medal events from 28 different sports.
We don't need to provide facilities for all of them but certainly can cater for many.

Steve, I think you've been away too long if you don't recognise the pool facilities now available in Ireland.



No bias here, I see.

How many Olympic wimming pools do we have in Ireland then ? I was under the impression it was none - your post re the national Aquatic centre suggests we have only one. POS - are the DCU and UL pools really Olym,pic standard ?

Let's assume for this wee exercise anyways thet there is only one - in the National Aquatic do-da.. Let's assume also that that facility gets the plum-draw and attracts the American water-based Olympic athletes - usually the largest delegation in any event they partake in. At a guess that could be up-to 40 athletes, with another 20 coaches, nutritionists, sherpas and general hangers-on. That would then amount to 60 people using sporting and accommodation faciltiies in Ireland for probably no more than a week. In a city of 1.4m people. I'd say a couple of stag parties drinking themselves senseless for a long weekend would genuinely make a bigger financial contribution to the economy....

Anyhoo - with the yanks using the NAS then that facility would therefeore be closed to any other team's water-based athletes. And as we're not exactly tripping-over Olympic pools back home - that'd be the end of any interest in Ireland for all other water-based athletes.

If you extrapolate the above across the limited range of sports in which Ireland has the type of facilities that Olympian athletes would want to access in the lead-in to the world's biggest sporting event, then I'd estimate we'd get a few hundred people over here in the lead-up at max. I doubt Bord Failte are therefore rubbing their hands in glee at that prospect - particularly when you consider that the London Olympics will most definitely take potential tourism away from Ireland in the Summer of 2012.

As for Bath - it's not just bias. Bath Uni successfully hosted the 1995 World Youth Olympics for a start. It has an Olympic Swimming pool and is the base for the British Olympic swim team (they actually live on campus). It also has a Sports Village including an indoor full-size athletics track, 8 indoor tennis courts (it's the regional headquarters of the Lawn Tennis Association), and a professional-standard gym that is where Bath Rugby club train. And that's only the facilities I can remember, and they've built loads since then. I'd bet the shirt I'm wearing that no single location in the whole of Ireland can beat the facilities on offer there ! And it's only 90mins from London, and a very chilled-town with a campus surrounded by countryside. Hard to beat really from any viewpoint

[Schumi]

Don't forget this...

That's not really available at the moment, though I suppose it's possible that they'll have it fixed for 2012.

[Peadar]

I suppose it's possible that they'll have it fixed for 2012.

One should hope so.
As the wise old man in the corn field said to Kevin Costner, "If you build it, they will come."

All this glee has given me friction burns on my hands.

[dcfcsteve]

One should hope so.
As the wise old man in the corn field said to Kevin Costner, "If you build it, they will come."

All this glee has given me friction burns on my hands.

Them friction burns aren't from the glee......

[Peadar]

How many Olympic wimming pools do we have in Ireland then ?

At least 3.
The NAC was designed to have the fastest pool in Europe.
Don't ask me to explain how that works, because I don't know.

[dahamsta]

Why did 1 person think Madrid was good enough in the 2nd round, but the same bid was not good enough in the next round, the only thing changing being that there was one less choice to vote for???

It's called lobbying. Or bribes, depending.

[gael353]

UL was irelands first international size 50m swimming pool opened about 5 years ago. The NAC is also a 50m but im not sure about DCU so thats two for sure

[Peadar]

im not sure about DCU so thats two for sure

The third that I know of is private and is in the West Wood Fitness Club on Clontarf Road in Dublin.

[paul_oshea]

ye have seeded doubt in my mind, but when i was there DCU was being built as a 50 metre pool, unless they ran out of space halfway through then its still a 50m pool

..but maybe they did!!

[sylvo]

They'll have something to sing and dance around Trafalger square when the tax's go sky high to pay for all this. Glad i'll be long gone from this city when this takes place.