Frances Cryan competed in the women’s single sculls at the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games, finishing 7th overall – making history as the first Irish woman ever to compete in Olympic rowing.

Her route to Moscow was as impressive as her performance there. She joined the Carrick-on-Shannon Rowing Club as part of a schoolgirls’ crew in 1974 where she was coached by Aidan Nangle, who also recruited Sonny Moran to supervise her weight training.

She won the first Irish women’s senior sculling championship at Craigavon in 1976 and retained the title every year until she retired in 1986. She began her Olympic preparation in October 1979 with a seven-days-a-week, six-hours-a-day programme of long-distance rowing, road-running, weight training, gym work and cycling. Her performances at the Nottingham, Ratzeburg, Mannheim and Lucerne regattas in 1980 secured her selection.

In Moscow, she finished last in her opening heat of four rowers but only 0.22 seconds behind the third-place finisher.

She then rowed a storming repechage to finish second and qualify for the semi-final. After starting slowly there, she rowed a strong last quarter to finish fourth – missing the final by just 0.16 seconds.

A walkover in the B final gifted her 7th place overall. Her achievement in finishing 7th in the first Olympic women’s single sculls was a landmark in Irish rowing.