Ireland at the 2012 Summer Olympics explained

Noc:	IRL
Nocname:	Olympic Federation of Ireland
Games:	Summer Olympics
Year:	2012
Location:	London
Competitors:	66
Sports:	14
Flagbearer:	Katie Taylor (opening) Darren O'Neill (closing)
Rank:	41
Gold:	1
Silver:	1
Bronze:	4
Appearances:	auto
See also:	(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 6 medals (1 gold, 1 silver and 4 bronze) 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.

Medallists

| width="78%" align="left" valign="top" |

Medal	Name	Sport	Event	Date
	Katie Taylor^[3]
	John Joe Nevin
	Cian O'Connor^[4]

| width="22%" align="left" valign="top" |

Medals by sport
Sport				Total
	1	1	2	4
	0	0	1	1
	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.^[5] ^[6] ^[7] 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.^[5] 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."^[5] Also, Australian commentator Russell Barwick provoked "fury" while on ESPN, comparing Team Ireland's independence from Team GB to Tasmanian athletes not performing for Australia.^[8]

Athletics

See main article: Athletics at the 2012 Summer Olympics. 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.^[9] 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.^[10]

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):^[11]

Men

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	align=left rowspan=3	50 km walk	3:55:01	29
Colin Griffin
Robert Heffernan	3:37:54 NR

Women

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
align=left rowspan=2	Fionnuala Britton	5000 m	15:12.97	10	Did not advance
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	align=left rowspan=3	Marathon	2:37:13	66
Ava Hutchinson	2:37:17	68
Caitriona Jennings	3:22:11	107
Olive Loughnane	align=left rowspan=2	20 km walk	1:29:39	13
Laura Reynolds	1:31:02	20

Field events

Athlete	Event	Qualification		Final
Athlete	Event	Distance	Position	Distance	Position
Tori Pena	Pole vault		—	Did not advance
Deirdre Ryan^[12]	High jump	1.85	27	Did not advance

Badminton

See main article: Badminton at the 2012 Summer Olympics. 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.^[13]

Athlete	Event	Group stage			Elimination	Quarterfinal	Semifinal	Final /
Athlete	Event	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Rank	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Rank
Scott Evans	Men's singles	L 8–21 14–21		2	Did not advance
Chloe Magee	Women's singles	W 21–17 21–6	L 21–16 18–21 14–21	2	Did not advance

Boxing

See main article: Boxing at the 2012 Summer Olympics. Ireland qualified boxers for the following events.

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		W 15–10	W 23–18	L 15–15⁺	Did not advance
Michael Conlan	Flyweight		W 19–8	W 22–18	L 10–20	Did not advance
John Joe Nevin	Bantamweight	W 21–6	W 15–10	W 19–13	W 19–14	L 11–14
Adam Nolan	Welterweight	W 14–8	L 9–18	Did not advance
Darren O'Neill	Middleweight	W 15–6	L 12–19	Did not advance

Women

Canoeing

See main article: Canoeing at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

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.

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

Cycling

See main article: Cycling at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

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
Men's time trial	56:03.77	27
Nicolas Roche	Men's road race	5:46:37	89

Track

Omnium

Equestrian

See main article: Equestrian at the 2012 Summer Olympics. By rankings Ireland qualified one athlete in dressage, an eventing team and two athletes in jumping.

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	align=left rowspan=5	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
			Penalties	Rank	Penalties	Total	Rank	Penalties	Total	Rank	Penalties	Rank	Penalties	Total	Rank	Penalties	Rank
Cian O'Connor	Blue Loyd	align=left rowspan=2	Individual	0	1 Q	8	8	31 Q	12	20	38 Q	0	1 Q	1	1	2 JO	1
Billy Twomey	Tinka	4	42 Q	8	12	56	Did not advance

Gymnastics

See main article: Gymnastics at the 2012 Summer Olympics. 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.^[14]

Artistic

Men

Judo

See main article: Judo at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Modern pentathlon

See main article: Modern pentathlon at the 2012 Summer Olympics. 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

See main article: Rowing at the 2012 Summer Olympics. Ireland qualified the following boats.

Women

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

See main article: Sailing at the 2012 Summer Olympics. 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

Open

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

Shooting

See main article: Shooting at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Men

Swimming

See main article: Swimming at the 2012 Summer Olympics. 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)):^[15]

Men

Athlete	Event	Heat		Semifinal		Final
Athlete	Event	Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
align=left rowspan=2	Barry Murphy	50 m freestyle	22.76	29	Did not advance
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
align=left rowspan=2	Sycerika McMahon	100 m breaststroke	1:08.80	26	Did not advance
200 m individual medley	2:14.76	22	Did not advance
align=left rowspan=4	Gráinne Murphy	200 m freestyle			Did not advance
400 m freestyle	4:19.07	31	Did not advance
800 m freestyle			Did not advance
400 m individual medley			Did not advance
align=left rowspan=2	Melanie Nocher	100 m backstroke	1:02.44	33	Did not advance
200 m backstroke	2:16.29	34	Did not advance