Countries that have more gold medals than Ireland

?

Not to mention their embarassment at Euro 2012.

Venezuela
Kenya
Algeria

Been cheering on the British athletes all the way. They have done brilliantly and deserve all the plaudits they get. There behaviour and appreciation of their fans off the field puts the footballers to shame.

Now, dont begrudge us our first gold later today and cheer on Katie.

Hurling and Gaelic Football are Ireland's biggest sports while soccer and rugby are the biggest after that. Only a small % participate in other sports.

I think every knows he's wum and a bit of an eejit , if you cant have a laugh what can you do, its only sport afterall

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More than 50% of all sporting competitors in Ireland play GAA games as their first love . So seen on the excellent facilities you will see throughout Ireland , south and north , in villages , towns , and cities on pitches that are a credit to all concerned . The majority of the funding to set these facilities in place came from local communities , plus grants handed out by the central administration of the GAA . All players are ( nominally anyway ) amateur , hence the availability of funding for pitches etc -- no overpaid prima donnas like elsewhere .  Its our choice .

The soccer and rugby people of Ireland have had cause to be grateful to the GAA for the use of Croke Park for a certain length of time recently while the Aviva project was being completed .

For those unfamilair with hurling , if it was in the Olympics every other field sport would be trailing in a poor second or worse as regards a spectacle and competitive / skilful sport . Best field game in the world , restricted essentially to one small country , despite efforts to promote it further afield .  But you have to be born with a hurl in your hand to play at the highest level , guess Rory's dad took that on board regarding a different discipline . Plus you need competition to develope and hone your skills under pressure .  Just watch it sometime !

Those in the GAA family tend not to experiment with other sports , parish thing essentially , so that accounts partly for below par performances ( if its true ) in internationally recognised sports .

We are good at golf , rugby , boxing , rowing where we rank with the best in the world .  We used to be good at soccer , but thats another story . We also have a good record in long distance cycling , the roads throughout Ireland are relatively speaking well filled by recreational cyclists every weekend , summer and winter , good exercise . But no velodromes , and no £10 k bikes . We also provide about 50% of the worlds top jockeys , but no medals for that .

If you are making comparisons , the Scottish input to Team GB these last 2 weeks has been immense and the Scots should be taking a bigger bow than they have been afforded to date by the media . Great to see our neighbours ( and team -mates depending on affiliations ) doing brilliantly  , especially those regarded as "amateurs" . Morthern Ireland should have 1 gold so far ( a la Houvernagel saga in the womens team pursuit , it was promised but not delivered ) plus 3 rowing and 2 boxing of various medal colours , good performance  , and Cian was very unlucky in the jumping to only come up with bronze . We helped the Chinese gymnastics to gold , one of the few areas where we have a world class facility ( take a bow Rory ). No fantastic athletics facilities anywhere in Ireland  ( Mary Peters track one of the few good tracks , but Mary needed Olympic gold to help with that ).

Katie will win gold , boxers may deliver gold also , but Olympics is not the pinnacle of everyone associated with sport in Ireland --south and north . Its a debate for another day .

Oh I forgot about the Kenyan connection . Approximately 10 of their gold medallists over the last 25 years put their success / interest down to the efforts of a few Irish exports . We Irish never exploited our foreign connections , not in our nature , we just want to see everyone getting a chance .  Its about sport .

The main problem with Ireland is the exodus of younger generations to other countries where they shed their Irish nationality...

Again i go back to the footballers. Hopefully, this olympics will cause people to think just how pampered, overpaid and arrogant most are in comparison to those athletes we have seen this week. Always gracious in triumph and truly appreciative to those who support them.

GB had a great chance to win the football at these olympics but it did not seem important to them. You would thought they would have more national pride with the games being at home and would want to repay the supporters for their past failings. Gareth Bale is in my opinion the only world class British player but he could not even be bothered.

I cant think of many things to evoke more pride than standing on an olympic podium and seeing your national flag hoisted and the national anthem played. The footballers would rather have a summer holiday.

Agree Paddletoe .  One of the things that the Olympics has indicated to me is the strength of what might be termed "middle England " . The Olympics appeals to all classes , but more so I suspect to those in the upper socio economic groups  , lets say middle class for the sake of reference . They have really put their shoulder to the wheel , fair play to them , across all sorts of sporting disciplines , and they have got a great return this time , and had a great time . Sport rules !

Soccer traditionally is an inner city thing , in England ( ignoring the other constituent elements of the GB set up ) it is more or less specifically now about the Premiership , which is populated largely at the top echelon by non native players , chasing the big bucks . You reap what you sow .

UK have 12 individual golds so far.

Ireland if as expected Taylor wins will have 1 (may have chance for others I do not know).

On population size this would appear pretty much in line, and nothing to see here really.

On population size this would appear pretty much in line, and nothing to see here really.

1.01 landed

Because every damn post on here,criticising the GB athletes is from a mushroom stacker.

What about 'statistics' on a single medal then Einstein.

Notwithstanding the fact that Britain has a lot more history and participation in certain sports than Ireland there is another important factor. Britain has a lot more ethnic mix than Ireland and some sports suit cetain ethnic groups better.

As something like the Olympics evolves , perceptions change . Originally the Olympics were about pure athletics . Dont think BMX racing was on Baron de Coubertins mind . Nowadays there are so many disciplines trying to get in on the act  , talking to someone like Roger Federer about Olympic medals is to me akin to asking Rory about the monthly medal .

Golf , tennis , soccer ( at professional level ) , even internationally organised athletics ( professional essentially ) are all disciplines which exist mainly on their own efforts , and to a large extent the Olympics are  largely irrelevant ( except for athletics , which is not well supported world wide on a spectator level except at the Olympics ) . Cycling has proved very popular spectator wise  , but we have to remember that the biggest cycling event in the world is essentially free to spectators , and everyone loves a freebie .

Overall I hope there is spin off from the Olympics , particularly in terms of facilities for those who want to try out the various disciplines they fancy . The swimming has been great , but how many people would want to be swimming on a cold November morning in the Serpentine ?

Ultimately the proof of the pudding will be in the eating . In the meantime , enjoy the success of Team GB etc , great for morale  , making up for the rubbish weather we have all endured these last 2 months .

Rugby 7s are in the next games, as is golf. I think cricket is probably still too small and niche to feature. I think sports like squash and netball should feel very hard done by, I'm guessing with netball it's the IOC's desire to include sports played by both sexes that sees it left out.

If the Olympics is not the pinnacle of the particular sport it shouldn't be included IMO. Simple as that