Ireland at the Olympics#Medals by summer sport

{{See also|All-time Olympic Games medal table}}

As of the 2022 Beijing Games, Ireland's best result at the Winter Games has been fourth, by Clifton Wrottesley in the Men's Skeleton at the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City.

{{Medals table

| caption =

| team = Sport

| hide_rank = yes

| gold_1 = 4 | silver_1 = 5 | bronze_1 = 10 | name_1 = {{GamesSport|Boxing|Format=d}}

| gold_2 = 4 | silver_2 = 2 | bronze_2 = 1 | name_2 = {{GamesSport|Athletics|Format=d}}

| gold_3 = 4 | silver_3 = 0 | bronze_3 = 3 | name_3 = {{GamesSport|Swimming|Format=d}}

| gold_4 = 0 | silver_4 = 2 | bronze_4 = 0 | name_4 = {{GamesSport|Sailing|Format=d}}

| gold_5 = 2 | silver_5 = 1 | bronze_5 = 2 | name_5 = {{GamesSport|Rowing|Format=d}}

| gold_6 = 0 | silver_6 = 0 | bronze_6 = 1 | name_6 = {{GamesSport|Equestrian|Format=d}}

| gold_7= 1 | silver_7 = 0 | bronze_7 = 0 | name_7 = {{GamesSport|Gymnastics|Format=d}}

}}

The following tables include medals won by athletes on OFI teams. All medals have been won at Summer Games. Ireland's best result at the Winter Games has been fourth, by Clifton Wrottesley in the Men's Skeleton at the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City.

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.[http://www.olympic.org/content/results-and-medalists/searchresultpercountry/?athletename=&country=gbr&sport2=&games2=1904%2f1&event2=&mengender=true&womengender=true&mixedgender=true&goldmedal=true&silvermedal=true&bronzemedal=true&worldrecord=true&olympicrecord=false&teamclassification=true&individualclassification=true&winter=true&summer=true IOC database: Great Britain medallists at 1904 Olympics]{{cite news|first=Cronan|last=Scanlon|url=http://donegalnews.com/2013/02/olympic-gold-medal-rower-from-donegal/|title=Olympic gold medal rower from Donegal?|date=8 February 2013|access-date=8 February 2013|archive-date=17 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171117165249/http://donegalnews.com/2013/02/olympic-gold-medal-rower-from-donegal/|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/olympics/from-pat-ocallaghan-to-the-odonovan-brothers-how-irelands-olympic-medals-were-won-40680799.html|title=From Pat O'Callaghan to the O'Donovan brothers – How Ireland's Olympic medals were won|date=22 July 2021|work=Irish Independent|accessdate= 23 July 2021}}

Awarded:

• Robert Heffernan finished fourth in the 2012 men's 50 kilometres walk won by Sergey Kirdyapkin.{{cite web |url=http://www.olympic.org/olympic-results/london-2012/athletics/50km-walk-m |title=50km walk men results – Athletics – London 2012 Olympics}} On 24 March 2016, the Court of Arbitration for Sport disqualified all Kirdyapkin's competitive results from 20 August 2009 to 15 October 2012.{{cite web |url=http://www.tas-cas.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Media_Release_announce_decision.pdf |title=The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) Upholds Six Appeals Filed by the IAAF Against Russian Athlete.}} Heffernan was upgraded to third, and formally presented with a bronze medal in November 2016.{{cite news|url=http://www.independent.ie/sport/irish-race-walker-heffernan-to-receive-london-2012-medal-over-russian-doping-34569782.html|title=Irish race walker Heffernan to receive London 2012 medal over Russian doping|author=Press Association|author-link=Press Association|date=24 March 2016|work=Irish Independent|quote=The IAAF will begin the process of reallocating two World Championship gold medals as well as Olympic medals following the CAS verdict. The IOC will formally redistribute the Olympic medals.|access-date=7 May 2016}}{{cite news|url=http://www.irishexaminer.com/video/sport/rob-heffernan-finally-receives-his-just-reward--an-olympic-medal-428998.html|title=Rob Heffernan finally receives his just reward – an Olympic medal|last=Cormican|first=Eoghan|date=4 November 2016|work=Irish Examiner|access-date=15 September 2017}}

Stripped:

• Cian O'Connor received the gold medal in the 2004 individual showjumping, but was formally stripped of it in July 2005 because his horse failed the post-event doping test.{{cite news|url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=NewsLibrary&p_multi=APAB&d_place=APAB&p_theme=newslibrary2&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=10B6E71B0D229838&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM|title=Medal to go to Brazil after O'Connor opts against appeal|last=Associated Press|date=3 July 2005|publisher=NewsBank|access-date=30 July 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190925104735/http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=NewsLibrary&p_multi=APAB&d_place=APAB&p_theme=newslibrary2&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=10B6E71B0D229838&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM|archive-date=25 September 2019|url-status=dead}}

Banned:

• 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.

{{main|List of Olympic medallists in art competitions}}

Art competitions were held from 1912 to 1948. Irish entries first appeared in 1924, when they won two medals; a third was won in the 1948 competition.

{{See also|List of Olympic competitors from Ireland who represented other countries}}

Prior to 1922, Ireland was part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland: thus, competitors at earlier Games who were born and living in Ireland are counted as British in Olympic statistics. At early Olympics, Irish-born athletes also won numerous medals for the United States and Canada, notably the "Irish Whales" in throwing events.

The Irish Amateur Athletic Association was invited to the inaugural International Olympic Committee meeting in 1894, and may have been invited to the 1896 games: it has also been claimed the Gaelic Athletic Association was invited.MacCarthy 2010, pp.16–21 In the event, neither participated.

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".[https://archive.today/20120907035507/http://www.olympic.org/en/Multimedia-Player/All-Photos/1896/01/01/RAAEE042/?CurrentMediaPageIPP=20&CurrentMediaPage=4&SortOrder=rate Athens 1896-BOLAND John Pius (IRL/GBR)] Olympic.org 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. While Kevin MacCarthy is sceptical of this story, by 1906, Boland was crediting his medals to Ireland.MacCarthy 2010, pp.30–37

Tom Kiely, who won the "all-around" athletics competition at the 1904 Olympics in St Louis is also listed as competing for Great Britain.[http://www.olympic.org/en/content/All-Olympic-results-since-1896/?AthleteName=Enter%20a%20name&Category=343488&Games=1333722&Sport=1313725&Event=&MenGender=true&WomenGender=false&MixedGender=false&TeamClassification=false&IndividualClassification=true&Continent=1310290&Country=&GoldMedal=true&SilverMedal=false&BronzeMedal=false&WorldRecord=false&OlympicRecord=false&TargetResults=true Thomas Francis Kiely, Great Britain] Olympic.org He had raised funds in counties Tipperary and Waterford to travel independently and compete for Ireland.{{cite journal |last=O'Sullivan |first=Patrick T. |date=Spring 1998 |title=Ireland & the Olympic Games |journal=History Ireland |location=Dublin |volume=6 |issue=1 |url=https://www.historyireland.com/ireland-the-olympic-games/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110609122356/https://www.historyireland.com/volumes/volume6/issue1/features/?id=180 |archive-date=9 June 2011 }} American statistician Frank Zarnowski does not regard the 1904 event as part of the Olympic competition, and also doubts the story that Kiely had refused offers by both the English Amateur Athletic Association (AAA) and the New York Athletic Club to pay his fare and cover his travel expenses so he could compete for them.{{cite book|last=Zarnowski|first=Frank|title=All-around Men: Heroes of a Forgotten Sport|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eXOBPt_Gi44C&pg=PA113|year=2005|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=9780810854239|pages=113–125: 118|chapter=Thomas F. Kiely}} British historian Peter Lovesey disagrees with Zarnowski.{{cite journal|last=Lovesey|first=Peter|date=November 2007|title=Letter to the editor|journal=Journal of Olympic History|publisher=International Society of Olympic Historians|volume=15|issue=3|pages=84–5|url=http://library.la84.org/SportsLibrary/JOH/JOHv15n3/JOHv15n3x.pdf}}

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.{{cite conference |url=http://library.la84.org/SportsLibrary/ISOR/isor2010l.pdf |title=A 'United' Kingdom? Nationalism, Identity and the Modern Olympic Games |first=Matthew |last=Llewellyn |year=2010 |conference=Tenth International Symposium for Olympic Research |book-title=Rethinking Matters Olympic: Investigations into the Socio-Cultural Study of the Modern Olympic Movement |publisher=International Centre for Olympic Studies |location=University of Western Ontario London, Ontario, Canada|access-date=23 October 2015 |pages=94–105 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304122102/http://library.la84.org/SportsLibrary/ISOR/isor2010l.pdf |archive-date=4 March 2016 |url-status=dead }}

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.{{cite web

| title = OCI History

| access-date = 2024-07-24

| quote = 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.

| website = Olympics.ie

| url = https://olympics.ie/oci-history/

| archive-date = 7 May 2013

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130507215919/http://www.olympicsport.ie/about/3022-oci-history.html

| url-status = dead

}}, Olympic Council of Ireland{{cite journal|date=15 February 2008 |title='This Flag Dips for No Earthly King': The Mysterious Origins of an American Myth|journal=International Journal of the History of Sport|publisher=Routledge|volume=25 |issue=2 |pages=142–162 |doi=10.1080/09523360701740299|s2cid=216151041}}

At the 1908 Games in London, there were multiple BOA entries in several team events, including two representing Ireland. In the hockey tournament, the Irish team finished second, behind England and ahead of Scotland and Wales. The Irish polo team also finished joint second in the three-team tournament, despite losing to one of two English teams in its only match.

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.MacCarthy 2010, pp.242,253–8 The Irish team came 11th in the team time trial. The organisers had proposed a similar division in the football tournament, but the BOA declined.MacCarthy 2010, p.242

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.{{cite journal|last1=Kolár|first1=František|first2=Jirí |last2=Kössl|date=Winter 1996|title=Pierre De Coubertin and the Czech Lands|journal=Citius Altius Fortius|publisher=International Society of Olympic Historians|location=Durham, NC, USA|volume=4|issue=1|pages=5–16: 11, fn.37|url=http://library.la84.org/SportsLibrary/JOH/JOHv4n1/JOHv4n1e.pdf#page=7|access-date=12 April 2016}} 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".{{cite conference |url=http://library.la84.org/SportsLibrary/ISOR/isor2010p.pdf#page=7 |title=The Olympic Games and Politics, 1896–1916 |first=Karl |last=Lennartz |year=2010 |conference=10th International Symposium for Olympic Research |editor1-first=R.K. |editor1-last=Barney |editor2-first=J. |editor2-last=Forsyth |editor3-first=M.K. |editor3-last=Heine |book-title=Rethinking Matters Olympic: Investigations into the Socio-Cultural Study of the Modern Olympic Movement |publisher=ICOS |location=London, Ontario|isbn=978-0-7714-2518-9 |access-date=15 September 2017 |pages=138–145 : 144 }} 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.Ireland and Olympism, p.432 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|date=November 2010}} Keane proposed that a separate Irish delegation, marching under the Union Flag, should participate at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp. 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.

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.{{cite journal|last=Cronin|first=Mike|author2=David Doyle |author3=Liam O'Callaghan |title=Foreign Fields and Foreigners on the Field: Irish Sport, Inclusion and Assimilation|journal=International Journal of the History of Sport|year=2008|publisher=Routledge|volume=25|issue=8|pages=1010–1030 |doi=10.1080/09523360802106754|s2cid=144670730}} These points have been contentious, particularly from the 1930s to the 1950s in athletics, and until the 1970s in cycling.

File:Flag of the President of Ireland.svg.]]

Many sports were codified and organised for the first time in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, and many of them were first done so within the then United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Early international sport was often played between representative teams of the constituent countries of the United Kingdom, and sports organised themselves with separate bodies for those countries. The governing bodies of many sports in the island of Ireland had been established decades prior to the 1922 partition, and most have remained as single all-island bodies since then with the singular exception of football.

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 {{lang|fr|Union Cycliste Internationale|italic=no}} (UCI). 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.{{cite news|title=An Irishman's Diary: The Olympic Games|date=23 May 1928|newspaper=The Irish Times|page=4}} 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.{{cite news|title=Olympic Games; Question of Irish flag |date=30 May 1928|newspaper=The Irish Times|page=7}} 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]".{{cite news |title=National Flag at Olympic Games |work=Irish Weekly and Ulster Examiner |date=5 April 1930 |page=10}}

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. 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. 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. The NACA(I) refused to comply and was suspended in 1935, thus missing the 1936 Berlin Olympics. The OCI decided to boycott the Games completely in protest.{{cite book|last=Krüger|first=Arnd |author2=William J. Murray|title=The Nazi Olympics: sport, politics and appeasement in the 1930s |publisher=University of Illinois Press|year=2003 |page=230 |isbn=0-252-02815-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s5ntIQv0W5IC&q=1936+olympics+%22irish+free+state%22&pg=PA230 }} 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. In 1939, IOC President Henri de Baillet-Latour said that, on the precedent of "Bohemia and Finland in the old days", an all-island "Ireland" team would be permitted, but only if the BOA and British government agreed.Liston and Maguire (2020) pp. 24–25

At the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, the athletics events saw two rival Ireland squads: one nominated by the NACA(I) and approved by the OCI, the other nominated by the AAUE and approved by the IAAF.Liston and Maguire (2020) pp. 8–9, 20, 23 Neither had the complete set of authorisations technically required for entry; just before the opening ceremony, the IOC and London organising committee jointly decided to disallow the NACA/OCI athletes and permit those from the AAUE/IAAF, who were shunned by the rest of the 1948 Ireland delegation. NACA(I) nominees were similarly refused entry in the cycling events.Liston and Maguire (2020) p. 20 In the swimming events, two swimmers from Northern Ireland were prevented from competing for Ireland despite having Irish passports.Liston and Maguire (2020) p. 19 The entire swimming squad withdrew,{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1948/07/31/archives/eire-withdraws-swimming-squad-ban-on-two-athletes-born-in-northern.html|title=Eire withdraws swimming squad; Ban on Two Athletes Born in Northern Ireland Impels Protest at Olympics|date=31 July 1948 |work=The New York Times|page=10, sports|access-date=13 February 2010}} but the rest of the team competed.Organising Committee for the XIV Olympiad 1951 This was a ruling by FINA (the swimming international federation) rather than the IOC; Northern Ireland athletes competed for Ireland in boxing, football, and rowing. Some athletes born in what had become the Republic of Ireland continued to compete for the British team.

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. Brundage's predecessor Sigfrid Edström had been sympathetic to the BOA.Liston and Maguire (2020) pp. 8, 13, 23, 25 In Irish nationality law, birth in Northern Ireland with a parent entitled to Irish citizenship 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.

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.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=hYQOAAAAIBAJ&dq=olympic%20cycling%20irish&pg=6957%2C2971583|title=Another rhubarb delays Olympic cycling event|agency=Associated Press|date=7 December 1956|work=St. Petersburg Times|page=14|access-date=13 February 2010}} Seven were arrested in 1972; three had delayed the start{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=acwzAAAAIBAJ&dq=olympic%20cycling%20irish&pg=1412%2C1744537|title=Rebel cyclists sent marching|author=AAP|date=8 September 1972|work=The Age|page=15|access-date=13 February 2010|location=Melbourne}} and the other four joined mid-race to ambush ICF competitor Noel Taggart, causing a minor pileup.{{cite news|url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F00A10FD395E127A93CAA91782D85F468785F9|title=7 I.R.A. cyclists 'invade' Olympics; Rebels Say Their Team Is Better Than the Regulars, Then Try to Prove It|author=AP|date=8 September 1972 |work=The New York Times |page=23, Sports|access-date=13 February 2010}} 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.{{cite book|last=Coakley|first=John |author2=Liam O'Dowd|title=Crossing the border: new relationships between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland |publisher=Irish Academic Press|year=2007|page=232 |isbn=978-0-7165-2922-4 }}

The Irish Hockey Union joined the OCI in 1949,{{Cite journal|url=http://www.la84foundation.org/OlympicInformationCenter/OlympicReview/1973/ore70/ore70m.pdf#page=10 |title=Ireland and Olympism |journal=Olympic Review|access-date=20 February 2009 |issue=70–71 |date=September–October 1973 |page=440}} and the Ireland team in non-Olympic competitions is selected on an all-island basis.{{cite book |last=Sugden |first=John |author2=Alan Bairner |title=Sport, sectarianism and society in a divided Ireland |publisher=Leicester University Press |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hBUmfaATHBgC&pg=PA63|year=1995|pages=63–67 |chapter=British Sports and Irish identity |isbn=0-7185-0018-0}} Until 1992 the IHU was not invited to the Olympic hockey tournament, while Northern Irish hockey players like Stephen Martin played on the British Olympic men's team. In 1992, invitation was replaced by an Olympic qualifying tournament, which the IHU/IHA has entered, despite some opposition from Northern Irish members. Northern Irish players can play for Ireland or Britain, and can switch affiliation subject to International Hockey Federation clearance.{{cite news|url=http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/hockey/hockey-ulster-duo-get-green-light-for-gb-15080507.html|title=Hockey: Ulster duo get green light for GB|last=Hamilton|first=Graham|date=11 February 2011|work=The Belfast Telegraph|access-date=8 August 2012}} The Irish Ladies Hockey Union has entered the Olympics since 1984, and in 1980 suspended Northern Irish players who elected to play for the British women's team. The Ireland women's hockey team finally qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics; the men followed them in 2024.

Through to the 1960s, Ireland was represented in showjumping only by members of the Irish Army Equitation School, as the all-island civilian equestrian governing body was unwilling to compete under the Republic's flag and anthem.[http://debates.oireachtas.ie/dail/1963/07/03/00025.asp Dáil debates Vol.204 No.2 p.25] Oireachtas

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.{{cite news |last=Watterson |first=Johnny |date=28 January 2004 |title=Dispute could jeopardise London bid |page=23 |newspaper=Irish Times |location=Dublin }} 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. OCI president Pat Hickey claimed the IOC's copy of the BOA constitution had "question marks" against mentions of Northern Ireland (and Gibraltar);{{cite news |last=Mooney |first=Brendan |date=29 January 2004 |title=Hickey: Northern Irish athletes are free to represent Ireland at Olympics |newspaper=Irish Examiner |location=Cork }} an IOC spokesperson said "Through an error we have given both national Olympic committees rights over the same area."{{cite news |last=Bright |first=Richard |date=21 February 2004 |title=British agree on Irish issue |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |page=7 }} 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.{{cite news |last=Beard |first=Matthew |date=18 February 2004 |title=Olympic Games: BOA moves to resolve turf war with Irish |newspaper=The Independent |location=London |page=47 }}{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/olympics_2004/olympics_2012/3433557.stm |title=Irish and GB in Olympic row|date=27 January 2004|work=BBC Sport|publisher=BBC|access-date=27 February 2010}} Northern Ireland athletes retain the right to compete for Britain.

File:Predominant passport held northern ireland.png

In October 2004, Lord McIntosh of Haringey told the House of Lords:{{cite web|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/written-answers/2004/oct/21/olympic-games-participation|title=Olympic Games Participation|date=21 October 2004|work=Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)|pages=vol 665 c99WA |no-pp=y|access-date=23 October 2015}}

{{quote|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:{{cite web|url=http://debates.oireachtas.ie/TOJ/2008/07/16/00004.asp#N107|title=Beijing Olympics: Discussion with Olympic Council of Ireland.|date=16 July 2008|work=Joint Committee on Arts, Sport, Tourism, Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs|publisher=Oireachtas|access-date=27 May 2013}}

{{quote|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 encouraging athletes with direct Irish heritage to represent the nation under 'grandparent' citizenship rules, and the Irish Diaspora, including the large number of Irish heritage people in Great Britain, is explicitly recognised in the Irish constitution. The right of people form Northern Ireland to represent Ireland is however treated as a birthright, and such an athlete does not need to 'transfer' allegiance in the same way unless they have already represented another country.

Hickey also said:

{{quote|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."{{cite news|title=GB or not GB – that is the question|last=Little|first=Ivan|date=10 August 2012|work=Belfast Telegraph|page=6|location=Belfast}}

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,{{cite web|url=http://www.worldrugby.org/news/155038|title=Regulation 8 Explanatory Guidelines|website=World Rugby|pages=paragraphs 12, 13|no-pp=y|access-date=8 June 2016}} 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.{{cite news|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/irfu-rule-out-ulster-players-for-british-team-1.571714|title=IRFU rule out Ulster players for British team|last=Watterson|first=Johnny|date=14 April 2011|newspaper=The Irish Times|access-date=8 June 2016}} 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".{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/olympics/7761877/Officials-to-discuss-Team-GB-Olympic-Sevens-team.html|title=Officials to discuss Team GB Olympic Sevens team|date=24 May 2010|work=The Daily Telegraph|access-date=8 June 2016}} {{As of|2024}}, two Northern Ireland players (Zac Ward and Ashleigh Orchard) have played for Ireland, none for Great Britain.

{{See also|Names of the Irish state}}

The OFI sees itself as representing the island rather than the state, and hence uses the name "Ireland". It changed its own name from "Irish Olympic Council" to "Olympic Council of Ireland" in 1952 to reinforce this point. (The change from "Council" to "Federation" was a 2018 rebranding after the 2016 ticketing controversy.{{cite news |title=New name and look for Olympic Council of Ireland |url=https://www.rte.ie/sport/olympics/2018/0915/993918-oci-new-name/ |access-date=16 June 2020 |date=15 September 2018 |language=en |work=RTÉ News |location=Dublin}}) 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. 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. 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. 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.{{citation |title=Requête de l'Eire. Bulletin du Comité Internationale Olympique |date=June 1951 |publisher=IOC |location=Lausanne |issue=27 |page=12 |language=fr |url= http://www.la84foundation.org/OlympicInformationCenter/RevueOlympique/1951/BDCF27/BDCF27e.pdf }} An OCI request to change this to "Ireland" was rejected in 1952,{{citation |title=Extract of the 46th Session of the International Olympic Committee, Oslo, 12th to 13th February, 1952. Bulletin du Comité Internationale Olympique |date=March 1952 |publisher=IOC |location=Lausanne |issue=32 |pages=10–11 |url=http://www.la84foundation.org/OlympicInformationCenter/OlympicReview/1952/BDCE32/BDCE32d.pdf }} 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.Dolphin 2016 p. 15{{cite news|title=Irish athletes to compete in Olympics as 'Ireland'|date=5 October 1956|newspaper=The Irish Times|page=1}} 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. 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".Dolphin 2016 pp. 17–19 On the first day of athletics, "Ireland" (code "IRE") was used, but from the second day it changed to "Eire"/"EIR".Dolphin 2016 pp. 19–20

• List of flag bearers for Ireland at the Olympics
• :Category:Olympic competitors for Ireland
• Ireland at the Paralympics
• Ireland at the British Empire Games
• 2016 Summer Olympics ticket scandal

• {{cite thesis |first=Karen |last=Dolphin |date=September 2016 |title=Media Portrayals of an Irish Olympian: Ronnie Delany |type=Master of Sport Administration |publisher=International Academy of Sport Science and Technology |url=https://library.olympics.com/default/digitalCollection/DigitalCollectionAttachmentDownloadHandler.ashx?parentDocumentId=174501&documentId=174503&skipWatermark=true&skipCopyright=true |format=PDF}}
• {{cite journal|last=Hunt|first=Tom|year=2015|title='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|journal=Sport in Society|volume=18|issue=7|pages=835–852|issn=1743-0437|doi=10.1080/17430437.2014.990689|s2cid=143082690}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Liston |first1=Katie |last2=Maguire |first2=Joseph |title=The ‘Great Game’ and Sport: Identity, Contestation and Irish–British Relations in the Olympic Movement |journal=Journal of War & Culture Studies |date=2 January 2022 |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=21–41 |doi=10.1080/17526272.2020.1864873 |url=https://pure.ulster.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/87390531/Final_Paper.pdf |access-date=13 September 2024}} [page numbers are from preprint PDF, not DOI version]
• {{cite journal|last=Llewellyn|first=Matthew P.|year=2015|title=For a 'United' Kingdom and a 'Greater' Britain: the British Olympic Association and the limitations and contestations of 'Britishness'|journal=Sport in Society|volume=18|issue=7|pages=765–782|issn=1743-0437|doi=10.1080/17430437.2014.990687|s2cid=144488353}}
• {{cite book|last=MacCarthy|first=Kevin|title=Gold, Silver and Green: The Irish Olympic Journey 1896-1924|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ic9ZPgAACAAJ|year=2010|publisher=Cork University Press|isbn=9781859184585}}
• {{cite report|title=The Official Report of the Organising Committee for the XIV Olympiad London 1948 |pages= |publisher=Organising Committee for the XIV Olympiad |location=London |year=1951 |url=http://www.la84foundation.org/6oic/OfficialReports/1948/OR1948.pdf|access-date=7 March 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716035822/http://www.la84foundation.org/6oic/OfficialReports/1948/OR1948.pdf |archive-date=16 July 2011 }}
• {{cite web |title=Ireland |publisher=International Olympic Committee |url=http://www.olympic.org/ireland |work=Countries |access-date=19 April 2016 }}
• {{cite web |title=Ireland |publisher=International Olympic Committee |url=http://www.olympic.org/athletes?search=1&countryname=ireland |work=Olympic Medal Winners |access-date=19 April 2016 }}
• {{cite web|title=Ireland |publisher=Sports-Reference.com |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/countries/IRL |work=Olympics > Countries |access-date=19 April 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160422162517/http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/countries/IRL/ |archive-date=22 April 2016 }}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite web |title=Ireland |date=27 July 2021 |publisher=International Olympic Committee |url=https://www.olympic.org/ireland }}
• {{cite web |title=Ireland |publisher=Olympedia.com |url=http://www.olympedia.org/countries/IRL }}
• {{cite web |title=Olympic Analytics/IRL |publisher=olympanalyt.com |url=http://olympanalyt.com/OlympAnalytics.php?param_pagetype=MedalsByGames¶m_country=IRL }}

{{Nations at the Olympics}}

{{National sports teams of Ireland}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ireland at the Olympics}}