Olympic Games: Injury heartbreak for Mageean in Paris
The Portaferry athlete has been forced to pull out of the 1500m
Last updated 5th Aug 2024
Portaferry's Ciara Mageean is out of the Olympic Games.
The European 1500 metre champion has been forced to withdraw ahead of tomorrow's heats due to an achilles injury.
She says she is "absolutely heartbroken" and that she "gave it possible to be on the start line".
The 32-year-old has been suffering from the achilles tendon injury which has repeatedly upset her final preparations in recent weeks.
A statement released by Team Ireland on Monday evening said: “In her final weeks of preparation for these Paris Olympic Games, Ciara has been dealing with painful chronic Achilles issues.
“Despite every effort made by Ciara and the Team Ireland medical team, the European champion will unfortunately be unable to toe the line tomorrow morning.”
It's more Olympic heartbreak for Mageean, who suffered a calf injury leading up to the Tokyo Games in 2021. She still competed, but failed to make it out of the heats.
She came abc to win gold in the European Championships in Rome earlier this year, which led to hopes of a medal in Paris. Now those dreams have been taken away.
It means Ireland will have Sarah Healy and Sophie O'Sullivan going in the 1500 metre heats, shich begins just after 9am on Tuesday