In the drowsy aftermath of a three-week sojourn in Paris, a postman’s loaded enquiry was posed during an unhurried morning with the front door ajar. “Weren’t the Olympics simply stellar this time . . . a shame we didn’t secure any athletics medals, wasn’t it?”
Indeed, the criteria of success at the Olympic spectacle differs for everyone, and it’s not strictly bound to securing medals, irrespective of their hue or the nationality of their recipients.
Considering athletics in isolation, substantial proof exists to declare the Olympics in Paris as the finest in the annals of track and field; hence, acquiring a medal was more challenging than ever.
Insights from Northern Ireland Olympians present the narrative of unity evolved during the homecoming. The Olympics offered a plethora of unforgettable moments, drawing parallels to the legendary ‘Italia ’90 moment for the new generation’. More state support for sports was indicated by Donohoe following the successful performance at the Games. Rhasidat Adeleke could certainly learn from Sonia O’Sullivan about the value of finishing fourth.
Out of the 200 participating nations (which comprised of 2,000 contestants, inclusive of relay reserves), a total of 27 countries triumphed in securing gold, surpassing the previous record by two. A total of 43 countries managed to secure a position on the podium, manifesting top-eight performances, including Ireland with Rhasidat Adeleke securing the fourth position twice, once in the women’s 400m and then in the women’s 4x400m relay within a span of 24 hours.
Adeleke aspired to join the exclusive club of seven Irish athletics medalists since the first Games that Ireland participated in as an autonomous nation in 1924. Over the span of a century, two gold medals were won by Dr Pat O’Callaghan in the hammer throw (1928 and 1932), Bob Tisdall for the 400m hurdles (1932), Ronnie Delany in the 1,500m (1956), John Treacy won silver in the marathon (1984), Sonia O’Sullivan in the 5,000m (2000), and Rob Heffernan secured a bronze for the 50km walk (2012).
Once again, the rarity of our achievements in athletics is palpably evident.
The Paris Olympics crafted an inspiring narrative, with Thea LaFond from Dominica (Women’s Triple Jump), Arshad Nadeem from Pakistan (Men’s Javelin) and Julien Alfred from Saint Lucia (Women’s 100m) earning their nations’ inaugural athletics gold medals. Further history was made by Letsile Tebogo from Botswana, who bagged Botswana’s first Olympic gold medal in any sport by winning the Men’s 200m. His victory bolstered the total count of nations securing an athletics medal in Olympic history to 105.
The games also saw the setting of three world records. The mixed 4x400m relay had the USA clocking an impressive 3:07.41, Sweden’s Mondo Duplantis breached a new height of 6.25m in the pole vault, whilst Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone of the USA set a new milestone of 50.37 seconds in the 400m hurdles. Additionally, 13 Olympic records, 21 continental records, 99 national records, and 311 personal bests were set.
Underlining the exceptional quality of the Paris games, McLaughlin-Levrone’s performance marked new historical heights. Her world record of 50.37 seconds procured a score of 1322 in scoring tables that have chronicled and compared achievements across athletic events for over a century. This outstanding score surpassed the preceding record of 1314, set by Florence Griffith-Joyner whose 100m record from 1988 still holds steady.
World Athletics maintains a competitive performance ranking system that aggregates and evaluates all results. The Paris Olympics topped this list, scoring a total of 198,320, thereby outdoing previously successful games in Tokyo, Rio, London, Beijing, and Athens.
Even though we’ve just embarked on the new four-year cycle, given the continual progression in global athletics’ standards, there’s a strong likelihood that the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028 will break this record yet again.
In the context of the funding allocated towards Irish athletic programmes, it’s crucial to consider the recent achievements of various disciplines. It might be unequal to juxtapose the difficulty levels in securing medals across diverse Olympic sports; the Paris rowing segment draws a vivid picture. Out of 64 nations that qualified, only 15 attained a place on the winners’ stand. While the lone medal from the Belarusian team under a neutral flag was overlooked, of the remaining, a significant 11 were garnered by European nations, whereas the USA, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia claimed the rest. Africa and South America returned empty-handed. Since gold medallists – Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy, and bronze winners – Philip Doyle and Daire Lynch, Ireland secured a notable fifth position.
In the preceding period, Sport Ireland declared its concluding high-performance funding for the Paris period, with rowing repeating its favourable position, backed by the medal windfall in Tokyo. Rowing Ireland received a whopping €1,093,334 for 2024, amounting to €3,900,000 for the Paris Olympic cycle, followed by Paralympics Ireland and the Irish Athletic Boxing Association. Athletics Ireland claimed the fourth position with an allocation of €841,666.
The leading 33 athletes were awarded €40,000 each in podium funding for 2024. Rowing led with 16, boxing four, and athletics three. Thus, rowing’s total for the international carding scheme rose to €863,000, followed by Athletics Ireland with a noteworthy €645,000.
In the time preceding the Tokyo medals, rowing lagged at the eighth position, granted only €620,000 in high-performance funding, trailing athletics, sailing, boxing, Paralympics Ireland and swimming. Additionally, Irish rowing received €490,000 through the high-performance impact funding capturing the highest funding for Olympic sports, thus lengthening the gap significantly.
Certain individuals could debate that this shouldn’t be the situation, and that sports, considering the level of difficulty to vie at the Olympics, let alone securing medals, might be worthy of a larger portion of the financial support.