agree. focus on certain ones and integrate that into curriculum. i feel like biking of all kinds (indoor/outdoor) should be a priority too.

As a nation we do seem to be good at riding and fighting .

Absolutely agree Emmett. In fact many of the athletes posted times which were considerably below their PBS despite the considerable financial investment made in them. Is that progress? Without the exceptional performance of the boxers who have thrived despite the relatively poor training conditions of some, this would have been a dreadful Olympic performance by Team Ireland. Sonia is deluding herself like so many others. Athletics in Ireland did not perform anywhere near its capacity. That is the fact of the matter.

Boxing in the Olympics is amateur. Therefore boxers unlike athletes in track in field are not competing against the very best boxers in the world. I am not trying to detract from our boxers achievements. But in track and our athletes had to compete against the best bar none. Our previous gold medal winners in boxing Kenny Egan and Michael Carruth were unable to make the step up to professional boxing. I hope Katie Taylor can if she decides to go pro.

Very true Shane. Got it spot on. To get to the next step we need to invest invest invest. Oh an keep our good coaches to.

“Apart from Rob Heffernan ,our track and field athletes were worse than disappointing. Very few PB’s,not even many SB’s. Pole vaulter never even registered a single jump,The 4×400 ladies relay team gave an interview after there poor race,not even a hint of disappointment in their voices ??” Quote from another poster here, couldnt put it better myself. Disgraceful performances, and celebrating it is disgraceful

So you’re just copying & pasting now John? That’s actually quite sad. Adrian made good points above regarding how close some came (we should mention annalise murphy too) Considering our athletes have so little government funding behind them they have done exceptionally well….Oh and If you hate the Irish mindset & culture so much as you have said previously then leave! Don’t come on here trolling every link with your anti-irish sentiment.

In all seriousness, why should what Sonia say matter at all?!?! She is not a gold medalist which means by definition, that she is a loser. Am I right?

No Kent you’re wrong! Sonia is Ireland’s chef de mission for these games therefore it’s her role to comment on how the athletes performed. As for her being a loser? Since when did winning a silver medal and being one of the best in the world make somebody a loser?!

Kent your a loser. Idiotic comment. Looking for attention.

I thought Sonia Osullivan fecked off to oz and claimed citizenship

Joanne – You have publicly identified yourself as an alcoholic on twitter, so I’m afraid all I can say to you is please go get help. I’ll pray for your sad soul.

Kent what are you even talking about now? Twitter? Your a lunatic. And please don’t pray for me.

G’wan John, admit it – your surname’s Tracey and you’d just annoyed at how well the Olympic team is doing in the media and annoyed at how Pat will be capitalising on it for the OCI, aren’t you? :D

I think the Irish public is unrealistic in their expectations of what they what track and field athletes to achieve. The qualification standards are unbelievably tough. How many people that come online and critise have ever even run a lap of a track? In relation to our boxing medals it should be remembered that boxing in the Olympics is amateur. Not all medalists go on to be successful pros e.g. Kenny Egan or Michael Carruth. Also if Gaelic Games were an Olympic Sport and we had to compete against other nations would we be any good?

I think the Irish public is unrealistic in their expectations of what they what track and field athletes to achieve. The qualification standards are unbelievably tough. How many people that come online and critise have ever even run a lap of a track? In relation to our boxing medals it should be remembered that boxing in the Olympics is amateur. Not all of our medalists go on to be successful pros. Also if Gaelic Games were an Olympic Sport and we had to compete against other nations would we be any good?

Kent and John, I’ve just realised you’re the same person . sad sad defeatest man.

Well u keep on shoving ur head in the ground there is no recession going on either

Why is someone a troll when they can see the truth about what the Irish team have really achieved not using this per capita crap maybe it deluded

The track & fielders were a joke. They should at least peak in time for the games and at least be in with a shout for a seasons best or a national record. Very very few came even close. The athletes go warm weather and altitude training a 2 or 3 times a year, they train full time….you’d swear just by throwing money at them we’d win more medals. The boxers train in ordinary gyms and that’s it for them. You are deluded if you think our athletes had a good games.

not what anyone said .. focusing on certain ones could mean 15 certain ones. he was just using an example. i think trying everything a bit is spreading too thin, you can only pump sufficient funds into so many things

How could “weaight” be a pun?

Why would you do it per capita, that’s not how it works, every country is treated the same, regardless of its size.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/lv?key=0AonYZs4MzlZbdGM3OTIzeFpHWDBtVC03eWllRnpHUWc&type=view&gid=0&f=true&sortcolid=39&sortasc=false&rowsperpage=250 I can’t figure out how we score so low in the overall model rank but are relatively high as regards population etc?

Ireland are in 22nd place when medals per capita used. Team GB 23rd :)

Ah cop on per capita another way to hide the fact we done so bad we had sixty six athletes there we got five medals from boxing and horse jumping as usual deal with it and stop the excuses that’s what’s wrong let’s cover up how bad we done with all this per capita sh#*#e

Despite testing positive for andro and putting southern comfort in her urine sample? Yeah she was great.

She never tested positive prior to her Olympic races, the following year has questions over it, there were others involved in the sample handling, non tamper proof bottles etc.

Ah come on William – everything pointed to cheating before she was eventually caught,missed tests,husband,age and improved performance,entering a swim she had no history of performance in…no offence but id say you always take the controversial side of an argument

No offence James but I’d say you always talk out of the wrong end of your body!

Very mature William

William. She tested positive for andro. This is a fact. She was given a 4 year ban for the more serious offense of tampering. You need to do your research.