Patricia Walsh competed in the women’s discus throw at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, finishing 9th in the final with a throw of 55.38 metres – becoming the first Irish woman ever to qualify for an Olympic field event final.

From Rocklands, Ferrybank in Waterford city, and a scholarship student at the University of Tennessee, Walsh had won eight successive Irish discus titles by the time of Los Angeles.

Her opportunity arose partly from the Soviet-led boycott, which removed the world’s leading discus throwers from the GDR, Bulgaria and the USSR. She took full advantage. On 7 July 1984 at the national championships she threw a personal best and new national record of 57.60 metres – the last of several Irish discus records – achieving the Olympic qualifying standard in the process.

In the Olympic final on 11 August she improved on her qualifying throw with a best effort of 55.38 metres. The scale of the boycott’s impact is illustrated by the fact that at the Friendship Games in Prague, seven throwers exceeded 66 metres, while the Olympic title was won by Ria Stalman of the Netherlands with 65.36 metres.

Patricia remained Ireland’s only female Olympic field event finalist decades after the achievement.