Irish Sailing Anti-Doping Policy

Sport Ireland is the designated National Anti-Doping Organisation in Ireland and performs the functions and obligations of a National Anti-Doping Organisation. Irish Sailing has formally adopted Sport Ireland’s Anti-Doping Rules as the Anti-Doping Rules for Irish Sailing as prescribed in the Racing Rules of Sailing. By adoption of these Rules Irish Sailing specifically recognises the authority and responsibility of Sport Ireland for administering the Irish Sport Anti-Doping Programme (including conducting Testing of Athletes) in respect of all of the Persons to whom these Rules apply and authorises Sport Ireland to carry out Doping Control.

• Irish Sailing's Prescriptions to Racing Rules of Sailing
• Sport Ireland's Anti-Doping Rules

DOPING

Doping is fundamentally contrary to the spirit of sport.

The spirit of sport is the intrinsic value of sport.
The spirit of sport is the celebration of the human spirit, body and mind and is the ethical pursuit of human excellence through the dedicated perfection of each Athlete's natural talents.
The spirit of sport is characterised, amongst other values, by health, ethics, fair play, honesty, team work, fun and joy, dedication and commitment, respect for rules and laws, respect for self and other Participants, courage, community and solidarity.

THE WORLD ANTI-DOPING PROGRAMME

Anti-doping programmes are founded upon the spirit of sport and seek to protect the health of Athletes and to provide the opportunity for Athletes to pursue human excellence without the Use of Prohibited Substances or Prohibited Methods. Antidoping programmes seek to maintain the integrity of sport in terms of respect for rules, other competitors, fair competition, a level playing field, and the value of clean sport to the world. 

The Code is the fundamental and universal document upon which the World Anti-Doping Programme in sport is based. The purpose of the Code is to advance the antidoping effort through universal harmonisation of core anti-doping elements. The Code has been drafted giving consideration to the principles of proportionality and human rights.

The World Anti-Doping Programme encompasses all of the elements needed in order to ensure optimal harmonisation and best practice in international and national antidoping programmes.

• World Sailing Anti-Doping Code

SPORT IRELAND AND WORLD SAILING

The Irish Anti-Doping Rules and World Sailing’s Anti-Doping Code were developed under the WADA Code. Sailing is governed by the WADA Code, implemented internationally through World Sailing and nationally through Sport Ireland Anti-Doping.
 

WHY TWO CODES?

Sport Ireland, as the National Anti-Doping agency, has responsibility for national-level testing, while World Sailing fulfils the role of the International Federation for sailing.
The core parts of both Codes are identical. They differ in regard to administrative matters such as test results management and hearing procedures.

Youth

Irish Sailing Performance have been developing Ireland’s most ambitious young sailors between the ages of 15 to 18 years on the Academy Programme for over a decade. 

In 2006, the Academy Programme of Irish Sailing's Performance Pathway underwent a major revamp, remodelling its objective to aid aspiring young sailors to ‘learn the skills to develop into independent Olympic campaigners by nurturing a culture of responsible athletes with a hunger for international performance.’  Since that time a holistic approach to personal development has been at the core of the Academy’s philosophy. It has recognised that the best sailors in the world love sailing and given that it’s a long term development sport (compared to most Olympic Sports) appreciation of fun and enjoyment of the process of learning has always been fundamental to the Academy’s training. 

See full Policy Document of Guidelines for the selection of the Irish Sailing Performance Academy HERE.

Olympic Games 2024

Archive

• 2023 Youth World Selection Policy - HERE
• 2021 Olympic Games Nomination Procedures - HERE
• 2020 Olympic Games Nomination Procedures - HERE

The aim of the Irish Sailing Summer Squad programme is to prepare a team to compete at an international level.  The programme will take the form of domestic training camps, followed by event support at the chosen major internationals. It will focus on the development of the sailors led by our lead coach with input from support services such as Sports Med Ireland, Irish Sailing’s partner in strength and conditioning and physical training. The number of sailors on the team will be determined by safety, with the secondary objective of teaching the sailors how a high-performance youth sailing team works at home and abroad.

Applications for the squads will be open until April 17^th. Please have a look at the selection document and programme schedule for more information on the training dates and venues and price.

• ILCA 4 Summer Squad Selection Document
• ILCA 4 Summer Squad Programme
• Topper Summer Squad Selection Document
• Topper Summer Squad Programme

👉 Application for Summer Squads HERE

We are excited to announce the start up of the new 29er Academy. The team will be made up of three boats which will have a make up of domestic and international training and competitions. We have resourced three new boats to allow for international training and competitions to happen smoothly. As part of the academy the sailors will have coach support on the water, strength & conditioning and physio support as well as a programmed and monitored physical training programme for the body, and psychological skills for the mind. This will be backed up by a performance life skills expert to allow for better understanding and management on how to balance the demands of sailing and life.

The academy will be selected off a number of factors ...

• Application of interest via link
• Performances/observations at events over the last 12 months (to include the Irish Sailing Investwise Youth National Championships)
• Feedback from the regional/club coaches
• Feedback from the coaches running the Irish Sailing training over the winter
• Age restriction is U19

The academy will have a continual assessment process covering application to physical training, mental skills development, technical and tactical application during on water training and event results. Every 6 months a review with the management team to see if they should remain on the academy or be released will occur to ensure consistency of development is maintained and allowing for a clear direction for the sailors to progress in.

Each team is on trial with the academy for the first 6 months to ensure they are up to the challenge of the academy, only after the first review are they officially a part of the academy.

Applications for expression of interest HERE. Deadline for application will be Sunday 23rd April.

Toko Review Report

Rio Review Report

Sport Ireland undertook an extensive review of the full Rio Olympics Cycle (2013-2016) which they published in December 2016 and which assessed the Irish Sailing campaign. We worked with them to draw up recommendations and you can read the full sailing section .. found HERE.