Kevin Seaward represented Ireland in the marathon at two Olympic Games, finishing 64th in 2:20:06 at Rio 2016 and competing again at Tokyo 2020.

His path to the Olympics is among the more unlikely in Irish athletics: a talented underage middle-distance runner at St Malachy’s College in Belfast, he stepped away from the sport at university and had barely raced beyond 10 miles when a friend persuaded him to enter the Manchester Marathon in 2014. He finished third and the experience reignited his competitive instincts. On the recommendation of fellow Irish Olympian Paul Pollock, he joined coach Andy Hobdell and ran 2:14:52 in Berlin in 2015 to qualify for Rio – moving from occasional club runner to Olympian in the space of two years. In February 2020 he ran 2:10:09 at the Seville Marathon, the second fastest marathon time in Irish history behind John Treacy’s Irish record, and set a new Northern Ireland marathon record, qualifying for Tokyo.