Ireland at the 2016 Summer Paralympics

Ireland competed at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 to 18 September 2016.

Ireland at the 2016 Summer Paralympics
IPC code	IRL
NPC	Paralympics Ireland
Website	www.paralympics.ie
in Rio de Janeiro
Competitors	44 in 10 sports
Medals Ranked 28th	Gold 4 Silver 4 Bronze 3 Total 11
Summer Paralympics appearances (overview)
1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 2024

Funding

Some international support for participation fell through at the last minute, resulting in severe cut back to the 2016 Summer Paralympics. This was in part a result of only 220,000 of the 2.5 million tickets to watch the Games in Rio being sold a month ahead of the Games. The Irish Paralympic Committee's CEO Liam Harbison told the Wall Street Journal that these cuts could have a catastrophic consequence for Paralympic athletes.^[1]

Medallists

Further information: 2016 Summer Paralympics medal table

Medal Name Sport Event Date   Gold Jason Smyth Athletics Men's 100m T13 9 September   Gold Michael McKillop Athletics Men's 1500m T37 11 September   Gold Eoghan Clifford Cycling Men's road time trial C3 14 September   Gold Katie-George Dunlevy Eve McCrystal (pilot) Cycling Women's road time trial B 14 September   Silver Colin Lynch Cycling Men's road time trial C2 14 September   Silver Orla Barry Athletics Women's discus F57 15 September   Silver Niamh McCarthy Athletics Women's discus F41 15 September   Silver Katie-George Dunlevy Eve McCrystal (pilot) Cycling Women's road race B 17 September   Bronze Eoghan Clifford Cycling Men's individual pursuit C3 9 September   Bronze Ellen Keane Swimming Women's 100 metre breaststroke SB8 14 September   Bronze Noelle Lenihan Athletics Women's discus F38 17 September

Medals by sport Sport       Total Athletics 2 2 1 5 Cycling 2 2 1 5 Swimming 0 0 1 1 Total 4 4 3 11 Medals by date Date       Total 9 Sept 1 0 1 2 11 Sept 1 0 0 1 14 Sept 2 1 1 4 15 Sept 0 2 0 2 17 Sept 0 1 1 2 Total 4 4 3 11 Medals by gender Gender       Total Male 3 1 1 5 Female 1 3 2 6 Total 4 4 3 11

Disability classifications

Main article: Disability sport classification

Every participant at the Paralympics has their disability grouped into one of five disability categories; amputation, the condition may be congenital or sustained through injury or illness; cerebral palsy; wheelchair athletes, there is often overlap between this and other categories; visual impairment, including blindness; Les autres, any physical disability that does not fall strictly under one of the other categories, for example dwarfism or multiple sclerosis.^[2][3] Each Paralympic sport then has its own classifications, dependent upon the specific physical demands of competition. Events are given a code, made of numbers and letters, describing the type of event and classification of the athletes competing. Some sports, such as athletics, divide athletes by both the category and severity of their disabilities, other sports, for example swimming, group competitors from different categories together, the only separation being based on the severity of the disability.^[4]

Cycling

Main article: Cycling at the 2016 Summer Paralympics

With one pathway for qualification being one highest ranked NPCs on the UCI Para-Cycling male and female Nations Ranking Lists on 31 December 2014, Ireland qualified for the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio, assuming they continued to meet all other eligibility requirements.^[5][6]

Equestrian

Main article: Equestrian at the 2016 Summer Paralympics

The country earned an individual slot via the Para Equestrian Individual Ranking List Allocation method.^[7]

Football 7-a-side football

Main article: Football 7-a-side at the 2016 Summer Paralympics

 

Members of the Irish team (left) watch the final of the IFCPF Pre Paralympic Tournament Salou 2016 between Ukraine and Brazil.

Ireland national 7-a-side football team qualified for the Rio Paralympics at 2015 World Championships because of their sixth-place finish.^[8]

The draw for the tournament was held on May 6 at the 2016 Pre Paralympic Tournament in Salou, Spain. Ireland was put into Group A with Ukraine, Great Britain and Brazil.^[9] The tournament where the draw took place featured 7 of the 8 teams participating in Rio. It was the last major preparation event ahead of the Rio Games for all teams participating.^[10] Ireland finished 5th after winning both their placement matches to the United States 4 - 3 and Argentina 0 - 3.^[11][12][13] Their roster for this tournament included Brian McGillivary, Joe Markey, Darragh Snell, Luke Evans, Eric O'Flaherty, Paraic Leacy, Gary Messett, Carl McKee, Aaron Tier, Dillon Sheridan, Tomiwa Badun, Ryan Nolan, Simon L'Estrange and Conor Tuite.^[14]

Going into the Rio Games, the country was ranked fifth in the world.^[15]

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Ukraine	3	3	0	0	10	2	+8	9	Semi finals
2	Brazil (H)	3	2	0	1	10	4	+6	6
3	Great Britain	3	1	0	2	7	5	+2	3	5th–6th place match
4	Ireland	3	0	0	3	2	18	−16	0	7th–8th place match

Source: Paralympic.org
(H) Hosts

Sailing

Main article: Sailing at the 2016 Summer Paralympics

One pathway for qualifying for Rio involved having a boat have top seven finish at the 2015 Combined World Championships in a medal event where the country had nor already qualified through via the 2014 IFDS Sailing World Championships. Ireland qualified for the 2016 Games under this criterion in the Sonar event with a ninth-place finish overall and the fourth country who had not qualified via the 2014 Championships.^[16][17][18]

Shooting

Main article: Shooting at the 2016 Summer Paralympics

The country sent shooters to 2015 IPC IPC Shooting World Cup in Osijek, Croatia, where Rio direct qualification was available. They earned a qualifying spot at this event based on the performance of Sean Baldwin in the R7 – 50m Rifle 3 Positions Men SH1 event.^[19][20]

See also

• Ireland at the 2016 Summer Olympics

References

1. Kiernan, Paul; Troianovski, Anton; Parkin, Benjamin (2016-08-16). "Amid Financial Woes, Paralympic Games See Weak Ticket Sales". The Wall Street Journal. Rio de Janeiro. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2016-08-24.
2. "Paralympics categories explained". ABC. 3 September 2008. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
3. "Making sense of the categories". BBC Sport. 6 October 2000. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
4. "A-Z of Paralympic classification". BBC Sport. 28 August 2008. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
5. (PDF). International Paralympic Committee. 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 December 2015. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
6. "Ranking — PARA — Cycling 2014". UCI. 31 December 2014. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
7. "EQUESTRIAN" (PDF). FEI. International Paralympic Committee. August 24, 2016. Retrieved August 24, 2016.
8. "Paralympic Qualification Update". International Federation of Cerebral Palsy Football. 7 July 2015. Retrieved 26 December 2015.
9. "Football 7-a-side Paralympic Draw complete for Rio 2016". IFCPF. 10 May 2016. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
10. "Schedule". IFCPF. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
11. "Ireland - USA". IFCPF. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
12. "USA - Argentina". International Federation of Cerebral Palsy Football. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
13. "Argentina - Ireland". IFCPF. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
14. "Ireland - Roster" (PDF). IFCPF. International Federation of Cerebral Palsy Football. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
15. . IFCPF. 2015. Archived from the original on 26 July 2015. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
16. (PDF). International Paralympic Committee. 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 December 2015. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
17. "Sonar". Royal Yacht Club Victoria. 2015. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
18. . Rio 2016 Official Website. 26 August 2014. Archived from the original on 29 August 2014. Retrieved 27 August 2014.
19. (PDF). International Paralympic Committee. 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 December 2015. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
20. "2015 IPC IPC Shooting World Cup in Osijek, Croatia Official Results Book" (PDF). International Paralympic Committee. 15 July 2015. Retrieved 26 December 2015.