An Irish 'Heavyweight Four' Rowing boat qualified to compete in the Beijing Olympics on their performance at the World Cup Regatta in Munich last August. Remarkably two of the four oarsmen are from Galway and are members of the NUIG Rowing Club. They are Alan Martin, 26 yrs., 6'4" 14 stone, a Bish boy, from Kylemore Park in Lower Salthill and Cormac Folan, 24yrs., 6'3.5" 13.5 stone, a Jes boy, from Freeport in Barna. Also in the boat were Sean Casey (Muckross) and Sean O'Neill (St. Michaels).

Galway Olympians

An Irish 'Heavyweight Four' Rowing boat qualified to compete in the Beijing Olympics on their performance at the World Cup Regatta in Munich last August. Remarkably two of the four oarsmen are from Galway and are members of the NUIG Rowing Club. They are Alan Martin, 26 yrs., 6'4" 14 stone, a Bish boy, from Kylemore Park in Lower Salthill and Cormac Folan, 24yrs., 6'3.5" 13.5 stone, a Jes boy, from Freeport in Barna. Also in the boat were Sean Casey (Muckross) and Sean O'Neill (St. Michaels).

A total of eight oarsmen went into training last October under Irish head coach Harold Jahrling. The eight that included Taylor's Hill dentist Serryth Colbert now domiciled in London and Bruce Magee was subsequently reduced down to six. In the remaining six are the four that qualified plus James Wall (NUIG), a native of Limerick 23 yrs., 6'2 ", 13.75 stone who learned his rowing with St. Michaels. He will sit his final Industrial Engineering exams in Nice University while in camp at nearby St. Cassian! Also in the last six is Johnno Devlin, a native of South Africa who spent much of his rowing career in Great Britain and whose dad is from Northern Ireland. All six are presently in training camp in Seville.

Interestingly it is the boat that is deemed to have qualified and the International Olympic Committee don't really care what four Irishmen are in the boat. So with six in the reckoning there could be as many as three College lads in the boat or as little as one! Still, don't bet against Martin and Folan. By the way it is a coxless four.

We can be so privileged to watch the Olympic Games on television, a fact that we take for granted. But back at the time of Ireland's finest hour on the Olympic running track in Melbourne 1956, when Ronnie Delany won the 1500 metres, the Irish sporting public had to rely on a crackly radio commentary, an English radio commentary at that! It was a time when Delany came from Eire.

The Olympics continues to be an exclusive sporting arena. If we even got a ticket to sit in the stand in Beijing at whatever event or sport of our choosing, it would still be a privilege. But to actually win the right to participate in the Games is both wonderful and outstanding. And what the Galway oarsmen have achieved is tremendous.

All going well Alan Martin and Cormac Folan will be in the Irish boat but will they be the first Galway sportspeople to compete in an Olympics or will they be the first Galway oarsmen to compete? Answers on the back of an envelope to the Editor. We'll tell you next week and in the mean time the first correct answer out of the hat gets the customary 64,000 Euro.

There will be a Trath na gCeist tomorrow night…..a wha? The GAA organised All Ireland General Knowledge Quiz gets under way in County Galway tomorrow night. The Galway Quiz will be held in Poitín Stíl in Inverin. The Connacht final will be held in Knock in early March and the All Ireland will be held in Croke Park on St. Patrick's Day before the All Ireland Club finals in football and hurling. Broadcaster SBB will be the Quiz Master and the quiz will be conducted in both Irish and English. Salthill Knocknacarra won the All Ireland and were also runners/up in recent years. Plenty of room for everybody and still time to enter your club team. This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Corinthians Fashion Show will be held tonight in the Meyrick Hotel.