SPORT IRELAND TODAY announced a record investment of €25 million in high performance funding ahead of the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
This year’s sum takes the total investment across the four-year cycle ahead of this year’s Paris Games to €89 million, a €30 million increase on the money invested ahead of the Tokyo Games.
€10.8 million of this year’s figure will fund sports’ high performance programmes, awarded to 19 different governing bodies. Another €4.4 million will go directly to athletes under the international carding scheme, with 33 athletes awarded the top category of funding. Another €1.5 million has been invested in high performance coaching, with further investment to the Sport Ireland institute also provided.
The OFI have been provided with €850,000 to support the costs associated with the Games, while Paralympics Ireland have been awarded €800,000.
Rowing Ireland have received the highest allocation among sports governing bodies, just over €1 million for 2024. Paralympics Ireland is next with €1 million, followed by boxing (€965,000), hockey (€856,666), and athletics (€841,666).
Meanwhile, under the carding scheme, there are 33 athletes in receipt of the highest annual funding of €40,000 each. They include: track athletes Ciara Mageean, Rhasidat Adeleke, and Mark English; boxers Aoife O’Rourke, Kellie Harrington, Caitlin Fryers, and Jack Marley; 16 different rowers, including Tokyo medalists Fintan McCarthy, Paul O’Donovan, Aifric Keogh, Eimear Lambe, Emily Hegarty and Fiona Murtagh; along with cyclist Mia Griffin, two-time world gymnast champion Rhys McClenaghan, and European swimming gold medalist Daniel Wiffen.
Paralympians Ellen Keane, Nicole Turner, and Roisin Ni Riain are also in receipt of podium funding.
Sport Ireland CEO Una May stopped short of expressing a medal target at the Olympics, pointing out that the Irish high performance programme has already come close to meeting its four-year target of 270 major medals.
Since 201, 260 medals have been won by Irish athletes at senior and non-senior level at European and world level.
The full breakdown of this year’s high performance funding is available here.
