Ireland at the 2008 Summer Paralympics

Ireland competed at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing. Ireland sent 45 athletes, competing in 9 sports.^[1] The country's flagbearer at the Games' opening ceremony was Patrice Dockery.^[2]

Ireland at the 2008 Summer Paralympics
IPC code	IRL
NPC	Paralympics Ireland
Website	www.paralympics.ie
in Beijing
Competitors	45 in 9 sports
Flag bearer	Patrice Dockery
Medals Ranked 36th	Gold 3 Silver 1 Bronze 1 Total 5
Summer Paralympics appearances (overview)
1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 2024

Medallists

Medal	Name	Sport	Event
Gold	Michael McKillop	Athletics	Men's 800 m T37
Gold	Jason Smyth	Athletics	Men's 100 m T13
Gold	Jason Smyth	Athletics	Men's 200 m T13
Silver	Darragh McDonald	Swimming	Men's 400 m Freestyle S6
Bronze	Gabriel Shelly	Boccia	Mixed Individual BC1

Sports

Archery

Main article: Archery at the 2008 Summer Paralympics

Athlete	Event	Ranking round		Round of 32	Round of 16	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Finals
		Score	Seed	Opposition score	Opposition score	Opposition score	Opposition score	Opposition score	Rank
Sean Heary	Men's individual compound	652	20	Arenz (GER) W 108-104	Go (KOR) W 113-112	Horner (SUI) L 99-113	did not advance

Athletics

Main article: Athletics at the 2008 Summer Paralympics

Men's track

Athlete	Class	Event	Heats		Semifinal		Final
			Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank
Roy Patrick Guerin	T53	100m	16.59	12	did not advance
Michael McKillop	T37	800m	—				1:59.39 WR
Jason Smyth	T13	100m	10.81 WR	1 Q	—		10.62 WR
		200m	21.81 WR	1 Q	—		21.43 WR

Men's field

Athlete	Class	Event	Final
			Result	Points	Rank
Eoin Thomas Cleare	F32	Shot put	6.11	-	7
Garrett Culliton	F33-34/52	Discus throw	17.79	953	5
John McCarthy	F32/51	Club throw	19.53	811	11
		Discus throw	9.48	966	9

Women's track

Athlete	Class	Event	Heats		Final
			Result	Rank	Result	Rank
Patrice Dockery	T53	100m	18.90	10	did not advance
		200m	35.38	12	did not advance
		400m	1:08.95	11	did not advance

Women's field

Athlete	Class	Event	Final
			Result	Points	Rank
Orla Barry	F57-58	Discus throw	27.08	1027	5
Catherine Wayland	F32-34/51-53	Discus throw	6.13	1010	6

Boccia

Main article: Boccia at the 2008 Summer Paralympics

Athlete	Event	Preliminaries			Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Final
		Opponent	Opposition Score	Rank	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Rank
Padraic Moran	Mixed individual BC1	Marques (POR)	L 2-4	1 Q	Wang Y (CHN) L 5-6	did not advance
		Sanders (NZL)	W 7-3
		Smith (GBR)	W 9-0
		Aandalen (NOR)	W 4-2
Gabriel Shelly		Park J S (KOR)	L 3-5	1 Q	Vaquerizo (ESP) W 8-2	Marques (POR) L 1-4	Wang Y (CHN) W 6-2
		Richardson (CAN)	W 4-2
		Ibarbure (ARG)	W 3-2
		Kitani (JPN)	W 5-2
Roberta Connolly	Mixed individual BC2	Cortez (ARG)	L 1-4	3	did not advance
		Cao (CHN)	L 0-5
		Leglice (ARG)	W 4-3
Tom Leahy		F Ferreira (POR)	W 5-2	4	did not advance
		Bentley (GBR)	L 1-5
		Kainuma (JPN)	L 2-4
Roberta Connolly Tom Leahy Padraic Moran Gabriel Shelly	Mixed team BC1-2	Spain (ESP)	L 1-12	2 Q	China (CHN) L 2-12	did not advance
		Finland (FIN)	W 7-3

Cycling

Main article: Cycling at the 2008 Summer Paralympics

Men's road

Athlete	Event	Time	Rank
Cathal Gustavus Miller	Men's road race LC1/LC2/CP4	DNF
	Men's road time trial LC1	36:33.95	9
Enda Smyth	Men's road race LC1/LC2/CP4	DNF
Michael Delaney David Patrick Peelo (pilot)	Men's road race B&VI 1-3	2:29:32	16
	Men's road time trial B&VI 1-3	36:26.54	18

Men's track

Athlete	Event	Qualification		1st round		Final
		Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Opposition Time	Rank
Cathal Gustavus Miller	Men's individual pursuit LC1	4:53.97	5	did not advance
	Men's time trial LC1	—				1:11.82	7
Enda Smyth	Men's individual pursuit CP4	3:55.919	7	did not advance
	Men's time trial CP4	—				1:16.07	7
Michael Delaney David Patrick Peelo	Men's individual pursuit B&VI 1-3	4:49.911	13	did not advance
	Men's sprint	11.460	6	Kilpatrick (RSA) /  Thomson (RSA)	L 0-2	5-8th place matches  Cowie (CAN) /  Smibert (CAN) W 12.145	5
	Men's time trial B&VI 1-3	—				1:08.593	10

Women's road

Athlete	Event	Time	Rank
Catherine Mary Walsh Joanna Hickey	Women's road race B&VI 1-3	2:03:14	9
	Women's road time trial B&VI 1-3	40:09.67	7

Women's track

Athlete	Event	Qualification		Final
		Time	Rank	Opposition Time	Rank
Catherine Mary Walsh Joanna Hickey (pilot)	Women's individual pursuit B&VI 1-3	3:50.515	5	did not advance
	Women's time trial B&VI 1-3	—		1:16.208	7

Equestrian

Main article: Equestrian at the 2008 Summer Paralympics

Athlete	Horse	Event	Total
			Score	Rank
Eilish Byrne	Youri	Mixed individual championship test grade II	62.818	11
		Mixed individual freestyle test grade II	65.833	8

Football 7-a-side

Main article: Football 7-a-side at the 2008 Summer Paralympics

The men's football 7-a-side team didn't win any medals; they were 6th out of 8 teams.

Players

• Aidan Brennan
• Kieran Patrick Devlin
• Paul Dollard
• Luke Evans
• Mark Gerard Jones
• Darren Kavanagh
• Derek Michael Malone
• Joseph James Markey
• Brian McGillivary
• Gary Messett
• Alan O'Hara
• Finbarr O'Riordan

Tournament

8 September 2008

13:30

Ireland	2 - 4	Iran

Olympic Green Hockey Field

10 September 2008

11:15

Ukraine	7 - 0	Ireland

Olympic Green Hockey Field

Attendance: 6,763

12 September 2008

15:45

Ireland	1 - 1	Great Britain

Olympic Green Hockey Field

5th-8th place semi-finals

14 September 2008

11:30

China	1 - 4	Ireland

Olympic Green Hockey Field

5th-6th place match

16 September 2008

11:30

Ireland	2 - 4	Netherlands

Olympic Green Hockey Field

Attendance: 7,142

Referee: Kou Yadong (China)

Sailing

Main article: Sailing at the 2008 Summer Paralympics

Five Irish athletes competed in the following events in sailing:^[3]

• Two-Person Keelboat - SKUD18
• Three-Person Keelboat - Sonar

Swimming

Main article: Swimming at the 2008 Summer Paralympics

Ireland sent six representatives in swimming, including Dave Malone, Ellen Keane and Darragh McDonald.

Table tennis

Main article: Table tennis at the 2008 Summer Paralympics

Athlete	Event	Preliminaries				Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Final / BM
		Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Rank	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Rank
Eimear Breathnach	Women's singles C1-2	Pezzutto (ITA) L 1–3	Pushpasheva (RUS) L 1–3	—	3	did not advance
Kathleen Reynolds	Women's singles C3	Li Q (CHN) L 1-3	Choi H J (KOR) L 1-3	Y Silva (CUB) L 2-3	3	did not advance
Eimear Breathnach Kathleen Reynolds	Women's team C1-3	—				France (FRA) L 1-3	did not advance

See also

• 2008 Summer Paralympics
• Ireland at the Paralympics
• Ireland at the 2008 Summer Olympics