O’Loughlin & Sonia O’Sullivan check out the facilities in London (Photo: Iverk Produce Carrick Wheelers)
Martin O’Loughlin will manage the Irish team at next year’s Olympics, effectively taking the place vacated by former high performance director Phil Leigh.
The appointment comes just weeks after O’Loughlin and Paddy Doran were posted to key development roles within Cycling Ireland following Leigh’s departure after September’s World Championships in Copenhagen.
A long-time Carrick on Suir rider, the school teacher and former national vets champion from Carrickbeg said he was delighted and surprised to be asked to take charge of the Irish riders for London.
“Cycling Ireland parted ways with their high performance director and Olympic manager Phil Leigh in October,” he said.
“The call asking me to take on the job (has come) out of the blue, but it is a tremendous honour, so I didn’t have to think twice. I was very fortunate to be the manager for Athens where Waterford’s Ciarán Power achieved Ireland’s best-ever result, so perhaps that’s why I got the nod this time around.”
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His role managing the team in London next year is the latest chapter in his long relationship with Irish Olympic teams.
As well as being manager in Athens in 2004, he was also a selector that year and was a selector last time around for Beijing 2008.
He will manage a men’s elite road team of three riders, with one also to ride the elite men’s TT. The women’s place allocations for the road and TT events will not be finalised by the UCI until much closer to the Games.
On the track, Martyn Irvine has a real chance of qualifying for the omnium. In BMX Kelvin Batey, the former UK No 1 who has now declared for Ireland, appears to have a very good chance of qualifying.
While O’Loughlin only revealed news of his appointment this weekend on his club’s website, he has already been busy preparing for the Games.
He made his first official Olympic visit to London in the past fortnight when he was part of an Olympic Council of Ireland delegation of team leaders led by Chef de Mission Sonia O’ Sullivan.
There he met with the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games and viewed the velodrome and the BMX track.
We’ll have more with Martin in time, but we thought we’d bring you news of his appointment first.
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