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Olympic Council of Ireland - Howth Village

Olympic Council of Ireland - Howth Village

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The Irish Olympic Council was party to a protracted dispute with the British Olympic Council during the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s concerning how its team should be designated.

The Irish Olympic Council had been informed by the IOC in 1939 that in light of the wording of the Irish Constitution, the official designation at future Olympics would be 'Éire' (despite the fact that the English form of the name 'Ireland' is also used in the same document). This provided yet another bone of contention. Irish officials made an official protest but eventually accepted the ruling. Nevertheless at the 1948 London Olympic Games the Irish team formed ranks behind that of Iraq, only to be informed by the British officials that their place lay behind Egypt, despite the instruction to participants to assemble in alphabetical order according to the English version of their country's name.

Lord Killanin (the Olympics Council of Ireland chief) subsequently persuaded Avery Bundage, the IOC president, to accept 'Ireland' as the country's designation for the 1956 Melbourne Games, and the IOC followed suit, in spite of the opposition of Burghey, head of the British Olympic Association. Killanin was later forced to protest over the continued use of 'Éire' by the International Amateur Athletics Federation, presided over by Burghley, the only association which did not quickly accept the IOC's decision.

Photograph has been re-processed using Adobe Lightroom 4.

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