Cathy MacAleavey competed in the women’s 470 class sailing at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games alongside Aisling Byrne, making history as the first two Irish women ever to compete in Olympic sailing. Sailing has been an open event in previous Games but Seoul was the first edition to include a women’s only sailing event.

Her life story is among the most remarkable in the history of Irish Olympic sport. Born in Mexico City in 1958, the youngest child of Kevin MacAleavey, an RAF Squadron Leader, navigator and former prisoner of war, who after the war joined the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and was posted to Montreal and then Mexico. Her Mexican education exposed her to an extraordinary range of sports – baseball and gymnastics at the Greengates British International School, swimming at the Italian Club, horse riding after she was inspired by the Mexico 1968 Olympics.

After the sudden death of her father, the family relocated to Dublin when Cathy was 14. A family connection through her sister’s marriage introduced her to sailing. She joined the National Yacht Club as a cadet, made rapid progress through Laser racing on the European circuit, studied textiles at art college in Dún Laoghaire and became an in-demand tapestry artist.

Folowing the addition of the women’s 470 class to the Seoul programme in 1985 and after the birth of her daughter, Claudine, in September 1986, McAleavey began a strong Olympic preparation prorgamme which culminated in her selection for the 1988 Olympic Games.

The regatta was tough in extreme conditions. In race five, while challenging the East German boat for the lead, MacAleavey and Byrne capsized. Byrne was swept away and rescued by a jury boat. The pair also capsized in the final race, finishing 18th in a fleet of 21.

McAleavey is mother to three time Olympian Annalise Murphy, who won an Olympic silver medal in sailing at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.