Reason why Rory McIlroy is playing for Ireland and not Team GB at the Olympics
While it seems like so much has already gone on, it’s not even been a week since the Olympics officially began.
After a ‘bizarre’ opening ceremony on Friday (26 July), the BBC coverage kicked off in full swing and there’s been all kinds of drama. From Simone Biles and Team USA picking up gold at the gymnastics and sending a brutal message to an ex-teammate to triathletes throwing up after swimming in the Seine.
And then there’s all the trivia and Olympic titbits we’ve been loving too, like figuring out what’s in the boxes the medallists are awarded to hearing about all the shagging that apparently goes on in the Village.
But something a little more PG that viewers and fans have been wondering is why Rory McIlroy is playing for Ireland and not Team GB.
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The 35-year-old professional golfer is a former world number one in the Official World Golf Ranking and is the only person to win the FedEX Cup three times.
Paris 2024 is McIlroy’s second Olympics after he made his debut in Tokyo in 2021. But while he is eligible to represent Team GB, the Northern Ireland born golf star opted to play for Ireland three years ago.
He previously explained that this decision is due to a choice he made during his amateur career.
McIlroy had been playing for Ireland and as an amateur and basically didn’t see any reason to change that when it came to the Olympics.
An agreement between the Olympic Federation of Ireland and the British Olympic Association enables athletes to get to choose which team they want to represent.
“I had a sense of resentment towards the Olympics because I had always tried to stay so neutral and it presented me with this option of; what are you going to do?” he told The Guardian.
“I had to get over that. All of my amateur career I played for Ireland. I was very proud to play for Ireland. So why would I do anything differently as a professional?”
Back in 2021, he explained he made the decision difficult for himself by worrying what others would think.
“As I said, previously, once I left trying not to upset anyone aside, then it was actually a pretty easy decision. The decision was I’m going to play golf for the country or the nation that I’ve always played for through my junior and amateur days and now into the professional game,” he explained.
“Even though the Olympics has given me this choice, there really wasn’t a choice because all I’ve done throughout my life is play golf for Ireland so why would that change just because the tournament has changed. That was my decision.”
Well, fair enough.
Jess Battison