Ireland at the 2012 Summer Olympics

Ireland at the
2012 Summer Olympics
Ireland at the; 2012 Summer Olympics
IOC code	IRL
NOC	Olympic Federation of Ireland
Website	olympics.ie
in London
Competitors	66 in 14 sports
Flag bearers	Katie Taylor (opening); Darren O'Neill (closing)
Medals; Ranked 41st	Gold 1 Silver 1 Bronze 4 Total 6
Summer Olympics appearances (overview)
	1924; 1928; 1932; 1936; 1948; 1952; 1956; 1960; 1964; 1968; 1972; 1976; 1980; 1984; 1988; 1992; 1996; 2000; 2004; 2008; 2012; 2016; 2020; 2024;
Other related appearances
	Great Britain (1896–1920)

Ireland competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom, from July 27 to August 12, 2012. This was the nation's twentieth appearance at the Summer Olympics.

The Olympic Council of Ireland sent a total of 66 athletes to the Games, 36 men and 30 women, to compete in 14 sports. The International Olympic Committee allowed athletes from Northern Ireland the option to compete at the Olympic Games for either Great Britain or Ireland. Medallists Paddy Barnes and Michael Conlan were both born in Belfast, Northern Ireland and chose to compete for Team Ireland. Ireland had only a single competitor in the sprint canoeing, track cycling, equestrian dressage, judo, rowing and shooting events.

This was Ireland's most successful Olympics, winning a total of 5 medals (1 gold, 1 silver and 3 bronze) after left London in three sports: boxing, athletics and equestrian show jumping. Boxer Katie Taylor, who was Ireland's flag bearer at the opening ceremony, won Ireland's first Olympic gold medal in 16 years. Light flyweight boxer Paddy Barnes defended his bronze medal from Beijing, becoming the second Irish athlete in 80 years to win medals at two consecutive Olympics.^[1]^[2] For the first time since 1980, Ireland also won an Olympic medal in more than a single sport.

On 24 March 2016, race walker co-fourth placer Robert Heffernan was upgraded to bronze after the original gold medalist Sergey Kirdyapkin of Russia disqualified due to doping, that became a total of 6 medals.^[3]

Medallists

Medal	Name	Sport	Event	Date
Gold	Katie Taylor^[4]	Boxing	Women's lightweight	9 August
Silver	John Joe Nevin	Boxing	Men's bantamweight	11 August
Bronze	Cian O'Connor^[5]	Equestrian	Individual jumping	8 August
Bronze	Paddy Barnes	Boxing	Men's light flyweight	10 August
Bronze	Michael Conlan	Boxing	Men's flyweight	10 August
Bronze	Robert Heffernan	Athletics	Men's 50 kilometres walk	11 August

Medals by sport
Sport				Total
Boxing	1	1	2	4
Athletics	0	0	1	1
Equestrian	0	0	1	1
Total	1	1	4	6

International media coverage

Katie Taylor's Olympic boxing success led to inaccurate coverage in the international media. While previewing her semi-final bout, The Daily Telegraph, a conservative English newspaper, incorrectly referred to Taylor as "British", prompting fierce criticism from other media outlets, and an apology from the Telegraph.^[6]^[7]^[8] Fairfax Media of Australia also issued an apology, after articles published in The Age, Brisbane Times and The Sydney Morning Herald were widely condemned as "lazy stereotyping" of the Irish. Irish Ambassador to Australia Noel White issued a formal complaint about the article's reliance on Guinness, whiskey and potatoes to make a story.^[6] USA Today was criticised after its article said: "Back home on the emerald-green isle, pints of Guinness flowed freely, perhaps enough to replenish the Irish Sea. The "punters" inside betting parlors [sic] wagered pounds [sic] as if they were bits of candy. It is not hyperbole to suggest that, when Taylor entered the ring, the weight of a prideful, scuffling nation rested on her muscular shoulders."^[6] Also, Australian commentator Russell Barwick provoked "fury"^[9] while on ESPN, comparing Team Ireland's independence from Team GB to Tasmanian athletes not performing for Australia.^[9]

Athletics

The Irish team selection caused a number of controversies. In the women's marathon Linda Byrne, Ava Hutchinson and Caitriona Jennings were selected while Maria McCambridge, who had also run the 'A' qualifying standard missed out on selection, as only three athletes from a nation may compete in the event. Additionally the deadline for qualification for the marathon had been changed to allow Barbara Sanchez, who holds dual Irish and French citizenship, a chance to qualify.^[10] The team for the women's 4 × 400 metres relay was changed after Joanna Mills won an appeal of her exclusion on the grounds of having a faster time than Catriona Cuddihy who had initially been selected.^[11]

Irish athletes achieved qualifying standards in the following athletics events (up to a maximum of 3 athletes in each event at the 'A' Standard, and 1 at the 'B' Standard):^[12]^[13] ^[14]

Key

Note–Ranks given for track events are within the athlete's heat only
Q = Qualified for the next round
q = Qualified for the next round as a fastest loser or, in field events, by position without achieving the qualifying target
NR = National record
N/A = Round not applicable for the event
Bye = Athlete not required to compete in round

Mark Kenneally in men's marathon

Men
Track & road events

Athlete	Event	Heat		Semifinal		Final
Athlete	Event	Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank
Paul Hession	200 m	20.69	5	Did not advance
Ciarán O'Lionaird	1500 m	3:48.35	13	—		Did not advance
Alistair Cragg	5000 m	13:47.01	17	—		Did not advance
Mark Kenneally	Marathon	—				2:21:13	57
Robert Heffernan	20 km walk	—				1:20:18	9
Brendan Boyce	50 km walk	—				3:55:01	29
Colin Griffin		—				DSQ
Robert Heffernan		—				3:37:54 NR

Women
Track & road events

Athlete	Event	Heat		Semifinal		Final
Athlete	Event	Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank
Joanne Cuddihy	400 m	52.09	4 q	51.88	5	Did not advance
Fionnuala Britton	5000 m	15:12.97	10	—		Did not advance
Fionnuala Britton	10000 m	—				31:46.71	15
Derval O'Rourke	100 m hurdles	12.91	4 q	12.91	5	Did not advance
Stephanie Reilly	3000 m steeplechase	9:44.77	9	—		Did not advance
Jessie Barr Claire Bergin Michelle Carey Catriona Cuddihy Joanne Cuddihy Marian Heffernan	4 × 400 m relay	3:30.55	6	—		Did not advance
Linda Byrne	Marathon	—				2:37:13	66
Ava Hutchinson		—				2:37:17	68
Caitriona Jennings		—				3:22:11	107
Olive Loughnane	20 km walk	—				1:29:39	13
Laura Reynolds	20 km walk	—				1:31:02	20

Field events

Athlete	Event	Qualification		Final
Athlete	Event	Distance	Position	Distance	Position
Tori Pena	Pole vault	NM	—	Did not advance
Deirdre Ryan^[15]	High jump	1.85	27	Did not advance

Badminton

Ireland qualified two badminton players for the Games. Scott Evans competed in the men's singles and Chloe Magee in the women's singles.; each made their second appearance at an Olympic Games.^[16]

Athlete	Event	Group stage			Elimination	Quarterfinal	Semifinal	Final / BM
Athlete	Event	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Rank	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Rank
Scott Evans	Men's singles	Lin D (CHN) L 8–21 14–21	—	2	Did not advance
Chloe Magee	Women's singles	Hosny (EGY) W 21–17 21–6	Pi (FRA) L 21–16 18–21 14–21	2	Did not advance

Boxing

Ireland qualified boxers for the following events.

Boxer Katie Taylor wins Ireland's first gold in 16 years

Men

Athlete	Event	Round of 32	Round of 16	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Final
Athlete	Event	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Rank
Paddy Barnes	Light flyweight	Bye	Essomba (CMR) W 15–10	Singh (IND) W 23–18	Zou (CHN) L 15–15⁺	Did not advance
Michael Conlan	Flyweight	Bye	Micah (GHA) W 19–8	Oubaali (FRA) W 22–18	Ramírez (CUB) L 10–20	Did not advance
John Joe Nevin	Bantamweight	Ceylan (DEN) W 21–6	Abutalipov (KAZ) W 15–10	Valdez (MEX) W 19–13	Álvarez (CUB) W 19–14	Campbell (GBR) L 11–14
Adam Nolan	Welterweight	Sánchez (ECU) W 14–8	Zamkovoy (RUS) L 9–18	Did not advance
Darren O'Neill	Middleweight	Akanji (NGR) W 15–6	Hartel (GER) L 12–19	Did not advance

Women

Athlete	Event	Round of 16	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Final
Athlete	Event	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Rank
Katie Taylor	Lightweight	Bye	Jonas (GBR) W 26–15	Chorieva (TJK) W 17–9	Ochigava (RUS) W 10–8

Canoeing

Slalom

Ireland qualified boats for the following events.

Athlete	Event	Preliminary						Semifinal		Final
Athlete	Event	Run 1	Rank	Run 2	Rank	Total	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Eoin Rheinisch	Men's K-1	89.97	6	90.72	11	89.97	12 Q	153.98	14	Did not advance
Hannah Craig	Women's K-1	117.07	14	108.99	11	108.99	14 Q	116.12	10 Q	127.36	9

Sprint

Ireland qualified boats for the following events.

Athlete	Event	Heats		Semifinals		Final
Athlete	Event	Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Andrzej Jezierski	Men's C-1 200 m	41.404	2 Q	42.012	4 FB	44.041	9

Qualification Legend: FA = Qualify to final (medal); FB = Qualify to final B (non-medal)

Cycling

Road

Athlete	Event	Time	Rank
Dan Martin	Men's road race	5:46:37	90
David McCann	Men's road race	5:46:37	55
David McCann	Men's time trial	56:03.77	27
Nicolas Roche	Men's road race	5:46:37	89

Track

Omnium

Athlete	Event	Flying lap		Points race		Elimination race	Individual pursuit		Scratch race	Time trial		Total points	Rank
Athlete	Event	Time	Rank	Points	Rank	Rank	Time	Rank	Rank	Time	Rank	Total points	Rank
Martyn Irvine	Men's omnium	13.504	9	47	6	15	4:32:948	14	9	1:04:558	11	64	13

Equestrian

By rankings Ireland qualified one athlete in dressage, an eventing team and two athletes in jumping.

Dressage

Athlete	Horse	Event	Grand Prix		Grand Prix Special		Grand Prix Freestyle		Overall
Athlete	Horse	Event	Score	Rank	Score	Rank	Technical	Artistic	Score	Rank
Anna Merveldt	Coryolano	Individual	69.772	33	Did not advance

Eventing

Athlete	Horse	Event	Dressage		Cross-country			Jumping						Total
			Dressage		Cross-country			Qualifier			Final			Total
			Penalties	Rank	Penalties	Total	Rank	Penalties	Total	Rank	Penalties	Total	Rank	Penalties	Rank
Aoife Clark	Master Crusoe	Individual	48.90	32	3.60	52.50	21	0.00	52.50	12	0.00	52.50	7	52.50	7
Mark Kyle	Coolio		58.70	61	7.20	65.90	35	6.00	71.90	32	4.00	75.90	21	75.90	21
Joseph Murphy	Electric Cruise		55.60	53	1.80	60.40	29	0.00	60.40	24	0.00	60.40	14	60.40	14
Michael Ryan	Ballylynch Adventure		60.20	64	Eliminated			Did not advance
Camilla Speirs	Portersize Just A Jiff		47.60	27	Eliminated			Did not advance
Aoife Clark Mark Kyle Joseph Murphy Michael Ryan Camilla Speirs	See above	Team	152.10	10	36.70	178.80	7	6.00	184.80	5	—			184.80	5

Show jumping

Athlete	Horse	Event	Qualification								Final					Total
			Round 1		Round 2			Round 3			Round A		Round B			Total
			Penalties	Rank	Penalties	Total	Rank	Penalties	Total	Rank	Penalties	Rank	Penalties	Total	Rank	Penalties	Rank
Cian O'Connor	Blue Loyd	Individual	0	1 Q	8	8	31 Q	12	20	38 Q	0	1 Q	1	1	2 JO	1
Billy Twomey	Tinka	Individual	4	42 Q	8	12	56	Did not advance

Gymnastics

Ireland qualified a single gymnast for London; Kieran Behan, just the second Irish gymnast in history to qualify for the Olympics, competed in the artistic gymnastics discipline.^[17]

Artistic

Men

Athlete	Event	Qualification								Final
		Apparatus						Total	Rank	Apparatus						Total	Rank
		F	PH	R	V	PB	HB	Total	Rank	F	PH	R	V	PB	HB	Total	Rank
Kieran Behan	Floor	13.966	—					13.966	53	Did not advance

Judo

Athlete	Event	Round of 32	Round of 16	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Repechage	Final / BM
Athlete	Event	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Rank
Lisa Kearney	Women's −48 kg	Bye	Wu Sg (CHN) L 0012–1011	Did not advance

Modern pentathlon

Ireland qualified 2 athletes.

Athlete	Event	Fencing (épée one touch)			Swimming (200 m freestyle)			Riding (show jumping)			Combined: shooting/running (10 m air pistol)/(3000 m)			Total points	Final rank
Athlete	Event	Results	Rank	MP points	Time	Rank	MP points	Penalties	Rank	MP points	Time	Rank	MP points	Total points	Final rank
Arthur Lanigan-O'Keeffe	Men's	14–21	29	736	2:02.44	9	1332	80	20	1120	11:08.69	26	2328	5516	25
Natalya Coyle	Women's	19–16	11	856	2:19.17	20	1132	40	5	1160	12:12.45	13	2072	5220	9

Rowing

Ireland qualified the following boats.

Women

Athlete	Event	Heats		Repechage		Quarterfinals		Semifinals		Final
Athlete	Event	Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Sanita Pušpure	Single sculls	7:49:35	3 QF	Bye		7:44:19	4 SC/D	7:51.69	1 FC	7:59.77	13

Qualification Legend: FA=Final A (medal); FB=Final B (non-medal); FC=Final C (non-medal); FD=Final D (non-medal); FE=Final E (non-medal); FF=Final F (non-medal); SA/B=Semifinals A/B; SC/D=Semifinals C/D; SE/F=Semifinals E/F; QF=Quarterfinals; R=Repechage

Sailing

Ireland qualified 1 boat for each of the following events.

Men

Athlete	Event	Race											Net points	Final rank
Athlete	Event		2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	5	M*	Net points	Final rank
James Espey	Laser	38	44	39	36	46	42	27	27	25	35	EL	313	36
Scott Flanigan Ger Owens	470	16	25	24	25	15	22	25	27	16	5	EL	173	23
David Burrows Peter O'Leary	Star	2	6	14	5	11	12	9	7	11	7	20	95	10

Women

Athlete	Event	Race											Net points	Final rank
Athlete	Event	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	M*	Net points	Final rank
Annalise Murphy	Laser Radial	1	1	1	1	8	19	2	10	3	7	5	44	4

Open

Athlete	Event	Race																Net points	Final rank
Athlete	Event	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	M*	Net points	Final rank
Matt McGovern Ryan Seaton	49er	4	8	15	2	12	19	11	9	14	7	15	7	13	16	16	EL	149	14

M = Medal race; EL = Eliminated – did not advance into the medal race;

Shooting

Men

Athlete	Event	Qualification		Final
Athlete	Event	Points	Rank	Points	Rank
Derek Burnett	Trap	116	27	did not advance

Swimming

Irish swimmers achieved qualifying standards in the following events (up to a maximum of 2 swimmers in each event at the Olympic Qualifying Time (OQT), and 1 at the Olympic Selection Time (OST)):^[18]^[19]

Men

Athlete	Event	Heat		Semifinal		Final
Athlete	Event	Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Barry Murphy	50 m freestyle	22.76	29	Did not advance
Barry Murphy	100 m breaststroke	1:01.57	29	Did not advance

Qualifiers for the latter rounds (Q) of all events were decided on a time only basis, therefore positions shown are overall results versus competitors in all heats.

Women

Athlete	Event	Heat		Semifinal		Final
Athlete	Event	Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Sycerika McMahon	100 m breaststroke	1:08.80	26	Did not advance
Sycerika McMahon	200 m individual medley	2:14.76	22	Did not advance
Gráinne Murphy	200 m freestyle	DNS		Did not advance
	400 m freestyle	4:19.07	31	—		Did not advance
	800 m freestyle	DNS		—		Did not advance
	400 m individual medley	DNS		—		Did not advance
Melanie Nocher	100 m backstroke	1:02.44	33	Did not advance
Melanie Nocher	200 m backstroke	2:16.29	34	Did not advance