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LEGENDARY IRISH PARALYMPIAN Jason Smyth has announced his retirement at the age of 35.
The Derry native is hanging up his spikes after a glittering undefeated career that spanned across three decades, included four Paralympic Games appearances — Beijing 2008, London 2012, Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2021 — and no shortage of gold medals.
Smyth bows out as a multiple Paralympic and world champion, having never lost a competitive Para Athletics event throughout his entire journey and deservedly earned the title of “Fastest Paralympian on the Planet”.
He’s unquestionably one of the greatest athletes this country has ever produced.
Today we say goodbye to a Paralympic legend…
— Paralympics Ireland (@ParalympicsIRE) March 29, 2023
8 Paralympic Gold Medals
8 World Championship Gold Medals
6 European Championship Gold Medals
1 World Indoor Championship Gold Medal
Undefeated.#ThankYouJason pic.twitter.com/3fPe5yjCJf
Amazingly, Smyth won gold medals in every event in which he competed on the big stage and his haul includes six at the Paralympic Games across the 100m and 200m, eight at the World Championships, six at the European Championships and one from the 60m at the World Indoor Championships.
Smyth — who has less than 10% vision due to an eye condition known as Stargardt’s Disease — is the current European, World and Paralympic champion and world record holder in the event he helped to redefine, the T13 100m.
He also competed in non-Paralympic athletics, winning two Athletics Ireland National Championships in the 100m and representing Ireland at two European Championships and one Championships.
🌟 Undefeated Jason Smyth Retires To Take Management Role At Paralympics Ireland 🌟
— Athletics NI (@AthleticsNI) March 29, 2023
Iconic Irish Paralympian Jason Smyth has today announced his retirement from Para Athletics.
Read more here: https://t.co/WLIbdNwFaF@ParalympicsIRE @irishathletics pic.twitter.com/lU16zFkshy
Time to say goodbye… pic.twitter.com/5OxNwCvwW6
— Jason Smyth MBE (@smyth_jason) March 29, 2023
The first-ever Paralympian to compete in those events, Smyth also represented Northern Ireland at the Commonwealth Games in 2014. He’s the third fastest 100m sprinter in Irish history with 10.22 seconds, and the fastest in Norther Irish history.
He will now undertake the role of Strategy Manager at Paralympics Ireland.
“I think now is the right time for me to step away from competitive Paralympic Sport,” Smyth said as he announced his retirement. “I lived and fulfilled the dream and now I hope to support the next generation of para-athletes on their journey.
“I have loved my time with Team Ireland and I have had many incredible memories that I will really treasure from my time as an athlete. There are so many people that have helped me along the way from my coaches, support staff, to my teammates, partners and my competitors. I would especially like to pay tribute to my incredible and very patient family, especially my wife, Elise and my daughters Evie and Lottie.
“I now look forward to joining my new teammates at Paralympics Ireland. I feel that I have a lot to offer thanks to my experiences as an athlete and as someone that has been in the Paralympic and Disability sporting environment since my youth. I can’t wait to start this new stage of my career and giving back to the sport that has meant so much to me.”
Farewell to a legend 👟
— Tourism-Culture-Arts-Gaeltacht-Sport-Media (@DeptCulturelRL) March 29, 2023
Ministers @cathmartingreen & @ThomasByrneTD have paid tribute to Jason Smyth on his retirement.
The fastest #Paralympian on the planet achieved 6 gold medals and represented Ireland at 4 Paralympic Games.
ℹ️ https://t.co/WtdmshzStr pic.twitter.com/2bWVaXNw8G
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If this was intentional we should do background checks for vehicle ownership, or raise the minimum age to 21, or ban high-capacity engines. SOMETHING HAS TO BE DONE!
@james s: none of which will stop someone doing this, if it was indeed intentional. But your right something definitely has to be done
@james s: we have driver licensing; we take licenses off bad drivers; we impound the cars of repeat offenders; and if they kill people, we put them in actual prison (instead of on Faux News)
@Felicity Rawson: you’re bring trolled
@james s: I think most people would be satisfied if guns were as tightly regulated as cars. Insurance, licensing, lessons, passing a test, ongoing checks, higher insurance for more powerful guns etc. Oh and preventing you from using a gun if you’re blind. In many USA states you can still own and use a gun if you’re legally blind.
@Paul Lee: Looks to me she sees what the troll is insinuating and replying to the point they’re attempting to make with their trolling. Christ, imagine trolling in 2022
@Megan Elizabeth FW: Yep!
@james s: what a tool. To drive a car you need a license, background check, medical check, insurance ect …
@james s: what a turnip you are. If this was intention then dozens would likely be dead if the weapon was an AR-15 rather than a car.
@james s: the only answer to a bad guy with a car is a good guy with a car!
@Gearóid MacEachaidh: you do know you’re advocating for blind people not to be able to defend themselves in the dark.
People were complaining that we made it easier for Ukrainians to get refuge than it was for Syrians. As far as I’m aware, Ukrainians don’t carry out any terrorist attacks against people just because they don’t like what they wear or what they watch.
@John Fagan: How many Syrians carried out terrorist attacks in Ireland?
@John Fagan: Since 2015, after the bulk of the 1 million Syrian refugees arrived in Europe, there were 0 attacks in Ireland and 2 in Europe carried out by Syrian refugees.
They were the 2016 Ansbach bombing by Mohammad Daleel from Aleppo Syria and 2020 Dresden knife attack by Abdullah al-H.. Neither attack causes any deaths.
The majority of the 70 terrorist attacks were carried out by European citizens / asylum seekers from North Africa, mostly Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.
Enough is enough. We can’t allow anymore innocent people get killed by assault vehicles like this. There needs to be more background check on car owners and we need to stand up to the car lobbyists who sit by idly while people are killed everyday by these vehicles of war.
@Vestigial: what a sad little life you lead
@Vestigial: oh look another turnip commenting pro gun non-arguments! Instead of writing nonsensical rubb!sh why don’t you consider the damage someone could do with an AR-15 instead of a car. I bet you’re one of those people who brainwashed themselves into the far right on YouTube aren’t you?
@Vestigial: moron
@Bananaquit: Just for actual factual context which doesn’t rely on a political agenda or allegations of brainwashing by youtube.
The horrendous and tragic mass shootings in both Uvalde and Buffalo in which the perpetrators used AR 15 rifles, resulted in 21 and 10 deaths respectively, but in Nice France in 2016 the perpetrator used a 19 tonne truck…
“On the evening of 14 July 2016, a 19-tonne cargo truck was deliberately driven into crowds of people celebrating Bastille Day on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, France, resulting in the deaths of 86 people and the injury of 458 others.”
So obviously the intent, desire or ability of perpetrators, that are motivated to kill defenceless people using any available means, is not inhibited by not having access to any type of firearm.
@Vestigial: do u live in America? If not, ur a l0ser makin US gun control commentary as if it’s any part of ur life. If u do live in America then ur a l0ser commenting on articles in Irish media about US stuff the article isn’t even about.
Are ya just mad desperate to be American or something? Bang bang the cowboys in the movies mammy, I wanna be a cowboy bang bang. Whatever the case, ur a sad act.
@David Van-Standen: when was the last time someone killed a class full of school kids by driving a truck into the class? How many truck mass killings will there be by this time next week using a truck? How many mass shootings have there been already in the USA since the Texas shootings? You’re comparing apples with oranges for an argument that anti gun control nuts usually make. Criminals will always find ways to commit crimes, yes. But school shootings happen excuslivly by kids and young men with no criminal background and easy access to guns or able to own them themselves. The argument that nothing should be done about school shootings because a terrorist can use a truck is daft on the face of it.
@Gearóid MacEachaidh: I was going to respond to him myself but you put it better.
@Vestigial: your more or less making a joke about this.
@Vestigial: I abhor your right to have an opinion. I’m better than you. I’m a leftist.
@Gearóid MacEachaidh: I personally believe that background checks and safety training should be a requirement for firearm ownership, but when anti gun advocates claim, the problem is access to guns or types of guns, they act as if availability of guns is a new thing in the USA.
There have always been guns in the USA and even easier access than exists today, yet in the 1940′s there were 3 mass shootings, 4 in the 50′s , 7 in the 60′s, 19 in the 70′s, 22 in the 80′s, 32 in the 90′s, 44 in the 2000′s and 142 from 2010 until today, so obviously there is more involved than access to firearms.
An argument has been made over the years and with validity in my opinion, that the saturation media coverage of mass shootings since the 1970′s has contributed to the problem, because due to the media spotlight, the infamous shooters have become household names, which appeals to mentally ill people looking to gain recognition as part of their psychosis.
Obviously the news of a mass shooting has to be reported, but there is a difference between reporting the horrendous event taking place and turning it into a 24/7 media circus that turns the shooters into an international celebrity, albeit an infamous one.
Of course it is not an accident. Or random. Or (legally speaking) insanity. It’s the new ‘Bend over backwards no matter what they do’ policy that Euope has adapted in the wake of woke.
@Cindy Brolin: Once again the manufactured strawman of “woke” tediously appears in the comments section.
Personally I’m waiting for the Berlin police statement.
And BTW Armenia has been Christian since the 1st century
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