David Matthews competed in the men’s 800 metres at two Olympic Games – reaching the semi-finals at Atlanta 1996 and finishing 5th in his heat at Sydney 2000.

From Leixlip, Co. Kildare, Matthews won the Irish Schools 800 metres title for Coláiste Chiaráin in Leixlip in 1992 and was quickly taken under the wing of Noel Carroll at UCD, where he took up a sports scholarship and became a member of UCD AC, winning consecutive Irish national 800 metres titles outdoors from 1994 to 1997 and indoors from 1993 to 1995.

In September 1995 he broke Marcus O’Sullivan’s eleven-year-old Irish 800 metres record with 1:44.82 in Rieti, and the following year set the Irish 1,000 metres record of 2:17.58. He trained with the celebrated Kim McDonald group in London alongside the great Kenyan runners Moses Kiptanui and Daniel Komen, and later trained in Australia alongside Sonia O’Sullivan. He competed at seven World Championships and four European Championships.

After retiring he worked in banking and property before pursuing a career in coaching, appointed fitness trainer to the Cork senior hurling team under Jimmy Barry-Murphy in 2011 and subsequently working with several inter-county teams.