‘I don’t think many people will look back at Rio with fond memories’

Ireland may have had an Olympics to forget, but John Treacy argues there’s more than one way to measure sporting success

John Treacy: ‘Whatever sport you’re dealing with, you need to have the right people driving the programme forward’ Picture: Fergal Phillips

You may not have noticed, but Rio 2016 was Ireland’s most successful Olympic Games in decades. This detail was easy to miss, though.

It was obscured by a great many things: by Michael O’Reilly failuring a drug test on the eve of the Games; by the various difficulties experienced by boxers Katie Taylor, Michael Conlan and Paddy Barnes; by a boxing scoring system that robbed Irish fighters of clear wins and medals; and ...