High-performance Swim Ireland athletes are set to return to the pool on Monday 8 June at the National Aquatic Centre in Dublin.
Swimmers who have been identified as potential Tokyo 2020 Olympians and Paralympians will be able to resume water-based training at the Sport Ireland campus in the capital of the Republic of Ireland.
This will mean a return to the water for the likes of Shane Ryan, 2018 European 50m back bronze medallist, and triple national record holders Brendan Hyland and Darragh Greene.
It follows performance director Jon Rudd‘s call last weekend for the elite swimmers to be allowed to get back in the pool so they do not fall behind their rivals who had already resumed water-based training.
Jon Rudd – Photo Courtesy: Jon Rudd
The athletes had been provided with equipment and personal training programmes when lockdown first came into effect but Rudd outlined his fears in an interview with the Irish Mirror last Saturday that they have been overtaken.
Rudd said:
“We felt we were still ahead of the game.
“But the moment that nations started to get back into the water, there’s no real direct replacement for that – it’s the medium in which we have to do most of our training.
“We know that they’re getting a step on us. Advantage has turned from that to a bit of a disadvantage and our athletes are quite aware of that.”
World Championships medalist Ryan published his sentiment on social media concerning this big moment having been out of the water for the past few months.
“I am very excited to be getting back into the water on Monday,” starts Ryan’s statement. “It has been such a difficult period of time for athletes not knowing when we can return to training, and I fully understand and respect the difficult position that the government have [sic] been in over recent months.
“Watching other countries get back to training has been a challenge and with the uncertainty of when we might return led to a concern that we were falling behind.
Swim Ireland has worked tirelessly to get it’s back to training the water by following all of the correct procedures and they have kept me and my teammates fully informed on this at all stages.”
Ryan welcomed the return to the pool while also referring to an article in which he questioned the Irish selection policy for Tokyo 2020.
The 26-year-old, who also won 50 back bronze at the European Short-Course Championships in Glasgow in December 2019, had swum the qualification time at the World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea in July last year.
Swim Ireland has a two-pronged criteria that stipulates that swimmers also have to go within 1% of the time at the Olympic trials so – although he had also swum the time at the world trials in March 2019 – Ryan had not fulfilled the requirements to punch his ticket for the Games.
He told extra.ie:
“On March 3 [last year], I swam the Olympic cut in the 100m backstroke but Swim Ireland is saying no, and I didn’t do it at the right meet. It’s absurd.
“They have their own criteria where I was supposed to [reach the standard] at Worlds. Then, at an Irish trials, I had to swim within 1% of the time.
“I was going to get it but now it’s frustrating because I got the A-standard but I’m not qualified.
“By Olympic standards, I’m qualified, by Swim Ireland standards, I am not.”
Shane Ryan – Photo Courtesy: Swim Ireland
Ryan posted on social media:
“In regard to my own personal swimming, I wish to make the following things clear as we go back to training next week.
“I am very excited to be getting back into the water on Monday.
“It has been such a difficult period of time for athletes not knowing when we can return to training, and I fully understand and respect the difficult position that the government have [sic] been in over recent months.
“Watching other countries get back to training has been a challenge and with the uncertainty of when we might return led to a concern that we were falling behind.
“Swim Ireland has worked tirelessly to get it’s back to training the water by following all of the correct procedures and they have kept me and my teammates fully informed on this at all stages.”
He added:
“I am delighted that I can now return to working towards my Olympic dream.
“Nothing has changed regarding qualifying for the Olympics only that it will now be 2021 and not 2020.
“I completely respect and understand the Irish selection policy and any reported comments that seem to be at odds with this do not reflect my true feelings.
“Achieving the qualifying time required at Olympic trials and then performing to my best at the Olympic Games is my sole focus and I apologise if any of the aforementioned report indicates otherwise. Thank you.”