2019 Gymnastics Ireland in Review

Irish Sport HQ, Dublin; 2019 was another massive year for the sport of gymnastics in Ireland, from a significant increase in membership to hit 35,000 members through to Rhys McClenaghan being named the Young Sportsperson of the Year at the 2019 RTÉ Sport Award for a second consecutive year for his achievement in becoming the first Irish gymnast to medal at a World Championships while also securing his place at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. There is no doubt that gymnastics in Ireland is continuing its rise and the popularity of the sport is at an all time high.

Check out some of the 2019 highlights below…

As we look back at the achievements of 2019 some of the key highlights include...

• Rhys McClenaghan made history by hitting Bronze on Pommel at the 2019 World Championships in Stuttgart, becoming the first Irish gymnast to medal at this event and in doing so, securing his place at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
• Proud winner of the Inclusivity Award at the 2019 Sports Industry Awards for the GymABLE programme, as well as being nominated for Best use of Digital Media and NGB of the year for a second year in a row.
• Membership grew by 5000 members from the previous membership year to hit 35,000 direct members making us one of the largest Olympic national governing bodies in Ireland
• Record entries of over 8000+ participants in our national events programme covering participation through to performance levels and 16,500 spectators supporting
• Women’s Artistic gymnasts Meg Ryan and Jane Heffernan delivered the first Women’s World Cup podium finish for Ireland winning silver and bronze on uneven-bars consecutively in Mersin, Turkey.
• Launch of new events such as the GymSTART competition, the National Series Super Camp, the Club Managers Forum and the GymABLE Inclusivity Club forum
• Announcement of approx. 200 gymnasts selected to the National Squads being led by an expert coaching team with multiple European, World & Olympic medals to their names
• Newly launched Gymnastics Ireland fan clothing range designed by our partners Quatro
• Approx €200,000 investment in Audio Visual & IT equipment, score system developments & new gymnastics equipment for our national events programme
• We declared compliance with the governance code for community and voluntary organisations
• We hosted the European (UEG) Teamgym & Women’s Technical Committees for their meetings in Dublin in June & August
• Shane O'Connor became the new GI Chairman along with a number of new Board members taking over the good work led by Ger Rellis who stepped down as Chair of the Board after 12 years of great leadership
• Rhys McClenaghan was awarded the Young Sportsperson of the Year at the 2019 RTÉ Sport Awards for a second consecutive year. Read more about this here…

*Please note video was produced prior to Rhys’ win at the RTÉ Sport Awards on Sunday.

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