Olympics 2024 - what a glorious summer it was

What was remarkable was how unremarkable it was. Those that follow Irish Olympics had long been used to turbulence.

Earlier this month, Sarah Keane stepped down as President of the Olympic Federation of Ireland.

Her term was up.

Her successor, Lochlann Walsh of Triathlon Ireland, was elected. It was a calm, orderly transition. That says it all. The era had begun in very different circumstances.

Sarah Keane was elected to the role of President of the then Olympic Council of Ireland in 2017 in the aftermath of the Pat Hickey era.

One of the first significant moves was to rebrand the organisation, jettisoning the name which had become a byword for controversy.

If embarrassment was an Olympic sport, Ireland would have won gold in Rio - easily.

Pat Hickey had been in the top job in Irish Olympics since the 1980s but will always be remembered for 2016, and the Rio Games.

Enough has been written about Rio's ticket scandals, dawn arrests and jail spells.

Suffice to say, if embarrassment was an Olympic sport, Ireland would have won gold in Rio - easily.

Eight years on, in Paris, all the Irish drama was reserved for the track, and the pool and the lake, and the ring and the gym hall.

Our most successful Olympics ever was no accident.

In Rio, 2016, we won two medals - both silver - and ended 63rd on the medals table.

In Tokyo, in 2021, we won four - two gold - and finished 39th. Progress.

In Paris, this summer, we won seven medals - four gold - and ended 19th.

Hard work rebuilding trust

While celebrating the Paris medal haul, and the many other positive performances that didn't make podium, Olympic analysts here might, if anything, be quietly disappointed that it wasn't even better.

How did it come to this?

There's no secret. Hard work.

When Team