Athletics

BIOGRAPHY Michael 'Mick' O'Shea competed in the men's 5,000 metres at the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games, finishing 10th in his heat in 14:02.97. O'Shea was the first Irish athlete to enrol at Providence College in Rhode Island - preceding John Treacy and the generation of Irish distance runners who followed - and his pathway to [...]

BIOGRAPHY Ann Keenan-Buckley competed in the women's 3,000 metres at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games. She was in the leading group for the first 2,000 metres before the pace of the final kilometre proved too fast. Keenan-Buckley took a career break in October 1987 specifically to pursue the Olympic qualifying time of 9:02.00 for the

BIOGRAPHY Liam O'Brien competed in the men's 3,000 metres steeplechase at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, qualifying from his heat for the semi-final before ultimately failing to qualify for the final. A physical education graduate of Thomond College, Limerick, a member of Midleton AC and a full-time teacher at Midleton CBS, O'Brien was the

BIOGRAPHY Róisín Smyth competed in the women's 3,000 metres at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, finishing ninth in her heat in 9:01.69 - eliminated in a heat won by the great Mary Decker of the USA. A member of the Spartan Athletic Club in Derry, Smyth was only the second track and field athlete

BIOGRAPHY Regina Joyce competed in the inaugural women's Olympic marathon at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, suffering in the heat and being described as 'a self-inflicted victim of dehydration' - despite the best advice of the medical team. She later recalled: 'I ran a superb race for eighteen miles and then just fell apart.

BIOGRAPHY Paul Donovan competed in the men's 1,500 metres at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, finishing fourth in his heat and being eliminated - just edged out of the qualifying places. From Cork, Donovan enrolled at the University of Arkansas in September 1981, out of athletic shape after a summer of relative inactivity. 'Paul

BIOGRAPHY Victor Costello competed in the men's shot put at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, finishing 22nd in the qualifying round with a best put of 17.15 metres, before going on to become a prominent figure in two very different fields - as a Leinster and Ireland rugby player and as a Fianna Fáil TD

BIOGRAPHY Tommy Hughes competed in the men's marathon at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, finishing 72nd in 2:32:55 in one of the most difficult marathon courses in Olympic history - the final kilometres of which included an ascent of the 150-metre Montjuic hill in temperatures exceeding 35 degrees Celsius. From Maghera, Co. Derry, Hughes came

BIOGRAPHY Ailish Smyth competed in the women's marathon at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games, finishing 46th. She was one of four women representing Ireland in the athletics programme at Seoul, competing on a marathon course run in extreme heat. Prior to her selection for tthe Games, Ailish won the inaugural women's Dublin City Marathon in

BIOGRAPHY Sean Dollman competed in the men's 10,000 metres at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, finishing 16th in his heat in 28:55.77 and not advancing to the final - though the time placed him 16th in conditions of brutal heat and 89 per cent humidity that made it one of the most demanding 10,000-metre races

BIOGRAPHY Bobby O'Leary competed in the men's 20 kilometres race walk at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, beginning strongly before suffering the consequences of an over-ambitious early pace. He opted to race with the leading bunch from the start and after 5 kilometres was 27 seconds ahead of teammate Jimmy McDonald. As the race progressed

BIOGRAPHY Perri Williams competed in the women's 10 kilometres race walk at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, finishing 37th in 54:53 - carrying a foot injury into the race and struggling from the early stages, well outside her personal best. In doing so, she became the first woman ever to represent Ireland in Olympic race