Irish Paralympic Team 2012

Dan man

Ireland are sending a team of 49 athletes to the London 2012 Paralympic Games, contesting a broad range of disciplines across 10 different sports: athletics, boccia, cycling, equestrian, powerlifting, rowing, sailing, shooting, swimming and table tennis. The team have been set a target of 5 medals from the Games and in truth, this total should be surpassed with relative ease, given the strength of the current squad of athletes.
In Beijing, the Irish Paralympic team brought home a haul of 5 medals (3 golds 1 silver and 1 bronze).

Here is a list of the Irish Paralympic Team for 2012 (August 29th-September 9th):

Athlete|Sport|Category|Event(s)
Jason Smyth|Athletics|T13|100m
|Athletics|T13|200m
Michael McKillop|Athletics|T37|800m
|Athletics|T37|1,500m
John McCarthy|Athletics|T51|100m
|Athletics|F51|Club Throw
James McCarthy|Athletics|F57|Shot Put
Ray O'Dwyer|Athletics|F34|Shot Put
|Athletics|F34|Discus
|Athletics|F34|Javelin
Heather Jameson|Athletics|T37|100m
|Athletics|T37|200m
|Athletics|F37|Long Jump
Ailish Dunne|Athletics|F11|Shot Put
|Athletics|F11|Discus
Nadine Lattimore|Athletics|F11|Shot Put
|Athletics|F11|Discus
Orla Barry|Athletics|F57|Discus
Catherine O'Neill|Athletics|F51|Discus
|Athletics|F51|Club Throw
Johnny Cronin|Boccia|BC3|Mixed Individual
Tom Leahy|Boccia|BC2|Mixed Individual
|Boccia|BC1-2|Mixed Team
Padraic Moran|Boccia|BC1-2|Mixed Team
Gabriel Shelly|Boccia|BC1-2|Mixed Team
Roberta Connolly|Boccia|BC2|Mixed Individual
|Boccia|BC1-2|Mixed Team
James Brown|Track Cycling|MB|1km Time Trial
|Track Cycling|MB|4km Individual Pursuit
|Road Cycling|MB|Time Trial
|Road Cycling|MB|Road Race
Damien Shaw|Track Cycling|MB|1km Time Trial
|Track Cycling|MB|4km Individual Pursuit
|Road Cycling|MB|Time Trial
|Road Cycling|MB|Road Race
Colin Lynch|Track Cycling|C1-3|Team Sprint
|Track Cycling|C2|3km Individual Pursuit
|Road Cycling|C2|Time Trial
|Road Cycling|C2|Road Race
Cathal Miller|Track Cycling|C1|1km Time Trial
|Track Cycling|C1|4km Individual Pursuit
|Track Cycling|C1-3|Team Sprint
|Road Cycling|C1|Time Trial
|Road Cycling|C1|Road Race
Enda Smyth|Track Cycling|C3|1km Time Trial
|Track Cycling|C3|4km Individual Pursuit
|Track Cycling|C1-3|Team Sprint
|Road Cycling|C3|Time Trial
|Road Cycling|C3|Road Race
Mark Rohan|Hand Cycling|HC1|Time Trial
|Hand Cycling|HC1|Road Race
Katie-George Dunlevy|Track Cycling|WB|1km Time Trial
|Track Cycling|WB|3km Individual Pursuit
|Road Cycling|WB|Time Trial
|Road Cycling|WB|Road Race
Sandra Fitzgerald|Track Cycling|WB|1km Time Trial
|Track Cycling|WB|3km Individual Pursuit
|Road Cycling|WB|Time Trial
|Road Cycling|WB|Road Race
Fran Meehan|Track Cycling|WB|1km Time Trial
|Track Cycling|WB|3km Individual Pursuit
|Road Cycling|WB|Time Trial
|Road Cycling|WB|Road Race
Catherine Walsh|Track Cycling|WB|1km Time Trial
|Track Cycling|WB|3km Individual Pursuit
|Road Cycling|WB|Time Trial
|Road Cycling|WB|Road Race
Eilish Byrne|Equestrian|Grade II|Team Test
|Equestrian|Grade II|Championship
James Dwyer|Equestrian|Grade IV|Team Test
|Equestrian|Grade IV|Championship
Geraldine Savage|Equestrian|Grade Ia|Team Test
|Equestrian|Grade Ia|Championship
Helen Kearney|Equestrian|Grade Ia|Team Test
|Equestrian|Grade Ia|Championship
Roy Guerin|Powerlifting||67.5kg
Sarah Caffrey|Rowing|LTAMix4+|Mixed Cox Four
Anne Marie McDaid|Rowing|LTAMix4+|Mixed Cox Four
Shane Ryan|Rowing|LTAMix4+|Mixed Cox Four
Kevin Du Toit|Rowing|LTAMix4+|Mixed Cox Four
Helen Arbuthnot|Rowing|LTAMix4+|Mixed Cox Four
John Twomey|Sailing||3 Person Keelboat (Sonar)
Anthony Hegarty|Sailing||3 Person Keelboat (Sonar)
Ian Costelloe|Sailing||3 Person Keelboat (Sonar)
Sean Baldwin|Shooting|SH1|10m Air Rifle Standing
|Shooting|SH1|10m Air Rifle Prone
|Shooting|SH1|50m Rifle Prone
|Shooting|SH1|50m Rifle 3 Positions
James Scully|Swimming|S5|50m Freestyle
|Swimming|S5|50m Backstroke
|Swimming|S5|100m Freestyle
|Swimming|S5|200m Freestyle
Darragh McDonald|Swimming|S6|50m Freestyle
|Swimming|S6|100m Freestyle
|Swimming|S6|400m Freestyle
Jonathan McGrath|Swimming|S8|400m Freestyle
Laurence McGivern|Swimming|S9|100m Backstroke
Bethany Firth|Swimming|S14|200m Freestyle
|Swimming|S14|100m Backstroke
|Swimming|SB14|100m Breaststroke
Ellen Keane|Swimming|SM9|200m Individual Medley
|Swimming|SB8|100m Breaststroke
|Swimming|S9|100m Butterfly
Philip Quinlan|Table Tennis|TT1|Singles
|Table Tennis|TT1-2|Team
Ronan Rooney|Table Tennis|TT2|Singles
|Table Tennis|TT1-2|Team
Eimear Breathnach|Table Tennis|TT1|Singles
|Table Tennis|TT1-3|Team
Rena McCarron-Rooney|Table Tennis|TT2|Singles
|Table Tennis|TT1-3|Team

endswell

channel 4 ad for it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuAPPeRg3Nw

embarrassing to hear rte radio 1 mix up the special olympics and paralympics earlier: http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0816/irelands-paralympians-prepare-for-london-games.html (2nd audio clip)

baalthor

Another Irish connection: Daráine Mulvihill will be part of the C4 presenter team for the Paralympics. She was on the C4 News Paralympic preview this evening.

Pisco Sour

Is Ortis Deley getting the gig for C4 again?

Silvio.Dante

baalthor wrote: »

Another Irish connection: Daráine Mulvihill will be part of the C4 presenter team for the Paralympics. She was on the C4 News Paralympic preview this evening.

she was very impressive on Matt Cooper last night...

Cardinal Richelieu

Pisco Sour wrote: »

Is Ortis Deley getting the gig for C4 again?

Highly doubt it, still think C4 are getting letters of complaint about last year.

Looks like C4 have borrowed some staff from the BBC and Sky, Claire Balding, Jonathan Edwards, Sonja McLoughlin. Sadly no Gabby:(
http://paralympics.channel4.com/the-team/index.html

feargale

Any predictions for Irish medals, Dan ? I dont have to ask about Jason Smith.

Beasty

I might see a few awarded in the track cycling when I'm there on Thursday and Friday - most of the team have very good medal chances. Cathal Miller and Colin Lynch will hopefully deliver while I'm there. Not sure if Enda Smyth is fully recovered from his recent accident. The women's tandems have both done well in recent times and Mark Rohan is the current World Champion in both the road race and TT

Dan man

As Beasty points out, the Irish Paralympic cycling team is very strong and will likely be returning with a haul of medals with the possibilty of a few golds too.
Jason Smyth is favourite for double gold in 100m and 200m in his category and Michael McKillop also has a great chance of doing the double too in the 800m and 1,500m.
Orla Barry is always strong too in the shot put and she is one of the favourites for gold. The boccia team also have huge potential and are easily capable of a podium finish.
Probably 6 golds or even a couple more is a possibility...we should have a very successful Paralympics.

Here are some profiles of the Irish team:
http://www.paralympics.ie/athletes/

KevIRL

Interesting article highlighting some differences between the Olympics and the Paralymics. Quite a few things I wasnt aware of I'll admit

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19341500

feargale

KevIRL wrote: »

Interesting article highlighting some differences between the Olympics and the Paralymics. Quite a few things I wasnt aware of I'll admit

Most interesting and informative. Alot I wasn't aware of myself. Thanks, Kev..

endswell

just seen athletics ireland accept b standards for paralympics. ridiculous not to have consistency across olympics and paralympics events regardless of whether to send b standards or not.

feargale

endswell wrote: »

just seen athletics ireland accept b standards for paralympics. ridiculous not to have consistency across olympics and paralympics events regardless of whether to send b standards or not.

The Summer Olympics and Paralympics are two entirely separate and independent entities. The only connection between them is that a city which bids to host the Summer Olympics must commit to host the Paralympics in the same year. I believe we should take pride in the fact that Ireland's Paralympic team ( 49 ) almost equalled the number of our summer olympians ( 65. ) That shows good priorities. That's before we even talk about the magnificent medal haul. Our best ever ranking was 12th at Rome in 1960. Next best was 14th in 1984, which is where Ireland stand in London as I write. With a few days to go, I think Ireland will find it very difficult to hold 14th, with Spain, Italy, Korea and Netherlands breathing down our necks. Either way, it will be a great Paralympics for Ireland. The question of accepting b standards for the Summer Olympics is for another forum.