As Chief Executive of the Olympic Council of Ireland, I want to take this opportunity to say that I’m delighted with the initial response to my appointment, and how I’m enjoying the opportunity of making a contribution to the development of Irish Olympic Sport.
In this brief article, I’d like to give you a synopsis of my responsibilities, highlight issues that the Irish Sports system needs to address if we are going to achieve medal success in future Olympic Games and provide some detail of the OCI’s role over the 4 year Olympic cycle.
Key Responsibilities
My main responsibility is to manage the affairs of the OCI and provide direction and leadership of Olympic Sport in Ireland. In the past 3 months I have met with many National Governing Bodies to gain an insight into their high performance plans, assess potential for 2008 and 2012 and identify blocks to progress within the developing high performance system. Internally I’ve taken a close look at OCI operational planning and management of Olympic Games responsibilities to ensure we have the best systems in place to maximise performance.
The key issues that have emerged and are being lobbied at present are as follows, the need to:
Establish a clear and shared vision for Olympic Sport
Develop a “no compromise” approach and funding to achieve it
Establish a systematic approach to identifying talent,
Develop concurrent athlete programmes for 2008/12 in particular
Clarify the Irish Institute of Sport’s role within NGB High Performance plans
Recruit world class coaches to work in Ireland whilst developing our talented Irish coaches
Communicate the role and support programmes of the OCI over the 4 year Games
The OCI Role
I believe the OCI needs to establish itself both internally and within the Olympic Movement as a professional organisation.
It can do this by focusing its resources and energy on its clear responsibilities as a National Olympic Committee, namely:
To provide the Irish Olympic Team with the most effective athlete centred performance driven operational planning and management at each Olympiad.
To maximise commercial value of the Olympic Brand and provide long term financial security for the OCI.
To develop and protect the Olympic Movement in Ireland
To provide high level strategic leadership and representation of Olympic Sport at Government, European Olympic and International Olympic Committee level.
To work in partnership with the Irish Sports Council to ensure clarity of roles and provide the best possible support for Olympic Governing Bodies of Sport.
2008 Beijing Operational Planning
Our strategic framework document, recently developed for Beijing planning, incorporates 3 phases: pre Beijing, Games time, and immediate post Beijing. It clearly demonstrates a clearer planning process by the OCI, and helps sports understand our role in contributing to the overall success of the Irish team. Issues covered over the 3 phases include:
Olympic qualifying standards
Accreditations
Pre games preparation camps
Generic, sports and athlete specific acclimatisation issues
Olympic awareness training for all support staff
Science and medical support
Recces to Beijing
Selection and roles and responsibilities of HQ staff
Performance clothing
Flights, freight and logistic issues
Preparation camp support
BOCOG relations
Personal coach issues
Press accreditation
Media training
Crisis management policies
Accommodation in / out of village
Opening / closing ceremony policies
HQ /Team Manager/Support staff/ / Athlete surveys
Sports debriefs
Key learning points
Our Chef de Mission, Dermott Henihan, Deputy Chef Tom Rafter, Sports Director, Martin Burke and I, are working through these and other issues with Olympic Team Managers.
Olympic Games Professional Development opportunities
In May 2006, the Olympic Council launched details of our Olympic 2006-8 professional development programmes for Team Managers, Coaches, Science and Medics. There are also professional development opportunities being offered to Olympic NGB Chief Executives. Athletes will have access to motivational seminars and will be offered the opportunity to utilise an Olympic planning course, which I will initially deliver to Athletics, Sailing, Hockey and Triathlon.
In summary, we will endeavour to provide a professional approach and a leadership role on behalf of our Olympic Sports over the 4 year cycle.
We need to continually challenge and be challenged in order to create a truly world-class system that Irish Olympic sports can be proud of.
