Search Results for 'the Olympic Games'

Galway's Katie O'Brien celebrated her 23rd birthday at the weekend with a podium finish at the World Rowing Championship in Austria.

The impact of sport will always be greater on a society in which it is valued, and here in Ireland Gaelic football and hurling are as intrinsic to our culture as cricket is in India, baseball in Japan, American football in the USA, or rugby in New Zealand.

Online gaming has become a truly democratic industry. This isn’t an industry suitable only for gamers sitting at home on their own spending hours tapping away on their laptop; this is an industry for young and old, male and female. With these changing demographics comes a wealth of other changes. After all, this is a landscape that has moved from individuals gaming against themselves or against the computer, to one where collaborative activities like eSports and, indeed, betting on eSports is a common practice. In these competitions, gamers can watch the top players compete in what has now been labelled a serious sport (some people are even calling for eSports to become a part of the Olympic Games).

In August all of Mayo were rooting behind one man, when Castlebar's Nicholas Quinn became the first Mayoman since 2008 to take part in the Olympic Games. The 23-year-old student won his heat in the 200m butterfly in a time of 2:11.67 but just missed out a place in the next round of the competition. He also took part in the 100m butterfly finishing fourth in his heat. The young Castlebar man returned to the county town to a hero's welcome after his efforts in Rio.

Athlone Town

We tend to look at Olympic Games through the glass prism of the rose-tinted glasses. I remember seeing my first colour TV while watching the athletics at the Munich Olympics. It was the era of the flares, the locks. It was a rare look at events that happened somewhere else across the world and we were watching it. Remember these were days not long after the wonderment of the moon landings. Our brains were sponges for saturation of colour, of exoticism. The only live events on television were All-Ireland semis and finals, the FA cup finals, the European Cup finals and the Eurovision.

It is August now and already in Dunnes Stores and other supermarkets I see the jotters, copybooks, pencils, and schoolbags all being laid out for display and purchase. I imagine if I was a child in primary school and going around with my mother shopping, I would hate those counters and I would be dragging her away from them, because of course it means that going back to school is not that far off.

Sonia O'Sullivan will headline an event in the Salthill Hotel next Wednesday as part of the celebrations to mark 100 years of Irish Schools Athletics.

Sonia O’Sullivan will headline an event in the Salthill Hotel next Wednesday as part of the celebrations to mark 100 years of Irish Schools Athletics.

Gary Thornton of Galway City Harriers ran a superb personal best time of two hours 17 minutes 19 seconds in the  Berlin Marathon on Sunday.