Olive Loughnane competed in the women’s 20 kilometres race walk at three consecutive Olympic Games – finishing 35th at Sydney 2000, and also competing at Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008.

From Carrabane, Co. Galway, and a member of Loughrea AC, Loughnane was one of Ireland’s most experienced international athletes of her era and is best known for winning silver in the 20km race walk at the 2009 World Athletics Championships in Berlin – the finest result ever achieved by an Irish woman in the event.

A qualified teacher, she took a break from competition in 2006 to have her first daughter Eimear before returning to reach Beijing 2008. She was a consistent European and World Championship competitor across more than a decade of international racing.