Ireland at the 1996 Summer Olympics

Ireland competed at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States.

Ireland at the 1996 Summer Olympics
IOC code	IRL
NOC	Olympic Federation of Ireland
Website	olympics.ie
in Atlanta
Competitors	78 (62 men and 16 women) in 13 sports
Flag bearer	Francie Barrett
Medals Ranked 28th	Gold 3 Silver 0 Bronze 1 Total 4
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)

Medalists

Ireland won three gold and one bronze medal at the 1996 Olympics, the highest number ever, and was placed 28th in the medals table. Sonia O'Sullivan, who was seen as the best medal chance prior to the competition, did not win a medal.

Michelle Smith was accused of doping, though the accusations were not substantiated at the time. Two years after the Atlanta Games, FINA banned Smith for four years for tampering with her urine sample using alcohol; the testers also found traces of a metabolic precursor of testosterone, Androstenedione.^[1][2] Smith was not stripped of her medals, as the test upon which the ban was based was conducted well after the Games. Her achievements at the Games remain controversial.

Gold

• Michelle Smith — Swimming, Women's 400 metres Freestyle
• Michelle Smith — Swimming, Women's 200 metres Individual Medley
• Michelle Smith — Swimming, Women's 400 metres Individual Medley

Bronze

• Michelle Smith — Swimming, Women's 200 metres Butterfly

Results by event

Archery

Ireland again sent only one archer to the Olympics. Keith Hanlon won his first match, but was defeated in the second round.

Men

Athlete	Event	Ranking round		Round of 64	Round of 32	Round of 16	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Finals
		Score	Seed	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Rank
Keith Hanlon	Individual	650	34	Koprivnikar (SLO) (31) W 155–151	Jang (KOR) (2) L 159–165	did not advance

Athletics

Men

Athlete	Events	Heat		Quarterfinal		Semifinal		Final
		Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank
Neil Ryan	100 m	10.78	7	did not advance
Gary Ryan	200 m	20.78	3 Q	20.89	8	did not advance
Eugene Farrell	400 m	47.18	6	did not advance
David Matthews	800 m	1:46.76	4 Q	—		1:47.83	5	did not advance
Niall Bruton	1500 m	3:37.42	3 Q	—		3:42.88	12	did not advance
Shane Healy	1500 m	3:37.28	5 Q	—		3:39.81	11	did not advance
Marcus O'Sullivan	1500 m	3:38.16	6	—		did not advance
Cormac Finnerty	5000 m	13:54.01	10 Q	—		14:08.88	10	did not advance
Sean Dollman	10000 m	29:19.03	19	—				did not advance
Sean Cahill	110 m hurdles	14.28	7	did not advance
T. J. Kearns	110 m hurdles	13.67	3 Q	13.55	5	did not advance
Tom McGuirk	400 m hurdles	50.76	5	—		did not advance
Jimmy McDonald	20 km walk	—						1:32:11	51
Mark Mandy	High jump	2.20	11	—				did not advance
Nick Sweeney	Discus throw	62.04	13	—				did not advance
Terry McHugh	Javelin throw	72.84	15	—				did not advance
Roman Linscheid	Hammer throw	68.14	33	—				did not advance

Women

Athlete	Events	Heat		Quarterfinal		Semifinal		Final
		Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank
Sinead Delahunty	1500 m	4:10.20	5 Q	—		4:12.52	9	did not advance
Sonia O'Sullivan	1500 m	4:19.77	10	—		did not advance
	5000 m	15:15.80	1 Q	—				DNF	-
Katy McCandless	5000 m	15:55.56	10	—				did not advance
Marie Davenport	5000 m	15:59.12	14	—				did not advance
Catherina McKiernan	10000 m	32:32.10	6 Q	—				32:00.38	11
Susan Smith	400 m hurdles	55.22	3 Q	—		54.93	5	did not advance
Deirdre Gallagher	10 km walk	—						45:47	23

Boxing

Athlete	Event	Round of 32	Round of 16	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Final
		Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Rank
Damaen Kelly	Flyweight	Strogov (BUL) W 12–11	Hussein (AUS) W 27–20	Jumadilov (KAZ) L 6–13	did not advance
Francis Barrett	Light welterweight	Ferreria (BRA) W 32–7	Missaoui (TUN) L 6–18	did not advance
Brian Magee	Middleweight	Thompson (CAN) W 13–5	Tietsia (CMR) W 11–6	Bahari (ALG) L 9–15	did not advance
Cathal O'Grady	Heavyweight	da Silva (NZL) L RSC 1	did not advance

Canoeing

Slalom

Athlete	Event	Run 1	Rank	Run 2	Rank	Total	Rank
Mike Corcoran	Men's C-1	162.90	8	173.61	13	162.90	10
Stephen O'Flaherty	Men's C-1	188.75	21	220.73	23	188.75	25
Ian Wiley	Men's K-1	145.21	3	207.26	35	145.21	5
Andrew Boland	Men's K-1	201.92	34	184.51	31	184.51	40

Flatwater

Athlete	Event	Heats		Repechages		Semifinals		Final
		Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Conor Maloney Gary Mawer	Men's K-2 500 m	1:43.074	7	1:44.375	7	did not advance
	Men's K-2 1000 m	4:03.432	6	3:40.656	6	did not advance

Cycling

Road

Men

Athlete	Event	Time	Rank
David McCann	Road race	4:56:49	72

Track

Pursuits

Athlete	Event	Qualifying		Quarterfinals		Semifinals		Finals
		Time	Rank	Opposition Time	Rank	Opposition Time	Rank	Opposition Time	Rank
Phillip Collins	Men's pursuit	4:41.207	16	did not advance

Points races

Athlete	Event	Points	Rank
Declan Lonergan	Men's points race	0	22

Mountain Bike

Athlete	Event	Time	Rank
Martin Earley	Men's cross-country	2:43:56	25
Alister Martin	Men's cross-country	2:47:46	32

Equestrian

Eventing

Athlete	Horse	Event	Dressage		Cross-country		Show jumping				Total
							Qualifier		Final
			Penalties	Rank	Penalties	Rank	Penalties	Rank	Penalties	Rank	Penalties	Rank
David Foster	Tilt 'n' Turn	Individual	54.60	20	DNF	-	-	Eliminated				-

Rowing

Men's Double Sculls

• Brendan Dolan 3rd in the repechage (→ Unplaced)
• Niall O'Toole 3rd in the repechage (→ Unplaced)

Men's Lightweight Fours

• Derek Holland 4th in the A final (→ 4th)
• Sam Lynch 4th in the A final (→ 4th)
• Neville Maxwell 4th in the A final (→ 4th)
• Tony O'Connor 4th in the A final (→ 4th)

Shooting

Rifle

Athlete	Event	Qualification		Final
		Score	Rank	Score	Rank
Gary Duff	Men's 50 m prone rifle	580	52	did not advance
Rhona Barry	Women's 10 m air rifle	382	43	did not advance

Swimming

Men

Athlete	Events	Heat		Final
		Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Nicholas O'Hare	50 m freestyle	24.03	48	did not advance
Earl McCarthy	100 m freestyle	50.99	27	did not advance
	200 m freestyle	1:53.67	29	did not advance
Adrian O'Connor	100 m backstroke	58.56	41	did not advance
	200 m backstroke	2:08.90	35	did not advance

Women

Athlete	Events	Heat		Final
		Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Marion Madine	200 m freestyle	2:04.92	27	did not advance
	100 m butterfly	1:03.80	31	did not advance
Michelle Smith	400 m freestyle	4:09.00	2 Q	4:07.25
	200 m butterfly	2:10.03	2 Q	2:09.91
	200 m individual medley	2:16.35	7 Q	2:13.93
	400 m individual medley	4:43.79	3 Q	4:39.18

References

1. De Bruin banned
2. Morrisey, Rick (14 August 2000). "The Tarnished Golden Girl". The Seattle Times.

• (ed.) Watkins, Ginger T. (1997). (PDF). Atlanta: Peachtree Publishers. ISBN 1-56145-150-9. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2008-02-05. {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help)