Irish Team of 40 named to compete at European Youth Olympic Festival in Hungary

17th July 2017, 00:00a.m. | International

The Olympic Council of Ireland today announced a team of 40 to compete at the 2017 European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) in Gyor, Hungary from July 24th to 30th. The multi-sport event will see Irish athletes (aged 13-17) compete against the best youth athletes in Europe. The six sports represented by Ireland are Athletics, Cycling, Gymnastics, Judo, Swimming, and Tennis. The female athletes lead the way with 25 selected to compete for their respective sport.

Gymnastics Ireland will be represented by gymnasts Emma Slevin, Jane Heffernan and Meg Ryan who join Team Ireland in this prestigious event, the first on the Olympic pathway which is designed to give potential future Olympians their first experience of a multi-sport environment.

Team Ireland has a strong heritage at these Games securing 57 medals since the inaugural Games in 1991, 37 in Athletics, 15 in Swimming and three in Football and two in Hockey. The team’s most successful Games was Tbilisi in 2015 with 10 medals secured.

After a first taste of major multi-sport competition at the EYOF, many athletes have gone on to compete in the European Games and Olympic Games.18 Irish athletes who have competed at the EYOF’s have gone onto compete at the Summer Olympic Games. Katie Taylor competed in the EYOF’s 2003 in Paris in football and then nine years later won the Gold in boxing at the 2012 London Olympics. In 2015 Taylor followed this by winning the lightweight title in Azerbaijan at the inaugural European Games.

President of the Olympic Council of Ireland, Sarah Keane said: “EYOFs are a key step in the development of Ireland’s aspiring stars. It provides these talented young athletes with their first experience of a multi-sport event allowing them to immerse in different sporting cultures. This will be of great benefit as the move towards realising their own Olympic dreams”

The Women’s Artistic Gymnastics competition has been scheduled to take place as follows:

Wednesday 26^th July from 10am (9am Irish Time) to 7pm.
Thursday 27^th July from 4pm (3pm Irish Time) to 6.15pm.
Friday 28^th July from 2pm (1pm Irish Time) to 4pm.
Saturday 29^th July from 2pm (1pm Irish Time) to 4pm.

Information on #eyofgyor2017 start lists can be found closer to the competition on the official website.

Don’t forget to follow all the latest EYOF news!

Facebook @teamirelandoci Twitter @olympiccouncil Instagram @olympicsirl

For live updates and photos during the gymnastics competition, remember to follow Gymnastics Ireland on social media by searching for @GymnasticsIre

Full Team Selection

Athletics (16):

Rhasidat Adeleke
Alexander Boyd
Molly Brown
Sean Carolan
Miriam Daly
Colin Doyle
Niamh Foley
Sarah Healy
Patience Jumbo Gula
Mia McCalmont
Joseph McEvoy
Ruby Millet
Conor Morey
Louis O'Loughlin
Ciara Sheehy
Jade Williams
Daniel Kilgallon - Coach
Evelyn O'Reilly - Coach
Matthew Lockett - Team Leader
Jacqui Freyne - Team Leader

Cycling (6):

Shay Donley
Cathir Doyle
Maeve Gallagher
Lara Gillespie
Caoimhe O'Brien
Mark Smith
Nicola Oldham - Coach
Adrian Delaney - Mechanic / Coach
Martin O'Loughlin - Team Leader

Gymnastics (3):

Jane Heffernan
Megan Ryan
Emma Slevin
Sally Batley - Coach
Sally Johnson - Team Leader

Judo (1):

Bearach Gleeson
Paul Green - Coach

Swimming (12):

Scarlett Armstrong
Eoin Corby
Mia Davison
Maria Godden
Amelia Kane
Julia Knox
Rebecca Lowe
Sean McNicholl
Ethan Murtagh
Cara Osing
Sean Scannell
Naomi Trait
John Duffy - Coach
Lars Humer - Coach
Niamh McDonnell - Team Leader

Tennis (2):

Juliana Carton
Conor Gannon
Garry Cahill - Coach
OCI Support Team
Martin Burke - Chef de Mission
Philip Moore - Deputy CdM
Dr. Andrew Delany - Medic
Aidan Woods - Chief Physiotherapist
Eimear Hoare - Physiotherapist
Ciara McCallion - Physiotherapist
Linda O’Reilly - Games Co-ordinator
Eoin Noonan - Photographer

Other

Mary Murray - Gymnastics Judge