Athletics

About Athletics

Athletics is the oldest and most storied of Ireland's Olympic sports, and remains the centrepiece of every Games, staged in the main stadium and traditionally closing with the marathon.

Ireland's Olympic story in sport itself effectively began here: Pat O'Callaghan won the hammer throw at Amsterdam 1928, Ireland's first ever Olympic medal in competition, and repeated the feat in 1932, the same Games at which Bob Tisdall won gold in the 400m hurdles. Ronnie Delany's victory in the 1,500m at Melbourne 1956 remains one of the most celebrated moments in Irish sport. John Treacy's silver in the marathon at Los Angeles 1984 and Sonia O'Sullivan's silver in the 5,000m at Sydney 2000 stand among the finest distance-running performances by any Irish Olympian, while Rob Heffernan's bronze (later upgraded) in the 50km walk at London 2012 further extended that tradition into the modern era.

The sport spans track events from the 100m sprint to the 10,000m, hurdles and relays, road events including the marathon and race walks, and field disciplines such as long jump, high jump, javelin, discus, shot put and hammer, together with the multi-event decathlon and heptathlon.