Marie Davenport competed in the women’s 5,000 metres at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, finishing 14th in her heat in 15:59.12 and not advancing to the final – a performance all the more remarkable for the fact that she was only 19 years old at the time.

She returned to the Olympics eight years later at Athens 2004, competing in the women’s 10,000 metres final, where she finished 14th in 31:50 – one of the finest results ever achieved by an Irish woman in an Olympic distance track final.

Born in Ennistymon, Co. Clare, Davenport (nee McMahon) was recruited by Providence College in Providence, Rhode Island, where she trained under Ray Treacy – the legendary Irish coach who also guided Sonia O’Sullivan, Mark Carroll and Sinead Delahunty. At Providence she became a ten-time NCAA All-American, won the NCAA Indoor 5,000 metres title, and in 1995 led the Providence College women’s cross country team to the programme’s first ever NCAA national championship title. She was an eight-time Big East champion and won the 5,000 metres at the prestigious Penn Relays for three consecutive years.

She was inducted into the Providence College Athletics Hall of Fame in 2009. On the roads she won the BAA Half Marathon in Boston in a course record of 1:10:57 and returned to win it again in 2006, and finished 16th at the New York City Marathon in 2:33 in 2005. Her personal bests of 15:09.07 for the 5,000 metres and 31:28.78 for the 10,000 metres – both set in 2004 – place her third on the all-time Irish list for 10,000 metres behind only Sonia O’Sullivan and Catherina McKiernan.