REVEALING JEDWARD AS two of the Olympic torchbearers was never going to go off without a few grumbles and RTÉ’s Liveline got a few of them on Thursday afternoon.
The Radio 1 show, hosted by Joe Duffy, fielded calls from listeners demanding that boxers Bernard Dunne and Katie Taylor carry the Olympic flame as part of the relay planned for 6 June.
Gerry Fleming, head boxing coach at Neilstown Boxing Club, believes Dunne is more than deserving of the relay role while another caller claimed Taylor had been ‘treated dreadfully’ by Irish sports officials.
Role model
Fleming said he was pleased that Olympic Silver Medallist Kenny Egan was included on the list of 41 torchbearers but lamented the exclusion of Dunne. He said:
(Bernard) has been a role model for his area in Clondalkin and Neilstown. He’s won a world title and a european title and is a great family man.
Duffy read quotes from Dunne’s autobiography that covered his time in Sydney as a boxing reserve for the 2000 Olympics when the Olympic Council of Ireland, he claimed, ‘hung me out to dry’.
John and Edward Grimes (Jedward) are from Lucan, while Drimnagh’s Michael Carruth will also carry the torch.
Katie Taylor
Callers to the show also demanded that Bray boxer Katie Taylor, who will hope to qualify for the Olympics in China over the next eight days, should carry the torch.
One caller commented, “What does she have to do to get recognition in this country?”
Support for Katie Taylor on Twitter.
34 of the 41 torchbearers, including Paul McGrath and Shane Horgan, have been announced by the OCI.
The remaining seven will be unveiled in the coming weeks.
Fair play to the two lads for making a go of things and all that. They have their own following and that’s fine. But there’s no need to place them on some sort of pedestal of national pride. Between this, the Eurovision and the official Euro 2012 song for Ireland, it’s starting to seem like we have nothing ‘else’ to offer in terms of talent.
This is a joke ? Right ??
Katie Taylor is a true talent and would carry the torch with pride, everybody knows that Jedward are phonies and their only real talent is pouncing into various body shapes around a stage.
O.M.G. What have we come to?
How about making an impact on the life of some disadvantaged child or a homeless person? I’m ok with a few sporting icons but these two represent neither sport OR music.
John and Edward do an awful for charity, much of which is unreported and done without any fuss made. In fact, whilst doing their panto run they performed two shows then went out collecting money for the homeless. They are excellent role models for young people and have a keen interest in sports, particularly running. Unfortunately, not everyone can be honoured but I’m sure the organisers thought long and hard about who should represent Ireland. I certainly don’t blame John and Edward for accepting the honour and I’m sure they are very proud. Its not fair to blame them for agreeing to do something I sure that any of us would love to do too.
would have been more impressed if they offered to hand it over to somebody more deserving,
jaysus is there no escape from the tentecles of louis walsh ….
What happens when these pair of idiots grow into men? Why have these pair of clowns got anything to do with athletics?
Well they were cross country champions in their school and ran the LA marathon a couple of months back on a whim, so I certainly wouldn’t discount their athletic abilities. I’m not a fan of their music or ‘dancing’ but they’ve probably put more effort into promoting Ireland with their Eurovision promotional tour around Europe than Bord Failte. And the Olympic torch run is not restricted to sportspeople. The participants are supposed to represent a cross section of society.
you are right, why not let mick murphy who won the yeiiow jersey in the 1958 ras tailtean, and finished it with a broken collar bone carry it, only a few weeks ago he was robbed of his savings. why don,t we honour our real heroes, not a pair of wimps.
Instead of them carrying torches can we just set their hair on fire and watch them run and jump into the Liffey?
Jedward are a pair of parasites
Bernard Dunne or Jedward? So tough to choose….neither thanks
i gave u a thumbs up. supposed to be a thumbs down
Put them in the ring to decide.
Do we really need these pair of uphill gardeners as olympic torch carriers, what do they represent, zero !!!!!!!
new olympic ategory: jedward throwing
i’d defintiely go into training for that one
I hoping there won’t be a text vote.
‘an awful for charity’, a freudian slip.
If they do, that’s great but why does that give them the right to carry the torch?
Typical corruption at play here IMHO, not a big sports fan myself but even the dogs on the street respect and acknowledge the great contribution of Katie and Dunne to boxing and sport in general!
Could someone do me a favour and just assassinate these two gombeens
Typical Irish Begrudgery, they took themselves out of the recession with very little talent and made it big. Like them or hate them they are great role models, clean living and athletic, and when you see the look on children’s faces when they perform it’s priceless. Not a fan myself but fair play to them and fcuk the begrudgers !
An actual achiever carrying the torch would be nice.
And by that I mean the likes of Bernard Dunne, as opposed to two mollycoddled and latterly manufactured, overly exposed, juvenile, and mercenary freaks.
On Katie Taylor:
She’s been achieving. Again and again in her own quietly spoken and unassuming way. But then, Derek Mooney hasn’t been bigging her up for the last two years-nor has she had any recognition from RTÉ bar a horrendous attempt at talking to her on the Late Late one night, courtesy of our very own Johnny Carson.
If only Dustin had hands
Such a deserving choice and there is no question of them highjacking the exposure and event to sell more concerts and charge more for appearances slots. But they do some charity work so its okay my backside. How do you join this media golden circle, self promoting from every outlet whose only goal is profit, maybe that is the olympic spirit!
Seriously jedward. We have 2 great athletes in Bernard dunne and katie Taylor and they’re thinking.of letting jedward carry.through.torch. Complete and utter madness. If it were a singing and jumping around a stage competition then go ahead with jedward. But its a huge sporting event so in my.opinion we should be using our best sports people.
Ah now Sharon.
Singing? Jumping around on stage-I’ll grant you that. But then, you might as well call on a pair of kangaroos.
while i have no problem with either of the Lads I think the torch should be carried by someone who advocates what olympics are all about. Opportunity, fair play, the right to compete and test yourself etc.
I think that rather than pull celebs and ex pro sports people(the olympics is amateur after all) etc
the 41 torchbearers should be the many successful participants from the Special Olympics over the last few years. Far more meaningful and less of a celeb circus and sporting has been bitch fest.
The Olympics hasn’t been amateur for years. The word “amateur” isn’t in the Olympic charter any more either. Plenty of pro (officially pro, not pro pretending to be amateur) athletes compete in the Olympics these days.
However, it would be rather nice if some good amateur athletes got the chance to carry the Olympic torch in Ireland. 41 torchbearers isn’t all that much (though it’s a lot more than zero) and avoiding a celeb circus would be a good move.