Emma Robinson competed in the women’s 100 metres breaststroke at two Olympic Games – finishing 29th overall at Sydney 2000 and 24th at Athens 2004, where illness affected her performance.

From Northern Ireland, Robinson’s home club was Coleraine and Bangor ASC, where she was coached by Paul Dennis. She attended the University of Bath from 1997 to 2003, training under coach David Lyles, before moving to Loughborough University for her final year of preparation ahead of Athens under coach Ben Titley.

Robinson was an Irish record holder in both the 50 metres and 100 metres breaststroke. Her international highlights away from the Olympics reflect the breadth of her ability at the highest level: she reached the final of the 50 metres breaststroke at both the 2000 European Championships (7th) and the 2000 FINA World Championships (9th) – two of the strongest fields in world swimming. She also reached finals at the 2001 World Student Games (5th) and the 2002 Commonwealth Games (6th).

Her qualification for Athens was achieved at a Sheffield meet in the week before the British Olympic trials, where she swam 1:09.19 – 0.66 seconds inside the Olympic A standard. As a non-British competitor she was ineligible to race in the British trials final itself, so the Sheffield performance served as her qualifying swim.