After 100 years, the Olympic Games will return to Paris on Friday July 26, and this is one for the Team Ireland history books. The country is already breaking records with the largest number of competitors ever to represent Ireland at the Olympics at a total of 133 athletes taking part. Each and every one of them deserves our pride and appreciation. Here are some history-making moments, and ones to watch this year …
Today! Wednesday July 24
RUGBY: Days before the opening ceremony, rugby sevens will commence with the men’s preliminary stages. The world’s best 288 men’s and women’s rugby players will compete – 24 teams – in the Stade de France, and we will be cheering on two teams in particular. Starting first is the men’s team today, Wednesday July 24, with their first game at 4.30pm in Pool A. Following their maiden appearance in Tokyo in 2020 the Ireland Men’s Sevens team will take on South Africa and Japan on the first day, before playing New Zealand the next day. Terry Kennedy is one to watch as the most destructive winger in the world this year, this will be his second Olympic games. Hugo Keenan has “fitted in perfectly” according to coach James Topping, as he is expected to shine at this Olympics. Captain Harry McNulty has certainly been keeping the team’s spirits high, as seen on social media. Being captain is “the highest honour” for the forward. This start is guaranteed to get us warmed up for the Paris Olympics 2024.
Sunday July 28
RUGBY: The Women’s Rugby Sevens tournament begins on Sunday July 28, with Ireland taking on Britain in the first game at 2.30pm, before meeting South Africa and Australia. This team is making HISTORY as they make their Olympic debut. The team is led by the extraordinary Captain Lucy Mulhall. We cannot wait to watch this unstoppable team throughout their first Olympics, after serious hard work, determination and drive, there is no doubt they are going to make their mark on the international stage.
Saturday July 27
GYMNASTICS: Rhys McClenaghan had hopes of a medal in Tokyo but unfortunately missed out. He is a double world champion on the pommel horse, plus a Commonwealth champion for Northern Ireland and a three-time European Champion for Ireland. There is great hope that this could be the year for Rhys to bring home a medal. The 25-year-old’s qualification event is on Saturday July 27 at 10am.
Sunday July 28
ROWING: Irish rower Paul O’Donovan previously won Ireland’s first ever Olympic medal in rowing – a silver in Rio in 2016 with his brother Gary O’Donovan. We all remember their hilarious post-race interviews. Paul O’Donovan is favoured to defend the Olympic title he won at Tokyo 2020 alongside Fintan McCarthy. Having won two World titles together and an Olympic gold, the Skibbereen rowers will be racing in the lightweight men’s double on Sunday. They are sure to “get from a to b” alright. Galway rowers Aifric Keogh and Fiona Murtagh will compete in the women’s pairs on Sunday July 28 at 9.30am. The two won a Bronze medal in the Women’s Four at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics so they know that medal-winning feeling, and we have no doubt they are gunning for it again.
Monday July 29
BOXING: Kellie Harrington, reigning European Champion and Olympic gold medalist has her first fight on Monday July 29 at 11am. Another one to watch is Aoife O’Rourke from Roscommon. O’Rourke has won gold at the last three European championships and is the second Irish woman to ever win an Elite Gold European medal after Katie Taylor. Her first fight is on July 31 at 10am.
Monday July 29
SWIMMING: World record holding Daniel Wiffen is a double World champion and Triple European short course champion at only 22 years old. His first race is July 29 at 10am.
August 1-4 / 7-10
Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry will venture into their second Olympics together in the hopes of achieving a medal. “I’m excited about going with a chance to win an Olympic medal,” Lowry, who finished 22nd at Tokyo 2020, told pgatour.com. “That would be something very special. Ireland has not won a ridiculous amount of medals over the years, so to be able to bring a medal back to Ireland would be very cool. I’ve done some really cool things in golf and that would be definitely up there.”
Leona Maguire (who recently became the first Irish player to win a Ladies European Tour event after a fantastic eagle in the 18th hole at the Aramco Team Series), and Stephanie Meadow will represent Ireland in the women’s tournament from August 7-10 for their third Olympics. The tournament takes place in Le Golf National, in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, near Versailles to the southwest of Paris, the venue for the 2018 Ryder Cup, and all events start at 8am.
Thursday August 1
SAILING: 20-year-old Eve McMahon will compete in her very first Olympics for the women’s single handed Olympic dinghy class. “Qualifying for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games is a dream that I have had since I was a little girl and to be able to represent my country at the highest level at the most prestigious sporting event in the world makes me very proud. To see all the hard work pay off is also very rewarding and that keeps me motivated,” says Eve. Be sure to watch her on Thursday August 1. To read more see here: Interview with Eve McMahon.
August 1- 11
ATHLETICS: Track and field events will take place in the Stade de France (the same location as the Rugby Sevens) as it becomes a bespoke athletics stadium, complete with a purple track.
Rhasidat Adeleke in the women’s 400m is seriously one to watch. The Tallaght native showed her Olympic readiness by bringing home her first Diamond League win in the 400m in Monaco. In 49.17 seconds, this was her second fastest time ever. Rhasidat Adeleke, Sharlene Mawdley and Sophie Becker will all complete their first 400m race on Monday August 5 at 9.55am.
Ireland is also hoping for strong results in mixed relays following their success winning gold at the 2024 European Athletics Championships in Rome. This was Ireland’s first European gold since 1998. The mixed 4x400m relay team is named as Rhasidat Adeleke, Sharlene Mawdsley, Sophie Becker, Phil Healy (Cork), Lauren Cadden (Sligo), Kelly McGrory (Donegal), Rachel McCann (Down), Chris O’Donnell (Sligo), Thomas Barr (Waterford), Jack Raftery (Dublin).
Tokyo Olympian and 1500m athlete, Andrew Coscoran is heading to his second Olympic Games.
August 6-11
CYCLING: Another part of history in the making for Team Ireland is the first ever women’s track team to qualify for the Olympic Games. The Irish track cycling team has secured qualification in the Women’s Team Pursuit, the Women’s Omnium and the Women’s Madison following a two-year competition journey. The track cycling competitions take place in the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Velodrome on the outskirts of Paris, and run from August 6 until August 11. This is even more impressive as Ireland doesn’t even have a Velodrome and so this team has been spending a significant amount of time in Mallorca to train. The team includes Mia Griffin, Alice Sharpe, Kelly Murphy and Lara Gillespie.
Sunday August 11
WOMEN’S MARATHON:
Marathon runner Fionnuala McCormack will be making history by becoming the first Irish woman to compete in five Olympic Games. She will run on the roads of Paris on Sunday August 11, following the route which takes in some of the famous Parisian landmarks, including the Chateau de Versailles, the Grand Palais and the Hotel de Ville.
Opening Ceremony: Friday July 26 at 6.30pm
A special mention must go to Laura Weber, designer of Team Ireland’s uniforms for the 2024 Olympic Games opening and closing ceremonies. The NCAD graduate is based in New York and her company, LW Pearl, specialises in couture embellishment. Weber first came to recognition when her intricate embroidery featured on the outfit that First Lady Jill Biden wore on her husband’s inauguration as American president in January 2021. The design was by Gabriella Hearst.
Following this, three-time Irish Olympian pentathlete Natalya Coyle reached out to Weber and asked her to embroider her wedding dress. The two developed a friendshop and talked back and forth about Coyle’s sports competition uniforms, how they came about and how she wore them.
It was this friendship and the Olympic Games setting (in the fashion capital of the world), that encouraged Weber even more to support her country and join the fashion alumnis of the Olympic Federation Ireland (including John Rocha and Paul Costelloe) to design Team Ireland’s uniforms for the opening and closing ceremonies for 2024. Read more about it here.
RTÉ and BBC will be covering the Olympic Games and the opening ceremony which will take place on Friday 26 at 6.30pm Ireland time. We are eagerly anticipating watching all of the competitors from Team Ireland and have no doubt they will make us all very proud.