Governing bodies want investment in grassroots after Irish athletes’ unbprecedented success in Paris
Team Ireland flagbearers Mona McSharry and Fintan McCarthy at the closing ceremony of the Paris Olympics. Photo: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile
For two weeks, Ireland’s best athletes had caught lightning in a bottle. With public and political interest in Olympic sports in Ireland at record levels, the challenge now for high-performance sports is to find a way to keep the public interested and to hold the powers that be to account on promises of record investment.
So what do sporting bodies need to nurture our current and future athletes, and how well does Ireland support athletes and their sporting bodies?