ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE TO WELCOME BACK THE IRISH OLYMPIC TEAM WEDNESDAY, 4TH OCTOBER, 2000
ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE TO WELCOME BACK THE IRISH OLYMPIC TEAM WEDNESDAY, 4TH OCTOBER, 2000
I am delighted to welcome back our Olympic team from their adventure in Sydney 2000. You have taken part in one of the greatest ever sporting spectacles, described by Mr. Samaranch as the best Olympic Games ever.
Every Olympic Games throws up moments of high drama, moments that encapsulate the human spirit. The Sydney Games gave us many highlights that will live forever in our memories. It absorbed and thrilled us for days on end and of course among the many highlights were special moments of magic and high emotion involving our Irish representatives.
Who will forget where they were when Sonia won the silver medal. It was a wonderful, richly deserved moment for Sonia herself. For Ireland it was a moment which we were privileged and proud to share.
Anyone who watched those games including myself knows how inordinately difficult it is to win a medal. You who have competed at the highest level on the globe know even more profoundly how much effort went into getting to Sydney and how much supreme effort went into performing there. The vast majority of athletes said farewell to the Olympic Village this week, returned home with no medals in their pockets. Every athlete who travelled to Sydney knew this is how it would be, that there are no certain medals, no sure fire winners. At international level, the margins between smiles and tears are cruelly tight. It takes courage to face those margins, to accept the risks, to commit to the ethic of competing, of being tested rigorously and accepting the outcome whatever it is.
I congratulate all our athletes, each and every one of you who worked so hard over the past four years to reach the Games. You have trained hard and made personal sacrifices in order to realise the dream of taking part in an Olympiad. Representing your country at the Olympics is a special honour in itself and for many, the pinnacle of your sporting careers. The memories of Sydney will enrich your lives for years to come. Each one of you competed with honour and you demonstrated great spirit and courage. Some of you achieved new Irish records and achieved your personal best times in your chosen sport. I am very proud of your achievements.
I would like to thank you for entertaining us and thrilling us, for being willing to put yourselves on the line in the name of sport and in the name of Ireland. I hope that you will prove to be an inspiration and example to future generations of sports stars.
I would also like to pay tribute to all those who helped make the team possible. There are many in the background who quietly and unobtrusively make sacrifices and contributions along the route to participation in Sydney. Families, partners, coaches, teammates, administrators, government, all work to get an athlete to the Games. Each individual depends on those closest to them, personally and in sport, to help through the preparation for elite competition. Many thanks to you for your efforts and contribution to this team.
I would also like to thank the Irish community in Australia who rallied behind the team. Their fervour and loyalty cemented the historic bonds between the Irish family at home and the huge Irish family in Australia.
For the last two weeks the country has been united around the television sets, cheering on our athletes. There is a unique sense of community solidarity that develops around our sporting heroes and the great sporting occasions. I know many people went without their normal 8 hours sleep for the last two weeks, sitting up watching the unfolding events in Sydney!
Now our hope is that more and more people will follow the example of their new sports heroes and take an active part in any of the 21 Irish Olympic sports. Among those watching will, please God, be the as yet undiscovered elite athletes of tomorrow whose names will ring in a part of this century we have yet to live. That is the real inspiration of the Games. The handing of the torch of hope and ambition, of the pursuit of excellence, of pride in self and in country.
You are all warmly welcome home. Well done. May you continue to enjoy your sports and may you also enjoy this small celebration – our way of saying thank you one and all.
I am delighted to welcome back our Olympic team from their adventure in Sydney 2000. You have taken part in one of the greatest ever sporting spectacles, described by Mr. Samaranch as the best Olympic Games ever.
Every Olympic Games throws up moments of high drama, moments that encapsulate the human spirit. The Sydney Games gave us many highlights that will live forever in our memories. It absorbed and thrilled us for days on end and of course among the many highlights were special moments of magic and high emotion involving our Irish representatives.
Who will forget where they were when Sonia won the silver medal. It was a wonderful, richly deserved moment for Sonia herself. For Ireland it was a moment which we were privileged and proud to share.
Anyone who watched those games including myself knows how inordinately difficult it is to win a medal. You who have competed at the highest level on the globe know even more profoundly how much effort went into getting to Sydney and how much supreme effort went into performing there. The vast majority of athletes said farewell to the Olympic Village this week, returned home with no medals in their pockets. Every athlete who travelled to Sydney knew this is how it would be, that there are no certain medals, no sure fire winners. At international level, the margins between smiles and tears are cruelly tight. It takes courage to face those margins, to accept the risks, to commit to the ethic of competing, of being tested rigorously and accepting the outcome whatever it is.
I congratulate all our athletes, each and every one of you who worked so hard over the past four years to reach the Games. You have trained hard and made personal sacrifices in order to realise the dream of taking part in an Olympiad. Representing your country at the Olympics is a special honour in itself and for many, the pinnacle of your sporting careers. The memories of Sydney will enrich your lives for years to come. Each one of you competed with honour and you demonstrated great spirit and courage. Some of you achieved new Irish records and achieved your personal best times in your chosen sport. I am very proud of your achievements.
I would like to thank you for entertaining us and thrilling us, for being willing to put yourselves on the line in the name of sport and in the name of Ireland. I hope that you will prove to be an inspiration and example to future generations of sports stars.
I would also like to pay tribute to all those who helped make the team possible. There are many in the background who quietly and unobtrusively make sacrifices and contributions along the route to participation in Sydney. Families, partners, coaches, teammates, administrators, government, all work to get an athlete to the Games. Each individual depends on those closest to them, personally and in sport, to help through the preparation for elite competition. Many thanks to you for your efforts and contribution to this team.
I would also like to thank the Irish community in Australia who rallied behind the team. Their fervour and loyalty cemented the historic bonds between the Irish family at home and the huge Irish family in Australia.
For the last two weeks the country has been united around the television sets, cheering on our athletes. There is a unique sense of community solidarity that develops around our sporting heroes and the great sporting occasions. I know many people went without their normal 8 hours sleep for the last two weeks, sitting up watching the unfolding events in Sydney!
Now our hope is that more and more people will follow the example of their new sports heroes and take an active part in any of the 21 Irish Olympic sports. Among those watching will, please God, be the as yet undiscovered elite athletes of tomorrow whose names will ring in a part of this century we have yet to live. That is the real inspiration of the Games. The handing of the torch of hope and ambition, of the pursuit of excellence, of pride in self and in country.
You are all warmly welcome home. Well done. May you continue to enjoy your sports and may you also enjoy this small celebration – our way of saying thank you one and all.