News
Trinity Celebrates a 100 Years of Participation by Trinity Students in the Olympic Games
Trinity College Dublin hosted a special event Trinity Olympians to celebrate the participation of students, past and present in the Olympic Games over the past 100 years and to honour current students participating in the London 2012 Olympic Torch Relay. A total of 45 Trinity graduates have taken part in the Olympic Games since 1908. Many of the Trinity Olympians will be present at the event, as will the Trinity students who will be participating in the London 2012 Olympic Torch Relay.
Three Trinity College Dublin students, Áine Ní Choisdealbha, Natalya Coyle and Mark Kenneally, and one graduate, Mark Pollock carried the Olympic Flame on June 6th through the streets of Dublin as part of the London 2012 Olympic Torch Relay. One of those students, Mark Kenneally will be competing in the London Olympics, having achieved the Marathon qualifying time in Amsterdam in October 2011. Natalya Coyle is on course for qualifying in the sport of Modern Pentathlon. As a presenting partner of the Olympic Torch Relay, Samsung opened up a nomination process at Trinity College Dublin to find inspiring young students who would carry the Olympic Flame in the London 2012 Olympic Torch Relay. Based on their contribution to the community as well as sporting and academic prowess three Trinity students the three students were selected.
8,000 inspirational Torchbearers will pass the Olympic Flame as it makes its way through Ireland and the UK on its 70 day journey. Trinity College Dublin is the only Irish university to participate in the relay which includes 31 other universities across the UK as well as Queen’s University Belfast in Northern Ireland.
The Trinity Olympic Torch Bearers joined Trinity Olympians at the special event celebrating past and present sporting prowess at the university.
Prolific Trinity Olympians include:
Gearoid Towey, Sailing
Gearoid Towey, a graduate from Trinity in Geography in 2007, was a member of the Fermoy Rowing Club and has competed in the Sydney Olympic Games (2000), the Athens Olympic Games (2004) and the Beijing Olympic Games (2008). Gearoid has travelled the globe to compete at World Cup Regattas between 1998 and 2008, accumulating five Gold, two Silver and three Bronze medals during this time. He was selected for his first Olympic Games to represent Ireland in 2000 as part of the Men’s Lightweight Coxless Fours that finished in 11th place overall. In 2004, he rowed with Sam Lynch in the Men’s Lightweight Double Sculls, and achieved a final placing of 10th. As a triple Olympian in Beijing in 2008, he was selected for the Men’s Lightweight Coxless Fours crew which placed 10th overall.
Ronan Tynan, Athletics
Ronan Tynan graduated in medicine in 1993 and participated in the 1984 Summer Paralympic Games and the Seoul Olympics in 1988 in South Korea. Between 1984 and 1988, Tynan won 18 Gold Medals and set 14 World records at various national and international events. As a globally recognised tenor, he has performed five times in the White House for the US President and has recorded four albums with the Irish Tenors. Tynan competed at two Paralympic Games in 1984 and in 1988. He won 3 Gold and Silver in 1984 and a Gold, Silver and Bronze in 1988. Ronan was awarded the Outstanding Athlete of the Games in 1984.
David Wilkins, Sailing
David Wilkins is Ireland’s most capped Summer Olympian. A graduate of engineering he participated in the five Olympic Games: Munich (1972), Montreal (1976), Moscow (1980), Seoul (1988) and Barcelona (1992). He won Ireland’s only Olympic medal in yachting in 1980 in the Moscow Olympic where he teamed up with fellow Trinity graduate Jamie Wilkinson in the Flying Dutchman class, a Mixed Two-Person Heavyweight dinghy. They achieved 4 second-place finishes in the races and won the Silver Medal, Ireland’s only Olympic medal in yachting since Ireland first competed in this sport in 1948. He went on to win a second Olympic medal in the Seoul Olympic in 1988.
Maeve Kyle, Athletics
Maeve Kyle, a graduate of Trinity in 1950, competed in the 100m and 200m at the Melbourne Olympic Games in Australia in 1956 and also qualified for the Rome Olympic Games in 1960, competing in the 100m and 200m. She became Ireland’s first triple Olympian at the Tokyo Olympic Games in 1964 at age 36, where she reached the semi-finals of both the 400 m and 800 m. In 1961 she became the first Irish woman to win a British AAA title at 440 yds in 56.3. Her contribution to athletics and sport in general has been recognised locally and nationally by many awards.
Commenting on the achievement of Trinity students and graduates in the Olympic Games, Provost, Dr Patrick Prendergast said: “Competing in an Olympic Games is the pinnacle of any athlete’s career. Sport at both elite and non-elite levels also generates social interactions and relationships that greatly assist in breaking down divisions and challenges created by social exclusion and inequalities. By showcasing Trinity’s Olympians it is intended to demonstrate what any non-elite sportsman or sportswoman can achieve by training and dedication. They can be inspired by the sporting excellence of these former Trinity students who have lived up to the Olympic creed. ‘The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well’.”