With a record number of Irish athletes – 133 to be exact – headed to Paris to compete, here is our guide to watching the Olympics from your sofa, if you want to watch with pride as our Irish entries take to the world stage at the highest level.
Rowing: Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy have won five gold medals together at world, European and Olympic level, and they take to the water on Sunday, July 28th for their first race at 11am.
Aifric Keogh and Fiona Murtagh will compete in the women’s pairs and their first heat begins on Sunday, 28th July at 9.30am.
Boxing: Aoife O’Rourke from Roscommon is one to watch, having one gold at the last three European Championships. She needs to win two fights to be guaranteed a medal. Since Tokyo, she has competed in 28 fights, winning 27. The woman who beat her in the World Championships is not going to be in Paris. Her first fight is on Wednesday, July 31st at 10am.
Kellie Harrington is also a reigning European champion – and Olympic gold medallist – so she too only needs two wins to get a medal in Paris. It’s the last competition of her boxing life, she says, so she will give it everything. Her first fight is on Monday, July 29th at 11am.
Swimming: Daniel Wiffen is a double world champion and world record holder. He is also a triple European short course champion, at only 22 years old. His first race is Monday, July 29th at 10am.
The 400m freestyle finals will be on for the men at 7.42pm on July 27th, while the women’s will be on 10 minutes later at 7.52pm. The men and women’s 4 x 100m freestyle relays finals will be on at 8.34pm and 8.44pm respectively on that day too.
Gymnastics: Rhys McClenaghan had hopes of a medal in Tokyo, but missing out, has improved every year. He is a double world champion, and his qualification event is on Saturday, July 27th at 10am.
Cycling: Three road cyclists are part of Team Ireland, with Megan Armitage taking part in the women’s road race on August 4th at 1pm, Ben Healy taking part in the men’s road race on August 3rd at 10am, and Ryan Mullen also doing the men’s road race on August 3rd and the men’s time trial on July 27th at 3.32pm.
Athletics: Rhasidat Adeleke has sprinted onto the Irish sports scene in force of late (no pun intended) and in the women’s 400m, she has a chance. All eyes will be on her as she competes in her first race on Monday, August 5th at 9.55am. Fellow athletes Sharlene Mawdsley and Sophie Becker will also compete in the 400m race, while Ireland is hoping for strong showings in the 400m relays across the men’s, women’s and mixed competitions.
Limerick’s Sarah Lavin takes part in the 100m hurdles, hoping to qualify for its final on August 10th at 6.45pm.
The 4 x 400m relay mixed final takes place at 7.55pm on August 3rd, before the women’s 100m final at 8.20pm. Those events fall between the women’s triple jump final at 7.20pm and the men’s decathlon 1500m at 8.45pm.
The men’s 100m final is on at 8.50pm on August 4th, while on August 5th the women’s 5000m final is on at 8.10pm and the women’s 800m final is on at 8.45pm.
The women’s 200m final is on at 8.40pm on August 6th, and the men’s equivalent is on at 7.30pm on August 8th.
The men and women’s 4 x 100m relay finals are on August 9th, with the women’s at 6.30pm and the men at 6.45pm. the women’s 400m final follows them at 7pm.
On August 10th the men’s 4 x 400m relay final is on at 8.12pm and the women’s equivalent is at 8.22pm. There will, hopefully, be Irish interst in both of these.
The women’s 1500m final will be on at 7.25 on August 10th, with Ciara Mageean, Sarah Healy and Sophie O’Sullivan hoping to qualify, while the men’s 1500m final will be on August 6th at 7.50pm.
Jodie McCann will be running in the 5000m race, hoping to qualify for its finals on August 5th at 8.10pm following its first round on August 2nd at 5.10pm.
Nicola Tuthill from Cork takes part in the hammer throw and Louth’s Kate O’Connor will be doing the heptathlon.
Donegal’s Mark English will be running the 800m race while Andrew Coscoran, Cathal Doyle and Luke McCann of Dublin will all be running the 1500m race. Brian Fay will be running the 5000m race while Eric Favors takes part in the shot put.
The men’s marathon starts at 7am on August 10th, with the women’s starting at the same time on August 11th.
The men’s and women’s individual triathlons start at 7am on July 30th and 31st respectively, while the mixed relay triathlon starts at 7am on August 5th. Olympians will be swimming in the Seine regardless of controversy about the safety of the water quality.
Hockey: The men’s hockey team are in pool B, and their first game is at 9.30am on July 27th against Belgium.
Taekwondo: Jack Woolley became Ireland’s first participant in any Olympic taekwondo event in Tokyo, and is back again for Paris 2024. If he gets past the qualification rounds on Wednesday, August 7th, his medal bouts will be on that same evening.
Equestrian: Seven equestrian athletes have been chosen as part of Team Ireland for Paris 2024, with four in showjumping, namely Shane Sweetnam of Co Cork riding James Kann Cruz, Daniel Coyle of Co Derry riding Legacy, Cian O’Connor of Co Meath riding Maurice and alternate Bertram Allen of Co Wexford riding Pacino Amiro. They will compete from August 1st-6th.
Austin O’Connor of Co Cork riding Colorado Blue, Sarah Ennis of Co Dublin riding Action Lady M, Susie Berry of Dromore Co Down riding Wellfields Lincoln and alternate Aoife Clark of Co Kildare riding Sportsfield Freelance take part in eventing. The eventing team first will first in dressage on July 27th. The following day they will compete in cross country, while the competition rounds out on July 29th with jumping.
Abigail Lyle of Co Down rides Giraldo in the individual dressage on July 30th-31st.
Rugby: Ireland are competing in the rugby sevens with the men’s events running from July 24th-27th and the women’s events from July 28th-30th. The men’s first game is July 24th at 4.30pm against South Africa in Pool A, while the women’s first game, in Pool B is at 2.30pm on July 28th against Britain.
The men’s rugby sevens team this year features Leinster and Ireland full back Hugo Keenan, while French rugby star and former world player of the year Antoine Depoint plays for his home team in his home country.
Sailing: Eve McMahon makes her Olympic debut in Paris, having qualified in the women’s dinghy, while Rio Olympian, Finn Lynch, will compete in the men’s dinghy, both running from August 1st-6th. Tokyo Olympians Robert Dickson and Sean Waddilove compete in the men’s skiff, running from July 28th to August 1st.
Golf: Shane Lowry and Rory McIlroy will head from The Open to the Olympics this year, while Leona Maguire and Stephanie Meadow will also be taking to Paris to compete. Well, to Le Golf National, in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, near Versailles to the southwest of Paris. The men’s event takes place from August 1st-4th while the women’s event takes place August 7th-10th. All events begin at 8am.
Of course, there are many other athletes competing in many other events in this year’s Olympics, such as badminton, canoeing, and beyond, but for those of us who are not sporting buffs, these are the events to keep your eyes on.
RTÉ and the BBC will be showing an Olympic-sized swimming pool worth of Olympics coverage over the few weeks.
