History
After the First World War, John J. Keane attempted to unite various sports associations under an Irish Olympic Committee. Many sports had rival bodies, one Unionist and affiliated to a United Kingdom parent, the other Republican and opposed to any link with Great Britain. Keane proposed that a separate Irish delegation, marching under the Union Flag, should participate at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp. At the time the Irish War of Independence was under way, and the International Olympic Committee rejected Keane's proposal pending the settlement of the underlying political situation.
The Irish Olympic Council was affiliated to the IOC on 3 June 1922, during the provisional administration that prepared for the formal establishment of the Irish Free State in December 1922. The Council has sent a team to all but one of the Summer Olympic Games since 1924. The 1936 Games were boycotted; this was the first Games after the IAAF's 1934 ruling on borders which restricted the Council's jurisdiction to the Free State. In 1952, the Council changed its own name from "Irish Olympic Council" to "Olympic Council of Ireland" to reinforce its claim to represent the whole island of Ireland rather than merely the Republic. Its team competed as "Eire" in 1948 and "Republic of Ireland" in 1952 before reverting to its preferred name "Ireland" in 1956 after Lord Killanin secured the agreement of Avery Brundage. The OCI and British Olympic Association have an agreement that Northern Irish sportspeople may compete for either team.
The OCI has sent teams to most Winter Olympic Games since 1992.
Read more about this topic: Olympic Council Of Ireland
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