Aoife O’Rourke’s place at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games has been confirmed.
O’Rourke is one of 10 Irish boxers who head to Paris for competition between July 27 and August 10.
Indeed, 2020 Olympic Gold medallist Kellie Harrington will lead the Irish team; in a sport which has captured 18 of Ireland’s 38 Olympic medals.
“I’m heading out for my second Olympic Games, and I can’t wait” declared Harrington. “It’s a big team, we have ten boxers, which is fantastic”.
“The biggest difference between Tokyo and this Olympics is that there will be people in the crowd and with that a lot of noise, so it will be all about us controlling our emotions”.
“I’m glad to be part of history, as this will be the hundredth year that Team Ireland competed in the Olympic Games. So we are already part of history.”
Indeed, the preliminary rounds of the boxing take place in the Arena Paris Nord. Whereas, the semi-finals and the finals will be held in the iconic Rolland Garros Stadium.
Full women's boxing team
“The Olympic Games is the pinnacle of our sport” said Irish athletic boxing association Performance Director, Tricia Heberle.
“That we have qualified the largest boxing team since Rome 1960, speaks not only to the strength of our High Performance programme, supported by the OFI, Sport Ireland and SportNI, but also to the quality of coaching in the clubs in which our Paris athletes began their boxing careers”.
“Team Ireland is the only NOC in Europe to have qualified a full team of women, which is a remarkable achievement given that Paris 2024 is only the fourth Olympic cycle in which women may box”.
“That our team includes two Tokyo medalists in Kellie Harrington and Aidan Walsh shows just how exceptional this group of athletes is”.
“They are well prepared, they are focused on their key performance goals and they are ready to contest at the highest possible level.”
Team Ireland Paris Boxing
Kellie Harrington (Dublin) Women’s 60kg
Aidan Walsh (Belfast) Men’s 71kg
Aoife O’Rourke (Castlerea) Women’s -75kg
Daina Moorehouse (Bray) Women’s -50kg
Dean Clancy (Sligo) Men’s 63.5kg
Grainne Walsh (Tullamore) Women’s -66kg
Jude Gallagher (Newtownstewart, Co. Tyrone) Men’s -57kg
Jennifer Lehane (Ashbourne, Co. Meath) Women’s -54kg
Jack Marley (Sallynoggin, Dublin) Men’s -92kg
Michaela Walsh (Belfast) Women’s -57kg
Staff: Tricia Heberle – Performance Director & Team Leader, Zauri Antia – Head Coach, Damian Kennedy – Coach, Lynne McEnery – Coach, James Doyle – Coach, Jim Clover – Doctor, Lorcan McGee – Physio, Paula Fitzpatrick – Physiologist.
