The Tokyo Olympics sailing results were “incredibly disappointing” and should lead to an independent review of the high performance unit within Irish Sailing, according to former Irish Sailing Association president Roger Bannon.
In her article for Afloat here, Bannon points out that the current High-Performance Unit has presided over Ireland’s participation in four Olympics since 2008. “Aside from Annalize Murphy’s silver medal in Rio, an outstanding achievement for a number of reasons. , the Irish results at all of these Olympics have failed to deliver on our much announced promise, “he writes.
It is estimated that at least € 15 million has been spent on high performance sailing in Ireland since 2006, excluding contributions from the participants themselves, and the government regularly spends more on supporting Irish sailing than any Olympic sport other than athletics. Bannon notes that this lucky break is unlikely to continue after our poor performance in Tokyo and consistent disappointments in the past.
Roger Bannon, who served as president of the association from 1994 to 1996, is accredited by the 1993 Joint Membership Scheme (JMS). The JMS has supported the financial viability of the association by making every member of a sailing club also a member of the ISA. An outspoken critic of ISA policies, Bannon led a group of sailors in 2013 calling for a change to the association, claiming it had “lost touch with basic sailing”. He returned to the board in 2014 as its treasurer and resigned in 2016.
Disappointment in the US team over its inability to win sailing medals has sparked a new appointment of Paul Cayard, a world-class Olympic and international sailor, as that country’s new high-performance supreme. Additionally, the UK’s RYA recently named renowned Olympic and international sailor Ian Walker as their high-performance supreme to direct what they hope will be ongoing British dominance in Olympic sailing, demonstrating their willingness to revise and change an outstanding one as well. success at high speed. performance structure that has delivered so many medals over the past 12 years.
In Ireland, writes Bannon, “we have not substantially changed our approach for the last 4 or 5 Olympic cycles and the basic methodology obviously does not work and must be totally re-evaluated, probably with new blood and revised structures.
Among the changes suggested by Bannon are:
- Professionalize our coaching support techniques to improve performance at each Olympics.
- Peer examines for ourselves other more successful nations of similar size, such as New Zealand.
- High performance sailors should not be isolated from major domestic sailing activities.
- Better PR and visibility for high-performance sailors and better relationships with the families of young athletes
- New protocols to help improve communication and consultation with families that support young athletes seeking to gain ground internationally.
- Changes to the composition of the High Performance Olympic Committee.
In its response to the article, Irish Sailing said: “As is normal after every Olympic cycle, Irish sailing is undertaking a complete overhaul of our support and the performance of our sailing athletes. To this end, we are engaging an external expert. sports management to undertake the review.
“Sport Ireland has also commissioned its own independent review which we look forward to receiving in due course. The Irish Sailing Board welcomes the views of all those with Olympic sailing experience and is delighted to receive the views of ours in this regard. esteemed Past President, Roger Bannone.
“We plan to complete our review by the end of the year.”
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