Jim Conroy became the first Irish archer to compete at the Olympic Games when he took part in the men's individual recurve archery at the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games, finishing 29th of 37 competitors. His route to Montreal was serendipitous in the fullest sense of the word. A talented cyclist in the late 1960s who competed with the greats of the era such as Paddy Flanagan and Shay O'Hanlon, Conroy's career changed direction on a day when, suffering the dreaded cyclist's knock on the Navan Road at Clonee, Co. Meath, he climbed off his bicycle and spotted an archery club in a valley below. Within five months of joining the 27 April Archery Club he was national champion. In 1969 won the Irish Open title with a score very close to Olympic standard.
He competed at the British Olympic archery trials, where a second-place finish secured his nomination for Montreal.
Conroy went on to develop one of the most important archery coaching and development programmes in Irish sporting history, introducing the sport to schools and clubs across the country. He also competed at the Moscow 1980 Olympics and was Team Manager for Keith Hanlon in Barcelona 1992.
Archery
