IRELAND HAS OFFICIALLY broken its Olympic medal record at the Paris 2024 Games, surpassing the six medals won at London 2012.
Seven medals have been won by Irish athletes so far at this Olympics, four golds (also our highest ever) and three bronze.
Here’s who has brought success for Team Ireland and how they achieved it.
Mona McSharry
Mona McSharry won Ireland’s first medal of the Games after taking home a brilliant bronze in the 100m Breaststroke, kicking off a blistering week for Irish sport.
The Sligo woman held her own in a competitive field and touched the wall one-hundredth of a second ahead of Italy’s Benedetta Pilato and Olympic champion in Rio Lilly King, of the United States.
Daniel Wiffen
Daniel Wiffen continued Ireland’s success in the pool with a spectacular gold medal performance in the 800m Freestyle swimming.
Wiffen came from behind in the last 100m to power past Italy’s Gregorio Paltrinieri in a time of 7:38.19, smashing the previous Olympic record by just over 3 seconds.
The Armagh man wrote his name in the history books by becoming Ireland’s first male Olympic medalist in the pool.
He would return less than a week later with his eyes set on another gold in the 1500m Freestyle, but an incredible performance from American athlete Bobby Finke prevented the double, as Wiffen settled for bronze behind Paltrinieri in second.
Daire Lynch and Philip Doyle
Ireland has seen success in previous years with rowing and this Olympics was no different with two medals to show.
Irish pair Daire Lynch and Philip Doyle came home with a bronze medal in the Double Sculls, finishing behind Romania and the Netherlands.
While the pair never really threatened the blistering pace set by the Romanians out front, they held off the American boat in the scrap for the final step on the podium.
Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy
The second medal in rowing came from Irish rowing superstars Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy who cemented their status as the best lightweight double sculls crew in the world as they sealed back-to-back Olympic titles in Paris.
Despite claiming to be underdogs in the lead-up to the race, the pair never looked threatened as they pulled away from the rest of the field after the halfway mark, finishing a couple of seconds ahead of Italy’s Stefano Oppo and Gabriel Soares, and Greece’s Antonios Papakonstantinou and Petros Gaidatzis.
Rhys McClenaghan
Gymnast Rhys McClenaghan won Ireland’s first-ever Olympic medal in gymnastics by taking home gold in the pommel horse final.
The Co Down athlete put together a masterful routine that beat Nariman Kurbanov of Kazakhstan and Stephen Nedoroscik of the United States to the top step and Olympic glory.
He also made up for the heartbreak of the final at the Tokyo Games three years ago where he came off the pommel horse during his routine, leaving him in seventh place.
Kellie Harrington
Kellie Harrington won Ireland’s latest gold medal by successfully defending her Olympic title in a resounding victory over China’s Wenlu Yang in the women’s 60kg boxing final.
The Dubliner took control of the fight early on in front of a large crowd of Irish fans at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris and never looked like letting go of the medal that seemed destined to be hers.
After clinching her second Olympic gold medal, Harrington announced her retirement having written herself into Irish sporting history for being the first Irish woman to win medals at successive Olympic Games
Dublin City Council have announced that a public homecoming for Team Ireland will take place next Monday 12 August in front of the GPO, beginning at 12:30pm.
Tickets are not required to attend, with the Council saying “it is fully free to the public and everyone is welcome to attend”.
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