The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the Games of the Paralympiad, is a periodic series of international multi-sport events involving athletes with a range of physical and sensory disabilities. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, are held almost immediately following the respective Olympic Games every four years.
All Paralympic Games are governed by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).
Below we have listed our Paralympic heros who competed in Tokyo Paralympic Games in 2021.
Jason Smyth
Jason Smyth is undoubtedly Ireland’s most accredited and widely known Paralympic athlete, known as the fastest Paralympian of all time, he a staggering eight paralympic gold medals between 100m and 200m sprints, eight gold medals at the World Championships and six gold medals at the European Championships. Jason also won gold at the 2006 World Indoor Championships. Jason has hit world records throughout his career including running a world record 10.54 in the 100m heats before clocking 10.46 in the final to stand top of the podium at London’s Olympic Stadium during the 2012 Paralympic games. Jason is a member of the Vision Sports Ireland Board and always on hand to support Vision Sports initiatives.
Katie-George Dunlevy and Eve McCrystal
Katie George Dunlevy and Eve McCrystal have arguably been the most successful duo to represent Ireland in history. They have represented Ireland at World and Paralympic Games since 2014 winning a remarkable array of medals. Already this year in Germany Katie-George and new pilot Linda Kelly have won 2 gold medals, before that in Belgium Katie-George and Eve won gold and silver both in World Cup events. Winning multiple medals podium finishes at UCI Para Cycling Road World Championships, a gold and silver at the 2016 Rio Olympics, and two golds and a silver at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. What a career this lady has had and she is not done yet. Always on hand to support the next generation Katie-George supported the Youth Leadership programme by sharing her experience as a female leader in sport.
Martin Gordon & Eamonn Byrne
Martin Gordon and Eamonn Byrne competed at their first Para-Cycling Track World Championships in 2017. The strong and exciting duo went on to win Silver at 2018 UCI Track World Cup event in London. This set up the men to make their way onto the Irish Paralympic team, where they were finalist’s at Tokyo 2020 Paralympic games in track cycling. Martin and Eamonn helped launch the first online Vision Sports Awareness Training course which was launched in late 2021.
Roisin Ni Riain
Roisin Ni Riain is a very promising young Irish paralympic athlete who made her championship debut at the European Championships in Madeira in May 2021 where she won a bronze medal in the S13 backstroke, she also made five additional European finals. On the same year as her championship debut, Roisin became Paralympic Ireland’s youngest athlete in the Tokyo Paralympics where she was a finalist in 100m butterfly. Roisin was one of our special guests at the 2020 virtual MayFest.
Orla Comerford
Orla Comerford made her paralympic debut at 18 during the 2016 Rio Olympic games where she qualified for the T13 100m final, just one year later she represented Ireland again at the 2017 World Championship finals. Orla obtained two bronze medals at the 2018 European Championships for the 100m and 200m sprints and represented her country at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic games. Vision Sports were delighted to have Orla contribute to the Youth Leadership programme as one of the presentation panellists on the final session.
Greta Streimikyte
Greta Streimikyte has gone from strength to strength since making her international debut for the Irish Para-Athletics team at the 2016 European Para Athletics Championship where she claimed a bronze medal. Later that year she secured her place on the Irish paralympic team by becoming a Rio 2016 Paralympic games finalist. Greta’s other outstanding achievements include a gold medal at the 2018 European Championships in Berlin, setting a new European record in the T13 1,500m at the World Para Athletics European Championships in 2021 and winning gold at the 2021 World Para Athletics European Championships in Poland. Greta has supported Camp Abilities in recent years by sharing her journey with the next generation.