The Irish media and press have been a flutter over the last few days with the news that BT Ireland have renewed their sponsorship of London 2012 Olympian Kieran Behan.
Back in April of 2012 BT announced their sponsorship for Kieran. In a country where gymnastics is not considered a mainstream sports and lacks big government funding, sponsorship is an essential factor contributing to the success of an Irish gymnast. BT’s sponsorship of Behan in 2012 went a long way to helping his training, for example, allowing him to move closer to the gym and avoid a 2 hour commute.
It is just over a year to the day from Kieran’s debut appearance at the London 2012 Olympic Games, a historical event in the history of gymnastics in Ireland, and he is looking towards Rio 2016. Throughout the last 12 months there have been ups and downs for the gymnast, from not qualifying to the Olympic floor final to inspiring many young Irish gymnasts to a near ruptured appendix. After knee and shoulder surgery, Kieran has been back in the gym working hard building towards the 2013 World Championships. This years W Ch’s may be off the cards, but better to be ready to start 2014 off fresh and healthy than risking being out for a longer period of time.
In the long term, Glasgow 2015 will be the key event for the Irish Senior Men’s Team which will have a large pool to chose from. Current seniors Kieran Behan, Luke Carson, Andrew Smith, Chris O’Connor, Rohan Sebastian and Anthony O’Donnell will be available for selection, as will Adam Dalton, Daniel Fox and Jack Neill, who have all recently represented Ireland in international competition. Glasgow 2015 will be where they will hope to qualify a team to the 2016 Olympics.
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Known mainly for his floor work, Kieran has been also been concentrating on the other apparatus in the gym. Check out some of his most recent work in the gym, such as the below new D-E Parallel Bars combination:
You can follow Kieran on his road to London on his Facebook Page and Twitter.