Ireland at the Paralympics

A team representing Ireland has competed at every Summer Paralympic Games but the country has never taken part in the Winter Paralympics. Irish athletes have won 178 Summer Paralympic medals, 47 gold, 57 silver and 74 bronze.[1] Paralympics Ireland (formerly the Paralympic Council of Ireland) is the National Paralympic Committee. Athletes from Northern Ireland may compete for either Great Britain or Ireland at the Paralympics, on the same basis as at the Olympics.

Ireland at the
Paralympics
IPC codeIRL
NPCParalympics Ireland
Websitewww.paralympics.ie
Medals
Gold
66
Silver
66
Bronze
94
Total
226
Summer appearances

At the first Paralympic Games in 1960 in Rome Ireland were one of 23 nations to enter athletes. The team finished 12th in the medals table with both of Ireland's gold medals being won by Joan Horan. Horan won her medals in two different sports, one in women's St. Nicholas Round open archery and one in the women's 25 m Crawl complete class 2 swimming event.[2][3][4] At the next Games, hosted by Tokyo in 1964, no Irish athlete won a medal, this remains Ireland's only Summer Paralympics with no medal winners. The most medals won by Ireland at a Paralympic Games is 65, 20 of them gold, at the 1984 Games hosted in New York and Stoke Mandeville.

At the 2008 Summer Paralympics, held in Beijing, Ireland won five medals in total, three of them gold. There was controversy over the participation of Derek Malone in the 7-a-side cerebral palsy football tournament. Malone, who had competed in the 800 m event at the Athens Paralympics was ruled as ineligible to compete by Games classification authorities on the grounds that his disability was not severe enough.[5][6]

Medals by Summer Games

GamesGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1960 Rome2002
1964 Tokyo0000
1968 Tel-Aviv0459
1972 Heidelberg2428
1976 Toronto410620
1980 Arnhem421117
1984 Stoke Mandeville
1984 New York
20153166
1988 Seoul13111842
1992 Barcelona0347
1996 Atlanta13610
2000 Sydney5319
2004 Athens0314
2008 Beijing3115
2012 London83516
2016 Rio de Janeiro44311
Totals (15 games)666694226

See also

References

  1. "IPC Historical Results Database". International Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 19 April 2010.
  2. "Ireland's first Paralympic athlete, Oliver Murphy, is honoured at the Renault Ireland Team 2012 Camp". Paralympic Council of Ireland. 14 April 2010. Archived from the original on 26 April 2010. Retrieved 19 April 2010.
  3. "Ireland honours pioneering Paralympian". inside world parasport. 15 April 2010. Retrieved 19 April 2010.
  4. Results for Joan Horan from the International Paralympic Committee (archived)
  5. Gareth A Davies (13 September 2008). "IPC defend banning of Irish footballer Derek Malone from Paralympic Games". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 19 April 2010.
  6. "Games exit for Ireland's Malone". BBC Sport. 11 September 2008. Retrieved 19 April 2010.
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