2021

UCC and Cork City Council unveil city centre support for Olympic hopefuls

15 Jul 2021
Wishing UCC's Olympians the best of luck in Tokyo are (l-r) Hugh Sutton, Captain UCC Rowing Club, Selma Bounane, UCC Rowing Club, Adrienne Rodgers, Cork City Council, Maurice O'Carroll, Ford Ireland, and Prof. John O'Halloran, Interim President UCC.

University College Cork, in association with Cork City Council, has unveiled a special city centre banner to show the Rebel County’s support for its Olympic hopefuls ahead of the Tokyo Games, which get underway next week.

A total of seven UCC students and five UCC graduates will represent Ireland at the Olympics in rowing and athletics, and the unmissable banner on Lapps Quay features the seven current UCC students who will all compete for rowing honours. UCC will have more current students representing Ireland at the Olympics than any other Higher Education Institute this summer.

Speaking ahead of the official banner unveiling today (THURSDAY), Prof. John O'Halloran, Interim President, University College Cork said:

"We are so enormously proud of our UCC undergraduate students who have qualified for the Tokyo Olympics. They have all worked incredibly hard to qualify, but have been supported all the way by understanding and generous academic and professional support staff here in UCC,” Prof O’Halloran said.

“All seven student rowers are on full scholarships from the Quercus Talented Students Programme which has been generously sponsored by Ford for the past four years.  The support from this programme has allowed these athletes to not only compete at the highest international level within their sport, but also to progress with their individual degree programmes.  It is enormously challenging for dual career athletes which makes this achievement all the more remarkable.

“We wish all seven students the very best of luck in Tokyo and all of us here in UCC will be cheering them on," Prof O’Halloran said.

Morgan Buckley, Director of Sport & Physical Activity at UCC said:

"Everyone in UCC Sport is incredibly proud of our athletes -seven current students and five graduates - who wear the Skull and Crossbones and represent UCC with pride, belief and passion.  There are 25 current students on the 116 member Olympic team and UCC has the largest delegation. This is an incredible achievement for themselves and their families, and we look forward to welcoming them back to the Mardyke," Mr Buckley said.

Maurice O'Carroll, Communications, Ford Ireland said:

"We at Ford are delighted to have been supporting these incredible athletes for the past four years through our sponsorship of the Quercus Talented Students Programme.  We wish them the very best of luck in the Tokyo games and know that they will do Cork and Ireland proud."

Cork City Council Director of Community, Culture and Placemaking, Adrienne Rodgers said: 

“Cork City Council is delighted to support UCC in acknowledging the wonderful achievements of our rowers.  Cork has always had a proud sporting tradition and this latest generation of athletes are once again doing us and their local communities proud.  We wish them every success at the Tokyo Olympics and look forward to welcoming them home afterwards”.

Bank of Ireland UCC also contributed a €3,000 bursary to the UCC rowers last week to support their Olympic preparation.

University College Cork

Coláiste na hOllscoile Corcaigh

College Road, Cork T12 K8AF

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