Hazel Greene-Pereira became the first Irish woman to compete in Olympic archery and went on to compete at three consecutive Games - Moscow 1980, Los Angeles 1984 and Seoul 1988 - a remarkable career spanning eight years that she concluded while living in Lisbon, Portugal.
She took up archery at the age of eighteen, having previously played hockey and basketball, and progressed at an extraordinary rate: within a year she was competing internationally, and on 26 August 1979 she set five national records at the Kildare Open Championships at Kilkea Castle. From Ballingarry, County Tipperary, her family later moved to Naas, County Kildare, where she was introduced to the sport by Joe Callahan, who established a club at Newbridge College.
At Moscow 1980 she finished 19th of 29 competitors, advancing on her pre-tournament ranking. At Los Angeles 1984 she improved further to 20th, the best result by an Irish archer in Olympic history at that time. She competed at Seoul 1988 under her married name, Hazel Greene-Pereira, finishing 38th.
In retirement she moved to New York, where she pursued powerlifting - winning her age and weight division at the 1997 WABDL World Championships and setting a new world record in the deadlift - before also taking up fencing and placing sixth in the épée at the 2007 US Fencing Championships in the veterans' age group.
Archery
