Get to know the 41 Olympic athletes competing from Northern Ireland
All eyes will be on Paris this weekend, as over 10,000 Olympic athletes sail down the River Seine on Friday for the Olympic opening ceremony.
Over a billion people around the world are expected to tune in, with the ceremony kicking off at 7:30pm. Paris time.
A total of 41 athletes will compete in the Games, representing either Team Ireland or Team GB. Notable names include boxer Michaela Walsh, rower Rebecca Shorten, golfer Rory McIlroy and gymnast Rhys McClenaghan.
Good luck to everyone taking part! Hits Radio will keep you up-to-date with all your Olympic sporting news on air, online and on socials.
Check out our guide on NI's Olympic athletes…
TEAM IRELAND - Athletics
Ciara Mageean (1500m)
Ciara's journey from World and European Junior silver medallist in 2010/2011 to become European senior champion this year has been torturous at times due to injuries, but she won a European bronze medal in 2016, a European bronze indoors in 2019 and European silver in 2022 along the way.
Moving to an elite training group and coach Helen Clitheroe in Manchester in recent years has really sharpened her speed and racing nous. She was fourth at World Championships last year and finally completed her full European medal set with gold in Rome in June. Her 4:14.58 in Monaco last year makes her the fifth fastest female miler in history.
She was a semi-finalist in Rio 2016 and looks to be in the shape of her life ahead of her third Olympic Games.
TEAM IRELAND - Athletics
Rachel McCann (Mixed & 4x400m Relay)
Rachel played hockey and learnt ballet when she was younger. She only joined an athletics club upon starting secondary school yet anchored the Irish women's 4x400m team that came very close to a medal at the European Juniors (U20) in 2019.
This year she has broken her 200m and 400m personal bests and ran the race of her life to take silver behind Sophie Becker at Nationals last month.
She was also part of the women's 4x400m squad who finished fifth at World Indoors in March. Rachel receives an athletics scholarship at Queens where she is studying pharmaceutical science.
TEAM IRELAND - Athletics
Kate O'Connor (Heptathlon)
Kate is Ireland's first heptathlete to compete at the Olympic Games, and only our second ever female multi-eventer after Margaret Murphy who competed in the pentathlon in 1972. Her big breakthrough was a European Junior (U20) silver in 2019 when she was still only 18 and became the first and only Irish woman to exceed 6000 points.
She followed that with silver in the 2022 Commonwealth Games, was 13th on her World Championship debut in 2023, and last month clocked up her second highest points total (6244), despite an injury. She has a degree from Sheffield Hallan University and is doing a Masters in communications and PR at the Ulster University.
TEAM IRELAND - Gymnastics
Rhys McClenaghan (Pommel Horse)
Rhys started gymnastics when he was aged six with Rathgael GC and trained at the National Gymnastics Training Centre in Dublin from 2018 to 2023 but has trained at home, in Origins Gymnastics Centre in Newtownards, since mid-2023.
His breakthrough came in 2018 when he won Commonwealth and European gold on the pommel horse, beating the reigning Olympic champion Matt Whitlock on both occasions. In 2019, still in his teens, he became the first Irish gymnast to win a medal at World Championships (bronze).
In 2021 he became the first Irish gymnast to make an Olympic final. He was joint second highest qualifier (15.266) in pommel but a fall proved costly in the final where he finished seventh on a score of 13:100.
In 2022 he won silver at the Commonwealth Games and in the past two years he has won back-to-back World titles (Liverpool, Nov '22 & Antwerp Oct '23) and back-to-back European titles (Antalya April '23 & Rimini April '24), bringing his tally of major international medals to 8 (6 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze).
TEAM IRELAND - Swimming
Daniel Wiffen (800m Freestyle, 1500m Freestyle & Open Water 10km)
Daniel and his twin brother Nathan started swimming locally with Lurgan SC before moving to Lisburn SW for age-group swimming, but it is since moving to Loughborough, where he studies IT and Business, that he has become a distance superstar.
His first major medal was Commonwealth silver in 1500m freestyle in 2022, and a year later he was fourth in both the 800m and 1500m at World Championships, with a new European record in the 800m.
In 2023 he won three gold medals at the European SC Championships where his 7:20.46 smashed Grant Hackett's world record from 2008. In February 2024 he not only became the first Irish swimmer to medal at a World LC Championships but became a double world champion in 800m/1500m and his 13:34:07 was the fifth fastest in history.
On his Olympic debut in Tokyo Daniel set new Irish records of 7:51.65 and 15:07.69 when placing 14th & 20th respectively. He has since torn up the Irish record-books and looks set to make more history in Paris as Ireland's first Olympian in the open water Marathon/10km event.
TEAM IRELAND - Swimming
Danielle Hill (100m Backstroke, 50m Freestyle, 400m Freestyle Relay, 400m Medley Relay)
Ireland's fastest ever female swimmer was a Commonwealth Games finalist in 2018 despite dislocating her shoulder in training.
This summer she became European champion at the non-Olympic distance of 50m backstroke – Irelands' first European long course title since Michelle Smith in 1997 – and she also won European silver in 100m backstroke.
Danielle made her Olympic debut in Tokyo and was 25th in 100m backstroke heats (1:00.86), and 33rd in 50m freestyle heats (25:70). She was the first Irish woman to break one minute, demolishing her own Irish senior record with 59:11 at the national Olympic trials in May, where her new Irish record of 24:68 in 50m freestyle also secured qualification for Paris.
Danielle has completed a Sport and Exercise Science degree at Ulster University, and is training full-time and coaching at Larne SC.
TEAM IRELAND - Swimming
Grace Davison (Female 400m Freestyle Relay, 400m Medley Relay)
Grace has constantly lowered the Irish Junior 100m freestyle record in the past year and took it down to 55.44 at the Irish trials in May. She won 400m IM gold and 200m IM silver at the 2023 Commonwealth Youth Games, and is the youngest member of the swimming team.
Her final preparation for Paris will be via the European Juniors in Lithuania in July.
TEAM IRELAND - Swimming
Conor Ferguson (400m Medley Relay)
Conor narrowly missed Olympic qualification in the 100m backstroke for Rio by just .05 of a second when he was only 16. He is a multiple medallist in 100m backstroke at junior level, including EYOF silver (2015), European Junior silver (2016), and World Junior silver (2017).
He also took silver in 50m backstroke at the 2017 European Juniors. Based in Loughborough since late 2021, he broke the 54-second mark at this year's World Championships in February, and then lowered it to 53:87 at Olympics trials in May.
TEAM IRELAND - Swimming
Victoria Catterson (Female 400m, Freestyle Relay, 400m Medley Relay)
The Irish 200m freestyle record holder was part of the women's 4x100m medley relay team whose national record of 4:01.25 at the 2023 World Championships in Japan ranked them 13th in the world, and earned Ireland's first women's Olympic relay slot since 1972.
After completing an accountancy course in 2023 she moved from Belfast to train full-time at the National Centre in Dublin.
TEAM IRELAND - Boxing
Jude Gallagher (57kg Men)
Jude qualified for his first Olympic Games in March by winning four rounds of the first Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Italy where he had to reach the top four.
A bronze medallist at World and European Youth Championships in 2018, he won Commonwealth gold in Birmingham in 2022, beating Joseph Commey in the final but came up against eventual winner Javier Ibanez, a former World Youth champion, at the 2023 European Games.
Boxer of the tournament at 2024 National Elite Championships in a particularly stacked division, his qualification in Milan made Jude only the second Tyrone boxer to become an Olympian since Tommy Corr fought in Los Angeles forty years ago.
TEAM IRELAND - Boxing
Michaela Walsh (57kg Women)
Michaela won bronze at World Youths in 2011 and Commonwealth silver in 2014 (flyweight) which she repeated at featherweight in 2018 when she also won European Championship bronze.
She took silver at the 2019 European Games and in 2021 qualified for her first Olympics by finishing runner-up in the final Qualifier. Walsh lost to Italy's Irma Testa in the last 16 in Tokyo.
In 2022 she added Commonwealth gold and another European bronze and her bronze at the 2023 European Games – her eighth major medal – also clinched her place in Paris.
Michaela and Aidan made history in 2021 as the first sister/brother to ever compete in Olympic boxing and are repeating that achievement in Paris.
TEAM IRELAND - Boxing
Aidan Walsh (71kg)
A Commonwealth Games silver medallist in 2018, Aidan won Olympic bronze in Tokyo by beating Merven Clair of Mauritius in the quarter-finals but an ankle injury unfortunately prevented him from contesting the semi-finals.
His return to his second Olympics is remarkable given that he contemplated retirement in the past twelve months.
TEAM IRELAND - Hockey
Sean Murray (Captain)
One of the nine remaining players from the team that so narrowly missed out on a spot at the Tokyo Olympics, Seán is now team captain and truly a world-class centre-midfielder, playing full-time in one of the world's best leagues.
Sean spent two years in the Dutch top-flight with Rotterdam, and the last four in Belgium; the first two of these at Leuven, and currently with Gantoise; who have won the last two Belgian league titles.
He played in two EuroHockey Championships, the 2018 World Cup, and led Ireland into this year's historic first FIH ProLeague involvement and their two victories over Belgium.
TEAM IRELAND - Hockey
Johnny McKee
The striking ace for Banbridge was a key player when they eliminated Belgium's Royal Leopold to make the last 16 of the EHL (Europe's top club competition) in 2016.
He has played with Crefelder in Germany's Bundesliga and has won three Irish Leagues and three Senior Cups, including the latter this season.
A regular for Ireland since his senior debut in 2015, he has scored 43 goals to date. His younger sister Katie was also vying for a place in Paris with the Irish women at the same Olympic qualification tournament in January.
TEAM IRELAND - Hockey
Michael Robson
Michael made his debut against England ten years ago and since then has won a European bronze medal (2015), played in the 2018 World Cup, and helped Ireland qualify for the 2016 Olympics while he was studying a BSc in Finance at Queens.
He was a travelling reserve in Rio and is one of only three survivors from that 2016 squad. He took time out of his career as an accountant with EY-Parthenon to spend three years playing professionally in Germany with Crefelder (2017-2020), where younger brother Callum also played.
TEAM IRELAND - Hockey
Peter McKibbin
Peter has won two national leagues, two national cups, and a Champions trophy with his club, where he has been a key man in their two European club titles in the last two seasons, including this year's third tier EuroHockey Club Trophy I.
He made his Irish senior debut against Scotland in 2019, and was part of the Irish team who won EuroHockey Division II bronze in 2021, and gold in 2023. He has a degree in Sport and Exercise Science from Ulster University and works in procurement for the N.I. Civil Service.
TEAM IRELAND - Hockey
Peter Brown
Peter has won nine major domestic titles with his club (three each of Irish EY League, Senior Cup and Champions Trophy), including a double of league and Champions trophy this season.
He has played four times with his club in the EHL; hockey's equivalent of the Champions League. Ireland hosting a group stage in the EHL when Banbridge beat the French champions, and drew with the Belgian equivalent to reach the last 16 remains one of his proudest moments in the game.
He went to Queens and now combines hockey with working as a project manager.
TEAM IRELAND - Hockey
Kyle Marshall
A product of Banbridge HC and one of Ireland's key defenders. He briefly played for England at junior level while he was at college in Nottingham, but transferred back and made his Irish senior debut in 2021.
He played for Beeston HC in England for four years before transferring to Old Georgians with whom he won a bronze medal in the EHL (top European club league) this year.
Kyle broke his thumb in the final Olympic qualifying match in January which side-lined him for three months. He has a degree in financial mathematics and works as a data analyst.
TEAM IRELAND - Hockey
Matthew Nelson
Another key man for Lisnagarvey in winning two European club titles in the last two seasons, including this year's third tier EuroHockey Club Trophy I. A key attacker who scored the first goal when Ireland beat Belgium (2-1) for the first time in history in the FIH Pro League in May, he also scored two goals at the Olympic qualifying tournament in January; including one in the playoff against Korea.
Matt previously played professionally for Crefelder in the German Bundesliga for two seasons (2019-21), and now works as a PE teacher at Grosvenor Grammar School.
TEAM IRELAND - Hockey
Tim Cross
Tim started hockey with Greensborough HC in Melbourne and won eight caps for Australia before transferring to play for Ireland, which necessitated a three-year international absence.
He played with Tilburg in Netherland's ultra-competitive Hoofdklasse League, made his Irish debut in 2019 and was part of the Irish squad just pipped for a spot in Tokyo.
Timothy then moved to Belfast to train with Ireland playing for Annadale (2019-2021), before moving to London in 2023 where he works as a PE and Nutrition teacher.
TEAM IRELAND - Hockey
Jonny Lynch - RESERVE
One of the Lisnagarvey stars who won two domestic and one European trophy this season, he made his Irish senior debut in 2022 and is a particularly versatile and a dangerous counter-attacking defender.
TEAM IRELAND - Rugby Sevens
Zac Ward
The squad's only Ulster man who helped Ireland secure Paris qualification a year in advance, and was also selected 2024 Sevens Player of the Year by his peers. Picked on the 'Dream Team' at the LA leg of the World Series in April after Ireland took bronze to win back-to-back medals on the tour for the first time.
Zac lost six to seven kilos to make the transition from XVs to Sevens World Series where he has racked up 205 points and 125 tries in 90 games. Dad Andy played for Ireland and Zac's younger brother Wyn played for Ireland's U20s this year.
TEAM IRELAND - Rugby Sevens
Ashleigh Orchard
Part of Ireland XVs' Grand Slam win in 2013 and that famous victory over the Black Ferns (2014), Ashleigh has played in four World Cups (two XVs, two Sevens). She stepped away from the Sevens programme in 2019 after repetitive injury, returned through the development squad in 2022, and, just when she got an Irish re-call, discovered she was pregnant.
Ashleigh returned in May this year, just five months after giving birth to Arabella (who will be one next month), and her try against Spain in the final round of the World Series regular season was her first since 2018. She is currently on leave from Citibank.
TEAM IRELAND - Rugby Sevens
Claire Boles - RESERVE
Claire was on the same Enniskillen and Ulster U18 team as future Ireland XVs teammate Kathryn Dane which won the U18 interprovincial title in 2016. She made her Sevens debut a year later and has played 31 times. She made her Six Nations debut in 2019 and has three XVs caps.
Claire studied chemical engineering in UCD and has a twin, Katie, who also plays rugby.
TEAM IRELAND - Rowing
Philip Doyle (Double Sculls)
Philip took up rowing in 2014 while studying medicine in Queens University and combined it with work as a doctor during the global pandemic.
The Banbridge man won World silver with Ronan Byrne in 2019 before their Olympic debut in Tokyo where they placed tenth. Philip claimed bronze at last year's Worlds alongside Daire Lynch, and they've shown promising form so far this summer.
The duo won bronze at the first World Cup in April, missed Lucerne through injury but won the final World Cup in Poland in June; Ireland's first heavyweight gold at this level.
TEAM IRELAND - Rowing
Ross Corrigan (Pair) and Nathan Timoney (Pair)
Ross and his partner in the pair Nathan have rowed together since their school days at Enniskillen Royal Grammar School. Ross is a chemical engineering graduate from Queens who played Gaelic football for Kinawley as a teenager.
Nathan played underage hurling for Fermanagh before concentrating on rowing and, when not training he studies Business Management at Queens. Like Ross he initially raced in a Four and won a bronze medal at World U23 Championships in 2022.
Their partnership made a big breakthrough with bronze at the 2023 World Championships which was Ireland's first ever heavyweight sweep medal.
TEAM IRELAND - Equestrian
Abigail Lyle (Dressage)
Abi comes from a completely non-equine background but finally persuaded her parents to buy her a horse after completing her GCSEs.
She started college in Queens (English and Film), but left after 18 months and worked as a groom in a racing yard, before moving to England in 2009, to work and train in an equitation school.
Former Olympian Carl Hester has coached her to international level and she now trains 10 horses in a yard in Moreton-in-Marsh in the Cotswolds. This year Abigail won the CD13 Freestyle at Addington and made the Freestyle finals at two CD14 events in Le Mans and Hagen.
TEAM IRELAND - Equestrian
Daniel Coyle (Showjumping)
When his best horse Uptown Girl was retired in 2016 Daniel found himself at a crossroads but a move to Canada ignited his career to far greater heights. He initially went to work with Conor Swail but soon became first rider for owners Susan and Aeriel Grange in Ontario, and his world ranking has jumped from 55th to 11th in the past two years.
Daniel was part of the Irish team who were fifth at Europeans in 2021 (9th individual), fourth at the World Championships in 2022 (which secured their spot in Paris), and has finished top of the Longines League of Nations standings this year (contested by the world's top 10 teams), ahead of the final in Barcelona in October.
TEAM IRELAND - Equestrian
Susie Berry (Eventing)
Susie was riding from a young age (her mum is a vet and a breeder) and, from 2012 to 2017 represented Ireland in six European Junior Championships, winning team gold and team bronze.
In 2022 she set up her own yard near March, was part of the team who finished fifth at the World Championships and secured Olympic qualification, and she also won the CCI4* in Little Downham on Wellfields Lincoln, who she calls 'Slinky'.
TEAM IRELAND - Golf
Rory McIlroy (Strokeplay)
Rory has spent over 100 weeks at world number one since turning pro in 2007, is a four-time Major winner (the 2011 US Open), the PGA Championship (2012 & 2014) and the British Open (2014), and was runner-up in the 2022 Masters.
He has racked up 26 wins on the PGA, a record three FedEx titles, 17 victories on the European Tour, and five wins from seven Ryder Cup appearances. Rory scored a total of 269 (69-66-67-67) on his Olympic debut in Tokyo, and finished tied fourth after an unforgettable seven-man playoff for the bronze medal. Eliminated after the second hole, he famously said: "I never tried so hard in my life to finish third".
TEAM IRELAND - Golf
Stephanie Meadow (Strokeplay)
Stephanie's family moved to South Carolina when she was thirteen to further her golf talent, and she was the University of Alabama's first four-time first-team All-American.
In 2018 she won her first event on the Symetra Tour finishing sixth overall earning back her LPGA Tour Card. Before Tokyo 2020 she was tied 19th at the ANA Inspiration (the season's first Major). In 2022 she made 18 cuts from 25 events and in 2023 had a real shot at a Major when she finished third at the KPMG PGA Championships; one of her nine top ten finishes on the LPGA tour so far.
This is Stephanie's third Olympic Games. She was tied 31st in Rio 2016 but tied 7th in Tokyo with a brilliant score of 272 (72-66-68-66), just three shots off a bronze medal and five off gold.
TEAM IRELAND - Track Cycling
Alice Sharpe (Team pursuit / Madison)
Alice was born in Munich and grew up in Cambridge, but qualifies for Ireland through her father Steve, who lives in Belfast. She competed in triathlon until she switched to cycling while at Manchester Metropolitan University.
She joined Cycling Ireland's elite ranks in 2018 and has been part of the Team Pursuit squad that has knocked almost six seconds off the Irish record since 2021, won European bronze that year, and won silver at the Nations Cup in Hong Kong in March; the result which secured Olympic qualification.
She is also a two-time Irish Road Race champion (2019, 2022), and races professionally for a UK team where Mia Griffin is a teammate. Alice and Lara Gillespie just missed the podium in the Madison at the Ghent International at the end of last month.
TEAM IRELAND - Track Cycling
Erin Creighton- RESERVE
Erin is still a relative newcomer to track; only making her international debut in the World Junior Track Championships in 2021.
She stepped into the Team Pursuit squad this year in the wake of Emily Kay's retirement, and took the year out of university to train full-time. She rode in Nations Cup and in the qualifying round of the European Championships where she also competed in individual pursuit and competed in the European U23s in July.
As a natural sprinter the high-octane elimination race is Erin's favourite track discipline.
TEAM GB - Hockey
David Ames (Captain)
Brought up in Cookstown, Northern Ireland, Ames' first sporting love was football but he abandoned dreams of a professional career in the sport due to concerns over his size.
After trying his hand at hockey as a teenager in County Tyrone, however, the defender hasn't looked back.
Ames, who has over 100 international caps, is renowned for his leadership and helped England win bronze at the 2017 EuroHockey Championships before playing a key role in Great Britain's fifth-placed finish at Tokyo 2020.
TEAM GB - Rowing
Hannah Scott (Quadruple Sculls)
Scott made her Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020 while still studying for a degree in sociology at Princeton University but is back with eyes on a medal this time around.
She has the power of science on her side after being one of the first athletes to take part in Project Minerva, a research project focused on improving understanding the performance of female athletes.
Scott's involvement was triggered by a diagnosis of osteopenia that almost caused her to retire, but the condition has now been reversed.
It means the Northern Irish rower is free to fully concentrate on chasing the podium in Paris, to add to her world and European golds with the women's quadruple sculls squad.
TEAM GB - Rowing
Rebecca Shorten (Women's Four)
Rebecca Shorten walked away from rowing as a junior. She reversed that decision while studying at Roehampton University, combining rowing training with 36-hour weeks working in a sports shop and as a nanny.
Shorten is now a leading member of the women's sweep squad, finishing fourth in the women's four on Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020.
She led that crew to World Championship gold in 2022 and bronze in 2023 and will race in the class at her second Olympics at Paris 2024.
TEAM GB - Rowing
Rebeca Edwards (Women's Eight)
Northern Ireland's Rebecca Edwards will return for her second Olympics at Paris 2024.
A keen footballer and hockey player in her youth, Edwards relocated to London to come through the ranks at Molesey Boat Club and her passion for rowing is now unbridled.
She competed in the women's eight at Tokyo 2020 and was part of the crew that qualified Team GB in that boat class for Paris 2024.
Edwards will step into the pair alongside Chloe Brew at her second Games.
TEAM GB - Swimming
Jack McMillan (4x200m Freestyle Relay)
The Belfast-born swimmer won gold in 200m freestyle and silver in 100m freestyle at the 2018 World Schools Games and has been on an upward trajectory since then.
The freestyle specialist now trains alongside Team GB teammates Duncan Scott, Kathleen Dawson and Katie Shanahan in Stirling, Scotland.
McMillan finished fifth in the men's 200m freestyle at the Aquatics GB Swimming Championships to book himself a ticket to Paris 2024.
TEAM GB - Archery
Conor Hall (Recurve)
Born in Belfast, the archery bug bit in his first year at Campbell College and he competed internationally for the first time in 2016.
Hall, who has experienced most success in the discipline of field archery, helped Team GB qualify for the Olympics at the last gasp - a bronze medal at the Final Olympic Qualifier in Antalya in June 2024 ensured he will make his Olympic debut in Paris.
TEAM GB - Archery
Patrick Huston - RESERVE
Patrick Huston competed at his second Olympic Games in Tokyo.
He was Team GB's lone male archer at Rio 2016, where he lost to eventual champion Ku Bon-chan of South Korea in the last 32.
Huston returned to the Olympic stage five years later and he joined Tom Hall and James Woodgate in the men's team that reached the quarter-finals, as well as competing in the individual event.
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