2012 London Olympics - How the Irish fared
Credit: Extratime Team (ETPhotos)
66 Irish Athletes attended the 2012 London Olympic games, competing in 16 different sports. The Games produced five medals for the country; 1 Gold, 1 Silver and 3 Bronze, equalling the record medal count (1956 Melbourne Olympics) for an Irish Olympics team. Ireland finished in 41st place in the Medals table overall.
As with all Olympic Games, the medal count does not tell the full story. Here is a breakdown of every Irish Athletes performance. (any inaccuracies, please comment below)
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Fionnuala Britton competed in the 5,000m and 10,000m. In Heat 1 in the 5000m, Fionnuala ran a personal best time of 15.12.97 and came in 10th place but it was not enough to make the final. Overall she placed 21st. In the 10,000m, Britton finished 15th in the final in a time of 31.46.71.
Ava Hutchison, Linda Byrne, Catriona Jennings competed in the Women's Marathon. Linda Byrne finished 66th in 2.37.13 just ahead of Ava Hutchison in 68th with a time of 2.37.17. Catriona Jennings, suffering with Plantar fasciitis, refused to give in and despite immense pain, completed the marathon in a time of 3.22.11.
Marian Heffernan, Joanne Cuddihy, Jessie Barr, Michelle Carey competed in Heat 2 of the Women's 4 x 400m Relay. Setting a season best time, they finished in 6th place. Joanne Cuddihy ran a superb split time of 50.6, the only athletes to run a faster split time in that heat were three Americans. United States won the heat. Catriona Cuddihy and Claire Bergin were members of the team but didn't get to run.
Derval O'Rourke ran in the Women's 100m Hurdles. In Heat 4, she set a season best time of 12.91 and qualified for the semi-finals as a fastest loser. In a very tough semi-final, she once again clocked a time of 12.91, but 5th place was not enough to reach the final.
Stephanie Reilly competed in the Women's 3000m Steeplechase. She finished in 9th in Heat 2 in a time of 9.44.77. An overall placing of 27th was not enough to see her into the final.
Robert Heffernan competed in both the Men's 20km and 50km Walk. In his lesser favoured 20km Walk, Heffernan set a season best time of 1.20.18, finishing 9th. Heartbreakingly though in the 50km walk the Cork athlete finished in a superb 4th in 3.37.54 smashing his Irish National record. His time would have netted a silver in 2008 and won many previous Olympics. Brendan Boyce set a personal best time of 3.55.01 to finish 29th. Colin Griffin was disqualified for three red marks.
Olive Loughnane and Laura Reynolds competed in the Women's 20k Walk. Loughnane finished 13th in a time of 1.29.39, a season's best for the Cork athlete. Reynolds was placed 20th in a time of 1.31.02, setting a new personal best time.
Ciaran O'Lionaird ran in Heat 3 of the 1,500m. He finished in 13th place with a season best time of 3.48.35 and didn't qualify for the semi-finals.
Alistair Cragg competed in the Men's 5000m. Running in Heat 2, he finished in 17th place in a time of 13.47.01 and failed to make the final.
Mark Kenneally competed in the Men's Marathon. He finished in 57th place in a time of 2.21.13.
Deirdre Ryan cleared 1.85 in the Women's High Jump but failed to clear 1.90. She finished 27th.
Tori Pena competed in the Women's Pole Vault but failed to clear 4.10m and was eliminated.
Paul Hession ran in Heat 4 of the Men's 200m. He came 5th in a time of 20.69 but failed to progress to the semi-finals.
Scott Evans was extremely unfortunate to be drawn against the Olympic Champion from Beijing and as it transpired, also London, Dan Lin of China. Evans fought hard but was defeated 21-14, 21-8 and was knocked out of the Olympics.
Chloe Magee won her first group match against Hadia Hosny 21-17, 21-6. In her second group game against Hongyan Pi, Magee won the first set 21-16 but lost the next two 21-18, 21-14 and was knocked out.
Ireland went into the Olympic Games with six boxers. Prior to the games Joseph Ward had unsuccessfully appealed to the CAS regards the awarding of the invitational place to Bosko Draskovic (who lost his opening fight 16-11 to Nicaraguan Osmar Bravo Amador).
Katie Taylor came into the Olympics as World Champion and with the expectation of a nation on her shoulders to win gold. A tough opening victory over Natasha Jonas (GB) confirmed at least a bronze (26-15). Victory over Mavzuna Chorieva (Taj) (17-9) sealed a tough gold medal fight against Sofya Ochigava (Russia). A final score of 10-8 to the Bray boxer gave Ireland a gold at the London Olympics.
John Joe Nevin had considered not competing in these Olympics. Happily for himself and Ireland he changed his mind. Victories over Dennis Ceylan (21-6), Kanat Abutalipov (15-10), Oscar Valdez Fierro (19-13) and Lazaro Alverez Estrada (19-14) set up a final against Great Britian's Luke Campbell. Nevin failed to overcome Campbell and lost 14-11 to claim a an Olympic silver.
Paddy Barnes became the first Irish Boxer to win medals at consecutive Olympics as he fought his way to an Olympic bronze. Victories over Thomas Essomba (15-10) and Devendro Singh Laishram (23-18) set up a semi final against China's Shiming Zou. Zou went on to win gold but Barnes lost out to the Chinese boxer by the narrowest of margins. After a superb final round, Barnes pulled three points to draw 15-15. On a count back however he lost 44-45.
Michael Conlan completed Ireland's boxing medal haul with a bronze medal. After defeating Duke Micah (19-8) and Nordine Oubaali (22-18), Conlan faced a superb Cuban Robeisy Ramirez Carrazana and lost the bout 20-10.
Adam Nolan won his first fight against Carlos Sanchez Estacio (14-8) before losing out to Andrey Zamkovoy by a score of 9-18. Zamkovoy ended with a bronze.
Darren O'Neill also progressed past his first fight against Muideen Akanji (15-6) before exiting the Olympics after Belgium's Stefan Hartel scored 19-12 against the Irish boxing captain.
Fights | Won | Lost | Medals |
18 | 13 | 5 | 4 |
Hannah Craig competed in the Women's Kayak (K1) and she progressed through to the final where she finished overall in 10th place.
Eoin Rheinisch competed in the Men's Kayak (K1). He qualified for the semi-finals but during his run he missed a gate which incurred a 50 second penalty. He finished overall in 14th place.
Andrzej Jezierski competed in the Men's Canoe Single (C1) 200m and qualified for the B Final. He came 1st in the final, finishing in overall 9th place.
Daniel Martin, David McCann and Nicolas Roche competed in the Men's Road Race. David McCann finished in 55th place in a time of 5.46.37. Nicolas Roche and Daniel Martin finished in 89th and 90th respectively in the same time of 5.46.37.
Marytn Irvine competed in the Men's Omnium. In the Flying Lap he finished 9th. In the 30km Points Race he finished 6th. In the Elimination Race though he could only manage 15th. In the final three events, he finished 14th, 9th and 11th to end in 13th place with a points total of 64.
Aoife Clarke, Joseph Murphy, Mark Kyle, Michael Ryan and Camilla Speirs all competed in the Team and Individual Eventing. Ireland finished an excellent 5th overall in the Team Eventing. Individually, Aoife Clarke finished 7th, Joseph Murphy 14th and Mark Kyle 21st. Camilla Speirs and Michael Ryan were unseated during the Cross Country and were eliminated from the competition.
Anna Merveldt competed in the Individual Dressage and finished in 33rd place.
Cian O'Connor and Billy Twomey both competed in the Individual Jumping. Billy Twomey was eliminated after the 2nd Qualifier with 12 penalties. Cian O'Connor was eliminated in the 3rd Qualifier but due to a Swedish withdrawal, he was re-instated to the Finals. In the first round of the final, Cian jumped clear. In the second round, he jumped clear but picked up one penalty for fractionally exceeding the time allowed. That time fault moved him from a gold jump off to a silver one. In the jump off against Gerco Schroder, O'Connor finished in a faster time but knocked the final fence finishing with bronze. Ireland's only medal outside of Boxing.
Kieran Behan became the second ever Irish gymnastic to qualify for the Olympics. Behan's story is inspirational having suffered a leg tumour that left him wheelchair bound, and then a brain injury, he battled back to reach the London Olympics. His difficulty level on the Floor event was 6.400 and having performed excellently throughout, the final two tumbles dropped his execution score down to 7.566. His total score of 13.996 placed him 53rd.
Lisa Kearney competed in the Women's 48kg in Judo. Lisa faced highly ranked Shugen Wu of China in the Last 16. Having finished in a tie, the bout went into "extratime" and Wu produced an Ippon throw which automatically ended the contest and Kearney's Olympics.
Natalya Coyle competed in the Modern Pentathlon. Having completed the Fencing in 11th, Natalya moved to 15th after the Swimming. The Riding event restored her back to 11th before a final Combined event seen Coyle finish in an excellent 9th place on 5,220 points.
Arthur Lanigan-O'Keeffe was told just over two weeks before the Olympics that he'd be competing in the Modern Pentathlon. He finished in 25th place after the five events.
Sanita Puspure competed in the Women's Single Sculls. In the Quarter finals, she finished 4th in her race in a time of 7.44.19. Her time, had she raced in any of the other Quarter finals, would have qualified her for the A/B Semi-finals. She went on to come 1st in her semi final to book a place in the C Final where she also finished 1st placing her 13th overall at the Olympic Games.
David Burrows and Peter O'Leary competed in the Men's Star. Their ten race results were as follows: 2nd, 6th, 14th, 5th, 11th, 12th, DSQ, 7th, 11th and 7th. They qualified for the Medals Race and finished overall in 10th place.
Ger Owens and Scott Flanigan competed in the Men's 470. Over the ten races they finished in 23rd place which was not enough to qualify for the Medals Race.
Ryan Seaton and Matt McGovern competed in the Men's 49er. They started well but over the course of the 15 races they gradually moved out of the top ten and a place in the Medals Race. They finished 14th overall.
James Espey competed in the Men's Laser. Over the 10 races he finished in an overall place of 36th.
Annalise Murphy competed in the Women's Radial Laser. Having won the first four races of ten, Annalise headed into the Medals Race knowing if she finished ahead of Belgium, Netherland or China she'd win a medal. Heartbreakingly for Annalise, she finished 5th in the Medals Race with all three nations coming home ahead of her. She finished in 4th place overall.
Derek Burnett competed in the Men's Trap. Competing in his third Olympic Games, his Qualification round scores out of 25 were: 24, 23, 23, 23, 23 totalling 116. A score of 122 was needed to qualify for the final.
Sycerika McMahon competed in the Women's 200m Individual Medley and the 100m Breaststroke. In the Medley she finished 22nd overall in a time of 2.14.76 which failed to qualify her for the semi-finals. In the Breaststroke, she finished 26th overall in a time of 1.08.80 which didn't qualify her for the semi-finals.
Barry Murphy competed in the Men's 50m Freestyle and 100m Breaststroke. Barry finished joint 29th in the Breaststroke in a time of 1.01.57 and 29th in the Freestyle in a time of 22.76.
Grainne Murphy was due to compete in the 200m, 400m and 800m Freestyle but injury ruled her out of the 200m and 800m. In the 400m she finished 31st in a time of 4.19.07.
Melanie Nocher competed in the 100m and 200m backstroke. In the 200m, Melanie finished in 34th place in a time of 2.16.29. In the 100m, Nocher finished 33rd in 1.02.44.
Aileen Morrison competed in the Women's Triathlon and after a swim that had her in 15th place after the first transition, disaster struck for the Derry athlete. As with a number of the competitors on the wet Saturday morning, Morrison came off her bike, injuring herself in the process. Despite being bloodied and in pain, Morrison continued and finished in 43rd place.
Gavin Noble competed in the Men's Triathlon and having been placed 12th through both transitions, carrying a leg injury, he finished in 23rd place in the 55 strong field.
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