Over 60% H2O!

In breaking news, USA Swimming team member, Ryan Lochte, has continued his winning streak on land(as well as in the water) by being crowned 2011 Professional Athlete of the Year at the inaugural SPORTYS Awards ceremony in Florida.

In other swim sport news, Ian Thorpe is one step closer to his Olympic dream having been picked for Team Australia heading into the World Championships in November. This will be Thorpe's first dip into competitive racing since he announced his return from retirement earlier this year.

Solheim Cup...Cead Mile Failte!

The opening ceremony of the Solheim Cup 2011 was held in Killeen Castle today. The female golfing world's version of the Ryder Cup. The ultimate showdown between Europe's finest female golfers and their American counterparts.

The 800 year old castle is the ideal setting for such an event. In recent times it's been transformed into an exclusive golf resort, with the course just shy of being ten years old.


As Ireland tends to do, we put our best foot forward for the occasion and the weather played it's part in presenting Ireland as a beautiful, picture-perfect location for such international events. We can now boast hosting both inter-continental golfing competitions, having previously hosted the Ryder Cup in the K Club in 2006.

In one of her few remaining official appearances as the President of Ireland, Mary McAleese welcomed all the visitors with a heartfelt address(as has become her signature as our figurehead) and extended a warm "Cead Mile Failte" and "Go raibh mile maith agat" on behalf of the Irish public.

United States Captain Rosie Jones spoke fittingly about the competition and it's setting describing both it's beauty and the challenges it presented. Respecting the talents of both teams, she proffered "heart and soul" as being the eventual deciding factor as to who will claim the cup. Rosie also is hoping for that little something extra from their "lucky charms."

European team captain Alison Nicholas entertained the crowds unwittingly with her stature as she struggled to speak into the unforgivenly high set microphones. Valiantly attempting the "cupla focal," she also extended a cead mile failte to the audience and players.

Though our country has produced world leaders in the male golfing sphere like Padraig Harrington, Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell, and despite having 60,000+ registered female golfers in Ireland, we have no representation on the European Team. Though despite this small fact, it's encouraging to see that broadcasting in Ireland has stepped up to the plate to offer viewers something more than soccer and GAA.

And the winner is...

Congrats to Ryan Lochte on claiming USA Swimming Athlete of the Year and ConocoPhillips Performance Award!

Finding THORPEDO...Just keep swimming!

On the 1st of February 2011, a legend of the pool announced his unexpected return to the world of competitive swimming. Ian Thorpe, Australian Olympic swimming legend, made this announcement by stating his intentions to qualify for London 2012. At that time, the 2012 Olympics was just 18 months away. No doubt a revelation that sent ripples through the pool of the swimming elite. A monumental task lay ahead of him as firstly, he would have to resculpt his physique to resemble something closer to that of an athlete.


Since Thorpedo's absence from the pool, Michael Phelps has become the name that everyone thinks of at the mere mention of the word swimming. It was Phelps who would have felt the greatest excitement at the thought of racing his hero again after the disappointment he would have felt in 2006 upon Thorpe's announcement to retire from the sport. Many critics wonder, had Thorpey stayed on the path he was travelling, would Phelps have reached his ultimate career goals of 8 golds in a single Olympics? A feat that made him the most decorated Olympian at a single Olympics in the history of the event in Beijing, 2008.

Phelps himself is having to dig deep to get on track to maintain his legendary status in the last 12 months of his competitive swimming career. Having admitted to struggling to find the hunger and focus to step back into his strictly disciplined training program with career long coach, Bob Bowman, his results from the FINA Swimming World Championships in Shanghai earlier this year confirmed it. Whilst Phelps tries to settle himself back into training, a new American swim star emerges.


Ryan Lochte, who has for many years played the joker to the ultra serious Phelps, has gone from strength to strength since finding a new focus with his own training program. Whilst Phelps was setting tongues wagging with an admittedly below par performance, Lochte had critics sit up and take notice as he romped home with five golds and a bronze from the FINA Swimming WC. Lochte attributes his new form to an improved diet and nutrition plan(fruit and vegetables in place of the McDonalds three times a day at the Beijing Olympics of 2008) and his willingness to throw anything into his training to give him the edge, including strongman drills! These adjustments are clearly paying off as he is the first man to break two world records since the banning of the body length polyurethane suits. This may also contribute to his decision to competitively swim right up to and including the 2016 Rio Olympics, at which he will be 32.

London 2012 is set to host the greatest duel in the pool with Thorpe, Phelps and Lochte set to square up in at least one event. None of the three have fully confirmed their programs for the event. Although, if talk is to be believed, Ryan Lochte may be looking to go one more than Phelps record and swim for a potential nine gold medals. Add to the mix, up and coming Australian swimmer James Magnussen and there's alot to look forward to poolside in London!

For now, Thorpe remains hold up in Switzerland as he continues his build up to re-enter the Olympic race. His first competitive outing is set to be the upcoming World Cup meets in Singapore, Beijing and Tokyo in November. He'll be looking to make as big a splash as possible if he is to keep his intentions of Olympic glory alive.

Attitude is EVERYTHING!

2009 Grand Slam victory in the 6 Nations. The current crop of Irish Rugby Internationals were heralded as being the finest athletes our island nation had ever produced. Our boys become men over night, and Lions within a few short weeks of this feat. Players became household names and their surnames were mentioned and dropped into conversation as if we all knew them personally as our neighbours.

Like those horrible motor sport crashes they insist on showing in slow motion, the wheels came off our streamlined wagon for what appeared to be no apparent reason. One loss that we would recover from for our International team turned into another, and quickly gathered momentum to become a fully fledged "losing streak." All of this whilst our provincial teams gathered pace in the rate with which they were claiming silverware at club level. The sum of our provincial parts just wasn't adding up when we put our team out in a green jersey.

Today, the underdog rose again. Having listened to months of sound bites on what they were "building" in camp with no visible proof of anything but backward momentum, we finally got a glimpse of their copy books and their homework was quite impressive. By no stretch of the imagination was it perfect but the courage, determination and heart on display today would have brought a tear to the eye of Nelson Mandela if he enjoys a good game of rugby.

Sean O'Brien set the tone from the get go with a display of raw emotion against the Ozzies(albeit via his swinging arms). The crowd galvanised that sentiment with a rousing rendition of Ole Ole, which has practically become our unofficial national anthem at such events. What followed was some of the most impressive and impulsive rugby Ireland has played since that day in Cardiff in 2009.

Stephen Ferris, coming back from injury with virtually no game time, demonstrated his puppeteering skills with the ferocity of his choke hold on players in defence. Cian Healy's MotM performance was deserving for his undeniable contribution to the end result of the game, considering the months of criticism he has endured when the scrum was a weak area for us.

Not to discount Australian efforts. When given the opportunity they proved they are dangerous and capable of rapid progression. Quade Cooper demonstrating with some stunning breaks why, at such a young age, he is a world class player.

The enormity of this match for Ireland going forward as a team was evident in the emotion displayed. Attitude is everything for a team that has displayed the skills to reaffirm the values of the presidential motto of "Yes We Can." There is something about being dismissed that puts fire in the bellies of this team. It's our Red Bull or Gatorade or whatever you want to call it. The underdog title picks us up from that 3pm slump and produces our greatest performances. Hopefully we have bigger and better things to come and we can get that same rush from being the favoured team to get us over the oppositions gain line.

For now, I thank the Green Kiwi's out there who lent their voices to our cause on a great day for Irish Rugby down under! Kia Ora!