Eileen O'Keeffe became the first Irish woman ever to qualify for the Olympics and the World Championships in the hammer throw, reaching the final at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka - automatically qualifying with her first throw - and finishing sixth.
She also won silver at the 2007 World University Games in Bangkok, where she competed on behalf of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, and finished fourth at the World University Games in Korea in 2003. Named Irish Athletics Athlete of the Year and National Field Athlete of the Year in 2007, she won nine consecutive Irish national hammer titles and six national discus titles, won the British AAA hammer title in 2006, and won the European Cup six times. She set a series of Irish national records between 2000 and 2007, with her record of 73.21 metres set at the national championships in Dublin in July 2007 standing as the Irish record.
She competed in the women's hammer throw at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, missing the final by 1.7 metres, having sustained a serious knee injury in the month before the Games. Her journey to the Olympics was one of the most self-reliant in Irish athletics history: she came to the hammer throw entirely by accident at 17 when her brother Michael bought an instructional DVD by American Olympic gold medallist Hal Connolly, and taught herself the technique from the video.
Her father built a concrete throwing circle on the family farm to give her somewhere to train. She was a member of Kilkenny City Harriers. As a child she excelled across several sports, winning gold in Grand Prix cycling at the Community Games, taking a national medal in volleyball and representing the South East Regional Volleyball team. She trained as a nurse at Athlone Institute of Technology while competing at the highest level, and subsequently completed a Higher Diploma and a Masters in Operating Theatre Nursing at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.
Athletics
