Well done to Geoffrey Curran of Fenor and Jamie Costin for making the Irish Olympic team to travel to Beijing in China.
Geoffrey, who competes in the equestrian dressage event, is already on his way to China. Due to high humidity levels the event will be held on the coast in Hong Kong, where there are excellent horse facilities.
Many Irish jockeys have performed well on the Hong Kong race tracks and he is sure to get much local support from the resident Irish in Hong Kong. A Captain in the Irish Army, he has had a love of horses from an early age.
If you drive the coast road to Fenor you will see the flags and bunting out in the village with an Olympic flag also on display in the church grounds. Full marks to the local community for getting the tricolours out and supporting one of their own.
Over in Ring, there is a similar display for long distance walker Jamie Costin, who will compete in the 50km event on Saturday week.
Last time around he was to compete in Athens but got hurt in an accident while training. In Sydney 2000 he qualified and performed well.
Full marks to him for showing the discipline and resilience in getting back into the sport and back on form.
The last Olympics saw a disaster for Ireland from a drugs and a sport point of view with a horse being illegally medicated. This was hard to believe at the time. We hope that medal hopes like those of the boxers or competitors in equestrian events in Hong Kong may come good this time.
A large team has gone out and Waterford’s Martin Cullen will also be there to support the Irish team as Minister for Sport. Even a haul of two medals would be a success after the drought since Sydney.