Stephanie Reilly (née O’Reilly) represented Ireland in the women’s 3000 metres steeplechase at the 2012 London Olympic Games, finishing 9th in her heat in 9:44.77 and narrowly missing the final.

In 1996, aged 18, she became a remarkable triple Irish national champion – winning the 800m, 1500m and 3000m titles in the same season – and represented Ireland at the European Junior Cross Country Championships. She took up an athletics scholarship at Providence College in Rhode Island in 1997, coached by Ray Treacy, and graduated in 2001 having captained both the indoor and outdoor track teams. She earned a Masters in Guidance and Counselling from Providence in 2004. She came to the steeplechase relatively late in her career and qualified for London by running a personal best of 9:42.91 at the New York Diamond League in June 2011 – meeting the A standard for both the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, where she reached the heats, and London 2012.

She had previously reached the heats of the 2010 European Championships in Barcelona and finished 12th at the 2012 European Championships in Helsinki. Throughout her international career she combined competing with coaching, serving as head coach of the Bryant University men’s and women’s cross country and track and field teams from 2008, before returning to Providence College as women’s track and field coach.