The National Olympic Committee in Ireland has been known by three titles. It was originally called the Irish Olympic Council (IOC) from 1920 to 1952 (not to be confused with the International Olympic Committee, also abbreviated as IOC). It became the Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) from 1952 to 2018. It then became the Olympic Federation of Ireland (OFI) in 2018.
For many sports, the respective national federation represents the entire island of Ireland, which comprises both the Republic of Ireland (originally a dominion with the title the Irish Free State) and Northern Ireland (which following the founding of the Irish Free State as an independent dominion remained part of the United Kingdom). Northern Ireland-born athletes are entitled to represent either Ireland or Great Britain and Northern Ireland, as they are automatically entitled to the citizenship of both countries. As a result, athletes will tend to represent the National Olympic Committee of the nation to which their sport federation is aligned. The smaller competition pool will also see athletes choose to represent Ireland to ensure greater Olympic qualification chances, although athletes may also move in the opposite direction to increase medal chances, especially in team events. A number of athletes have represented both nations.
In addition, Ireland has regularly been represented by members of the Irish diaspora who are explicitly recognised in the nation's constitution, and who often have citizenship rights through family heritage, i.e. a parent or grandparent with Irish citizenship.[2]
From the first modern-era games in 1896 until the 1920 games, Ireland was represented by the Great Britain and Ireland team. In early editions of the Games, 'Ireland' as a team was entered in certain events as one of several Great Britain and Ireland entries that mirrored the Home Nations. Ireland was one of the nations that boycotted neither the 1980 Moscow nor the 1984 Los Angeles Games. Ireland did, however, boycott the 1936 Berlin Games in protest at a 1935 IOC ruling that restricted the Irish Olympic Council's jurisdiction from the entire island to the territory of the Irish Free State[3].
The 2024 Summer Olympics was the most successful Olympics in the history of the nation, with Ireland breaking their previous record medal haul of 6 at London 2012 with a total of 7 medals having been won. The team also surpassed the Atlanta 1996 record of 3 Olympics golds in a games, including both a first Olympic medal and Olympic gold medal in Gymnastics as well as a first ever gold for the men in Swimming. The 2024 Paris games also marked 100 years since Ireland's first appearance at the summer games.
The highest number of golds achieved in a particular Olympic games is four, which was achieved at Paris 2024 with gold medals in swimming, rowing, gymnastics and boxing.
Boxing is Ireland's most successful sport at the Games, accounting for more than 50% of the medals won. Athletics, boxing and swimming have provided the most gold medals, with four.
Many of the sports most popular in Ireland are either not Olympic sports (such as Gaelic games, horse racing) or have only become so relative recently (golf, rugby sevens), and this is reflected in a somewhat moderate overall record for Ireland at the Games outside of boxing. Notwithstanding this, however, Ireland has been a consistent and enthusiastic Olympic nation, and its medalists are widely publicised and celebrated, while Olympic qualification is highly valued even without medal success.
Some athletes have won medals representing other countries, most obviously Great Britain, which are not included on these tables, and emigrant Irish throwing athletes were particularly successful competing for the United States in early Games. The most notable of the Irish athletes for other nations, however, is Tom Kiely, who won gold in the all-around athletics event in 1904, having refused offers of a free trip and reimbursement of travel expenses from British and American officials, paid his own way, and was insistent that he represented Ireland, even so far as attempting to replace the Union flag with its Irish equivalent at the medal ceremony. The disputed nationality of Kiely has historic statistical importance in both British Olympicism, and Olympicism generally, because it is his gold medal that allows Great Britain to claim to be the only nation to have won at least one gold at every Summer Games.[4][5][6]
Michelle Smith de Bruin won three gold medals at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, for the 400 m individual medley, 400 m freestyle and 200 m individual medley, and also won the bronze medal for the 200 m butterfly event. Smith’s career was marked by allegations of doping, which were never proven. Smith was later banned for four years by FINA, the international swimming federation, for manipulation of an anti-doping sample by deliberate contamination with alcohol, a decision upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport when Smith appealed.
Ode pour les Jeux de Tailteann[12] (Tailteann Ode, which had won the prize for poetry at the revived Tailteann Games earlier that year[14]) Gogarty was awarded a bronze medal despite two silver medals being awarded in the category.[15]
Prior to the 1906 Intercalated Games, National Olympic Committees (NOCs) were generally non-existent, and athletes could enter the Olympics individually. John Pius Boland, who won gold in two tennis events in 1896, is now listed as "IRL/GBR".[1][19] Boland's daughter later claimed that he had objected when the Union Jack was raised to mark his first triumph, vehemently pointing out that Ireland had a flag of its own; following this, the organisers apologised and agreed to prepare an Irish flag.[20] While Kevin MacCarthy is sceptical of this story, by 1906, Boland was crediting his medals to Ireland.[20]
The British Olympic Association (BOA) was formed in 1905, and Irish athletes were accredited to the BOA team from the 1906 Games onwards. Whereas Pierre de Coubertin had recognised teams from Bohemia and Finland separately from their respective imperial powers, Austria and Russia, he was unwilling to make any similar distinction for Ireland, either because it lacked a National Olympic Committee, or for fear of offending Britain.[24]
At the 1906 Games, both Peter O'Connor and Con Leahy objected when the British flag was raised at their victory ceremony, and O'Connor raised a green Irish flag in defiance of the organisers.[1][25]
At the 1912 Olympics, and despite objections from other countries, the BOA entered three teams in the cycling events, one from each of the separate English, Scottish and Irish governing bodies for the sport.[26] The Irish team came 11th in the team time trial.[26] The organisers had proposed a similar division in the football tournament, but the BOA declined.[27]
A 1913 list of 35 countries to be invited to the 1916 Olympics included Ireland separately from Great Britain; similarly, Finland and Hungary were to be separate from Russia and Austria, although Bohemia was not listed.[28] A newspaper report of the 1914 Olympic Congress says it endorsed a controversial German Olympic Committee proposal that "now—contrary to the hitherto existing practice—only political nations may participate as teams in the Olympic Games", with the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland" among these "political nations".[29] However, the games were cancelled due to the First World War.
After the war, John J. Keane attempted to unite various sports associations under an Irish Olympic Committee.[30] Many sports had rival bodies, one Unionist and affiliated to a United Kingdom parent, the other Republican and opposed to any link with Great Britain.[citation needed] Keane proposed that a separate Irish delegation, marching under the Union Flag, should participate at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp.[30] At the time the Irish War of Independence was under way, and the IOC rejected Keane's proposal, pending the settlement of the underlying political situation.[30]
Political issues
The OFI has always used the name "Ireland", and has claimed to represent the entire island of Ireland, even though Northern Ireland remains part of the United Kingdom.[31] These points have been contentious, particularly from the 1930s to the 1950s in athletics, and until the 1970s in cycling.[2]
The governing bodies of many sports in the island of Ireland had been established prior to the 1922 partition, and most have remained as single all-island bodies since then. Recognition of the Irish border was politically contentious and unpopular with Irish nationalists. The National Athletic and Cycling Association (Ireland), or NACA(I), was formed in 1922 by the merger of rival all-island associations, and affiliated to both the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF) and Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI).[2] When Northern Ireland athletes were selected for the 1928 games, the possibility was raised of using an "all-Ireland banner" as the team flag, rather than the Irish tricolour which unionists disavowed.[33] J. J. Keane stated that it was too late to change the flag registered with the IOC, but was hopeful that the coat of arms of Ireland would be adopted afterwards.[32] No such change was ever made, although Keane reported in 1930 that a council subcommittee had consulted the member federations and noted "a general desire towards agreement on a flag which would be acceptable to all parts of Ireland being substituted for that at present recognised ... by the International Olympic Committee [i.e. the tricolour]".[34]
In 1925, some Northern Ireland athletics clubs left NACA(I) and in 1930 formed the Northern Ireland Amateur Athletics Association, which later formed the British Athletic Federation (BAF) with the English and Scottish Amateur Athletics Associations.[2] The BAF then replaced the (English) AAA as Britain's member of the IAAF, and moved that all members should be delimited by political boundaries.[2] This was not agreed in time for the 1932 Summer Olympics —at which two NACA(I) athletes won gold medals for Ireland— but was agreed at the IAAF's 1934 congress.[2] The NACA(I) refused to comply and was suspended in 1935, thus missing the 1936 Berlin Olympics.[2] The OCI decided to boycott the Games completely in protest.[2][35]
The UCI likewise suspended the NACA(I) for refusing to confine itself to the Irish Free State. The athletics and cycling wings of the NACA(I) split into two all-island bodies, and separate Irish Free State bodies split from each and secured affiliation to the IAAF and UCI. These splits were not fully resolved until the 1990s. The "partitionist" Amateur Athletic Union of Éire (AAUE) affiliated to the IAAF, but the all-Ireland NACA(I) remained affiliated to the OCI. The IOC allowed AAUÉ athletes to compete for Ireland at the 1948 London Olympics, but the rest of the OCI delegation shunned them.[2] At that games, two swimmers from Northern Ireland were prevented from competing in the OCI team. This was a FINA ruling rather than an IOC rule; Danny Taylor from Belfast was allowed by FISA to compete in the rowing.[2] The entire swimming squad withdrew,[36] but the rest of the team competed.[37]
Some athletes born in what had become the Republic of Ireland continued to compete for the British team.[2] In 1952, new IOC President Avery Brundage and new OCI delegate Lord Killanin agreed that people from Northern Ireland would in the future be allowed to compete in any sport on the OCI team.[2][38] In Irish nationality law, birth in Northern Ireland grants a citizenship entitlement similar to birth within the Republic of Ireland itself. In 1956, Killanin stated that both the OCI and the BOA "quite rightly" judged eligibility based on citizenship laws.[39] UCI and IAAF affiliated bodies were subsequently affiliated to the OCI, thus regularising the position of Irish competitors in those sports at the Olympics. Members of the all-Ireland National Cycling Association (NCA) with Irish Republican sympathies twice interfered with the Olympic road race in protest against the UCI-affiliated Irish Cycling Federation (ICF). In 1956, three members caused a 13-minute delay at the start.[40] Seven were arrested in 1972; three had delayed the start[41] and the other four joined mid-race to ambush ICF competitor Noel Taggart, causing a minor pileup.[42] This happened days after the murders of Israeli athletes and at the height of the Troubles in Northern Ireland; the negative publicity helped precipitate an end to the NCA–ICF feud.[43]
In November 2003, the OCI discovered that the British Olympic Association (BOA) had been using Northern Ireland in the text of its "Team Members Agreement" document since the 2002 Games.[48] Its objection was made public in January 2004. The BOA responded that "Unbeknown to each other both the OCI and BOA have constitutions approved by the IOC acknowledging territorial responsibility for Northern Ireland", the BOA constitution dating from 1981.[48] OCI president Pat Hickey claimed the IOC's copy of the BOA constitution had "question marks" against mentions of Northern Ireland (and Gibraltar);[49] an IOC spokesperson said "Through an error we have given both national Olympic committees rights over the same area."[50] The 2012 Games host was to be selected in July 2004 and so, to prevent the dispute harming the London bid, its director Barbara Cassani and the Blair government secured agreement by which Northern Ireland was removed from BOA documents and marketing materials.[51][38] Northern Ireland athletes retain the right to compete for Britain.[38]
Most commonly held passport in Northern Ireland (2011 Census)
The longstanding practice relating to athletes in Northern Ireland who qualify for participation at the Olympic Games is that an athlete born in Northern Ireland who qualifies for participation at the Olympic Games and who holds a UK passport, may opt for selection by either Team GB or Ireland. The British Olympic Association (BOA) and the Olympic Council for Ireland (OCI) have recently confirmed this agreement.
By contrast, OCI officers Pat Hickey and Dermot Sherlock told an Oireachtas committee in 2008:[53]
If someone is entitled to an Irish passport and is in possession of that passport, he or she can qualify to compete for Ireland as long as he or she has not competed for some other country in a previous Olympic Games. If he or she had competed for another country previously, we might allow him or her to compete for Ireland...The Irish passport is used as the measurement.[...]As people from Northern Ireland can choose whether to have an Irish or a British passport,or both, athletes from that part of the world can choose whether to compete for Ireland or Britain.
The Irish have a long established record of using foreign athletes.
The council is proud that, like the Irish rugby team, it represents the island of Ireland. Ireland is unusual, in Olympic terms. The council is not the Olympic committee of the Republic of Ireland – it is the Olympic Council of Ireland. We have responsibility for the North of Ireland. We can thank my predecessor, Lord Killanin, for that.
In 2012, Stephen Martin, who has been an executive at both the OCI and the BOA, said "Team GB is a brand name. Just like Team Ireland. The British and Irish Olympic committees are seen by the International Olympic Committees as having joint rights over Northern Ireland."[54]
In 2009, rugby sevens was added to the Olympic programme starting in 2016. While World Rugby states players from Northern Ireland are eligible to compete on the Great Britain team,[55] the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) director of rugby said in 2011 that "with the agreement of the [English, Scottish, and Welsh] unions" the "de facto position" was that Northern Ireland players must represent an IRFU team.[56] In 2010 The Daily Telegraph opined that the IRFU would be entitled to refuse to release players under contract to it, but not to prohibit Northern Ireland players based outside Ireland; but that the issue needed to be handled "with extreme sensitivity".[57]
The OFI sees itself as representing the island rather than the state, and hence uses the name "Ireland".[2] It changed its own name from "Irish Olympic Council" to "Olympic Council of Ireland" in 1952 to reinforce this point.[2] (The change from "Council" to "Federation" was a 2018 rebranding after the 2016 ticketing controversy.[58]) At the time, Lord Killanin had become OCI President and delegate to the IOC, and was trying to reverse the IOC's policy of referring to the OCI's team by using an appellation of the state rather than the island. While the name "Ireland" had been unproblematic at the 1924 and 1928 Games, after 1930, the IOC sometimes used "Irish Free State". IOC President Henri de Baillet-Latour supported the principle of delimitation by political borders.[2] At the 1932 Games, Eoin O'Duffy an IRA member, persuaded the Organisers to switch from "Irish Free State" to "Ireland" shortly before the Opening Ceremony.[2] After the 1937 Constitution took effect, the IOC switched to "Eire"; this conformed to British practice, although within the state's name in English was "Ireland". At the opening ceremony of the 1948 Summer Olympics, teams marched in alphabetical order of their country's name in English; the OCI team was told to move from the I's to the E's.[2] After the Republic of Ireland Act came into effect in 1949, British policy was to use "Republic of Ireland" rather than "Eire". In 1951, the IOC made the same switch at its Vienna conference, after IOC member Lord Burghley had consulted the British Foreign Office.[59] An OCI request to change this to "Ireland" was rejected in 1952,[60] In late 1955 Brundage ruled that "Ireland" would be the official IOC name, and Lewis Luxton of the Organising Committee for the 1956 Melbourne Games said that "Ireland" would be used on scoreboards and programmes.[61][2][39] The OCI had argued that this was the name in the state's own Constitution, and that all the OCI's affiliated sports except the Football Association of Ireland were all-island bodies.[39] However, in the buildup to the Games, Lord Burghley (now Marquess of Exeter) protested at the IOC decision and insisted that the athletics events would use the IAAF name of "Eire".[62] On the first day of athletics, "Ireland" (code "IRE") was used, but from the second day it changed to "Eire"/"EIR".[63]
The 1936 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event held in Berlin, Germany, from 1 August to 16 August.
Kenya competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, from 13 to 29 August 2004. This was the nation's eleventh appearance at the Olympics, except the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal and the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow because of the African and United States boycott.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland and its courts are located in New York City, Sydney, and Lausanne. Temporary courts are established in current Olympic host cities.
Australia has sent athletes to every Summer Olympic Games, as well as every Winter Olympics except 1924–32 and 1948. In 1908 and 1912 Australia competed with New Zealand under the name Australasia.
The British Olympic Association is the National Olympic Committee for the United Kingdom. It is almost unique in that its teams also incorporate representatives from other British dependent territories, who do not have their own separate Olympics teams, but exclude some UK citizens from Northern Ireland due to internal governing body territories in sports such as rugby, tennis and field hockey. Founded in 1905, it is responsible for organising and overseeing the participation of athletes from the Great Britain and Northern Ireland Olympic Team, at both the summer and winter Olympic Games, the Youth Olympic Games, the European Youth Olympic Festivals, and at the European Games.
Team GB is the brand name used since 1999 by the British Olympic Association (BOA) for their British Olympic team. The brand was developed after the nation's poor performance in the 1996 Summer Olympics, and is now a trademark of the BOA. It is meant to unify the team as one body, irrespective of each member athlete's particular sport. Officially, the team is the "Great Britain and Northern Ireland Olympic Team", although athletes from Northern Ireland may opt to compete under the auspices of the Olympic Federation of Ireland instead.
The United Kingdom has been represented at every modern Olympic Games. By end of the 2024 Summer Olympics, it is third in the all-time Summer Olympic medal table by overall number of medals, and fourth in number of gold medals won. London hosted the Summer Olympic Games in 1908, 1948 and 2012.
Competitors at the Olympic Games have used banned athletic performance-enhancing drugs.
The Olympic Federation of Ireland or OFI is the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Ireland. Athletes from Northern Ireland have the option of participating under its auspices or in the Great Britain Olympic Team. Its mission statement is "To manage and enhance the performance of Team Ireland at Olympic Games whilst developing the Olympic Movement in Ireland." In 2018 the Olympic Council of Ireland was renamed as the Olympic Federation of Ireland.
Representation of the island of Ireland at the British Empire Games has varied:
Palestine, participated at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, United States, from 19 July to 4 August 1996. The Palestinian delegation at the 1996 Games included two athletes, runners Majed Abu Maraheel and Ihab Salama, and one official, Muammar Bississo, the president of the Palestine Olympic Committee.
The National Athletic and Cycling Association (NACA or N.A. and C.A.), from 1990 the National Athletic and Cycling Association of Ireland (NACAI or NACA(I)) was a federation of sports clubs in the island of Ireland practising athletics or bicycle racing or both. It existed from 1922 to 2000, though for most of the period it was not the sole governing body in Ireland for either sport. Its refusal to recognise the partition of Ireland got it expelled from the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF) and the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI). Clubs formerly in the NACAI are now affiliated to Athletics Ireland or Cycling Ireland, each formed by the merger of the NACAI with rival bodies respectively affiliated to the IAAF and the UCI.
A team representing Ireland has competed at every Summer Paralympic Games. The country has never taken part in the Winter Paralympics. Irish athletes have won 233 Summer Paralympic medals. Paralympics Ireland is the National Paralympic Committee.
Belarus competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom, from 27 July to 12 August 2012. This was the nation's fifth appearance at the Summer Olympics in the post-Soviet era. The Belarus Olympic Committee sent a total of 166 athletes to the Games, 90 men and 76 women, to compete in 20 sports.
Ukraine competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, from July 27 to August 12, 2012. This was the nation's fifth consecutive appearance at the Summer Olympics in the post-Soviet era. The National Olympic Committee of Ukraine sent a total of 238 athletes, split equally between men and women, to compete in 21 sports.
Kuwait competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, from 27 July to 12 August 2012. This was the nation's twelfth consecutive appearance at the Olympics.
The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXX Olympiad, was a summer multi-sport event held in London, the capital of the United Kingdom, from 27 July to 12 August. A total of 10,768 athletes from 204 nations participated in 302 events in 26 sports across 39 different disciplines.
Athletics at the 2016 Summer Olympics were held during the last 10 days of the games, from 12 to 21 August 2016, at the Olympic Stadium. The sport of athletics at the 2016 Summer Olympics was made into three distinct sets of events: track and field events, road running events, and racewalking events.
Systematic doping of Russian athletes has resulted in 51 Olympic medals stripped from Russia, four times the number of the next highest, and more than 30% of the global total. Russia has the most competitors who have been caught doping at the Olympic Games in the world, with more than 150.
Hunt, Tom (2015). "'In our case, it seems obvious the British Organising Committee piped the tune': the campaign for recognition of 'Ireland' in the Olympic Movement, 1935–1956". Sport in Society. 18 (7): 835–852. doi:10.1080/17430437.2014.990689. ISSN1743-0437. S2CID143082690.
Llewellyn, Matthew P. (2015). "For a 'United' Kingdom and a 'Greater' Britain: the British Olympic Association and the limitations and contestations of 'Britishness'". Sport in Society. 18 (7): 765–782. doi:10.1080/17430437.2014.990687. ISSN1743-0437. S2CID144488353.
"Ireland". Countries. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 19 April 2016.
"Ireland". Olympic Medal Winners. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 19 April 2016.
"Ireland". Olympics > Countries. Sports-Reference.com. Archived from the original on 22 April 2016. Retrieved 19 April 2016.
Notes
1 2 3 4 "OCI History". Olympics.ie. Retrieved 24 July 2024. Ireland was given formal recognition as an independent nation in the Olympic Movement at the IOC session in Paris in 1924 and it was at the Paris Games that Ireland made its first appearance in an Olympic Games as an independent nation.Archived 7 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine , Olympic Council of Ireland
↑ Llewellyn, Matthew (2010). "A 'United' Kingdom? Nationalism, Identity and the Modern Olympic Games"(PDF). Rethinking Matters Olympic: Investigations into the Socio-Cultural Study of the Modern Olympic Movement. Tenth International Symposium for Olympic Research. University of Western Ontario London, Ontario, Canada: International Centre for Olympic Studies. pp.94–105. Archived from the original(PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 23 October 2015.
↑ "'This Flag Dips for No Earthly King': The Mysterious Origins of an American Myth". International Journal of the History of Sport. 25 (2). Routledge: 142–162. 15 February 2008. doi:10.1080/09523360701740299. S2CID216151041.
↑ Kolár, František; Kössl, Jirí (Winter 1996). "Pierre De Coubertin and the Czech Lands"(PDF). Citius Altius Fortius. 4 (1). Durham, NC, USA: International Society of Olympic Historians: 5–16: 11, fn.37. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
↑ Lennartz, Karl (2010). "The Olympic Games and Politics, 1896–1916"(PDF). In Barney, R.K.; Forsyth, J.; Heine, M.K. (eds.). Rethinking Matters Olympic: Investigations into the Socio-Cultural Study of the Modern Olympic Movement. 10th International Symposium for Olympic Research. London, Ontario: ICOS. pp.138–145: 144. ISBN978-0-7714-2518-9. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
↑ Cronin, Mike; David Doyle; Liam O'Callaghan (2008). "Foreign Fields and Foreigners on the Field: Irish Sport, Inclusion and Assimilation". International Journal of the History of Sport. 25 (8). Routledge: 1010–1030. doi:10.1080/09523360802106754. S2CID144670730.
1 2 "Olympic Games; Question of Irish flag". The Irish Times. 30 May 1928. p.7.
↑ "An Irishman's Diary: The Olympic Games". The Irish Times. 23 May 1928. p.4.
↑ "National Flag at Olympic Games". Irish Weekly and Ulster Examiner. 5 April 1930. p.10.
↑ Coakley, John; Liam O'Dowd (2007). Crossing the border: new relationships between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Irish Academic Press. p.232. ISBN978-0-7165-2922-4.
↑ "Ireland and Olympism"(PDF). Olympic Review (70–71): 440. September–October 1973. Retrieved 20 February 2009.
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Great Britain (1896–1920)
