Eight Irish athletes will compete on Day three of the Paralympic Games in Paris, including Shauna Bocquet and Greta Streimikyte at the Stade de France in Finals.
Here is when and in what they are competing.
09:00 Richael Timothy Para Cycling C1-3 500 Metre Time Trial Qualifier
09:40 Shauna Bocquet Para Athletics T54 5000 metre Final
09:50 Katie O’Brien and Tiernan O’Donnell PR2 Mixed Double Sculls Repechage
10:02 Ronan Grimes Para Cycling C4-5 4000M Individual Pursuit Qualifier
12:35 Richael Timothy Para Cycling C1-3 500 Metre Time Trial Final **
13:52 Ronan Grimes Para Cycling C4-5 4000M Individual Pursuit Bronze Final **
14:01 Ronan Grimes Para Cycling C4-5 4000M Individual Pursuit Gold Final **
18:13 Greta Streimikyte Para Athletics T13 1500 metre Final
** If Advancing from Earlier Round
And here is a little more about each of them as individuals
Richael Timothy
Richael played schoolgirl soccer for Ireland (U15 and U17) alongside current Irish captain Katie McCabe and gaelic for Roscommon until her football career was ended by an acquired brain injury. It was caused by treatment for a rare condition known as HHT (Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia) which affects veins and arteries which left her with just 30 per cent power in her left leg.
She made her Irish debut in 2017 and won her first international medal at the Manchester Para-Cycling International in December 2019, winning silver in the Scratch race. She won bronze at the 2020 World Track Championships in the non-Paralympic Scratch Race event in 2020 and in 2021 came fourth (Road Race) and fifth (Time Trial) at the World Road Championships.
Her Paralympic debut was at the Tokyo Games.
Richael has a degree in sports science from Athlone IT. She runs her own business RT Fitness in Ballymoe which offers personal training, strength and conditioning and a recovery suite.
Ronan Grimes
Shauna Boquet
Shauna will make her Paralympic debut in Paris in August. She made her first appearance for Ireland at the Para Athletics World Championships last summer.
The rising para athletics star posted three personal bests over one weekend in June at the WPA Grand Prix in Switzerland pushing 11:07:20 in the 5k, 16.38 in the 100m and 3:17.22 in the 1500m. She then went on to break her personal best in the 1500m at the Daniela Jutzeier Memorial.
Bocquet took to the track in the 800m Wheelchair Women at the Wanda Diamond League in London this July and stormed home setting a new PB of 1:48.42 and a 4th place finish.
She is a student at Atlantic Technological University studying Sport and Exercise Science. She will be starting her third year in September.
Bocquet played a pivotal role in the development of the new athletics track in Craughwell. In October 2020, during Covid she did her first marathon (26 miles is 42km) on a 5km road loop, which she completed in two hours and 22 minutes as part of “The 42 Challenge” which raised €50,000, and funded the initial groundworks. A combination of further fundraising and government funding raised the rest of the €355,000 costs and the track was completed in three years in a place that describes itself as ‘the village that loves athletics’.
Katie O’Donnell and Tiernan O’Donnell
Katie discovered Para rowing through a Paralympics Ireland come and try sports day after being inspired by the London 2012 Paralympic Games.
She started rowing with Galway Rowing Club with the aim of reaching the Paralympics which proved to be a difficult path as she is dependent on a male rowing partner for the PR2 Mixed Sculls. She previously rowed for UCD Rowing Club while studying Veterinary Medicine.
Katie won her first World Championship Medal at the 2019 World Rowing Championships in Linz, securing bronze in the PR2 W1x category. By 2022, Katie had made significant progress, winning gold at the World Rowing Championships and setting a new world record in the PR2 W1x. She was named Irish Times Sportswoman of the Month for September 2022.
In the 2023 World Rowing Championships, Katie placed 5th in the PR2 Mix2x alongside Steven McGowan, qualifying the boat for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. The pair also achieved a 5th-place finish at the European Championships that year.
Katie will row with Tiarnán O’ Donnell from Limerick for the 2024 Paralympic Games.
Tiarnán is a relative newcomer to rowing, has already shown immense potential. The Limerick native initially made a name for himself as one of Ireland’s top wheelchair basketball players. He has won several national titles and cups with his local team, the Limerick Celtics and has also won national player of the year awards as well as European All-Star awards. He captained the Irish U23 Wheelchair Basketball team to the medal podium in Finland in 2023.
He transitioned to rowing through the PTSB NextGen programme and moved to Cork to base himself closer to the National Rowing Centre. His rapid progress and natural talent have earned him a place alongside Katie to compete in Paris in the PR2 Mixed Double Sculls.
In May, Tiarnán won his first international medal at the 2024 World Rowing Cup II in Lucerne, Switzerland in the PR2 single sculls. He followed that up by winning his second medal, another silver, at the 2024 World Rowing Cup III in Poznan again in the in the PR2 single sculls.
Tiarnán was diagnosed with a rare malformation in his right leg at the age of five. He underwent operations every few months throughout the rest of his childhood and when he reached his teens, his condition began to rapidly deteriorate. Following consultation with doctors from the USA, he was re-diagnosed with a rare tumour called a Fibro-Adipose Vascular Anomaly. He was just the sixteenth person in the world diagnosed with this condition. In the summer before his Leaving Cert year, he underwent an extremely risky procedure to try remove a large portion of the tumour from his calf. Unfortunately, during the operation he got severe nerve damage leaving my leg paralysed. He became extremely ill in during his Leaving Cert year due to his treatment and afterward made the difficult decision to amputate his leg. He moved to London in 2018 for the procedure spending two weeks in hospital after the surgery and then moved home to recover. Six weeks later he flew back to London and had to learn how to walk again which took 13 days of vigorous physio and gym work to achieve.
He attended the University of Limerick, graduating with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. He was a recipient of a sports scholarship while he was a student there.
He has a twin brother.
Greta Streimikyte
Paris will be Greta’s third Paralympic Games. She made her International debut for the Irish Para athletics team at the European Para Athletics Championships in 2016. That debut came shortly after she received her Irish passport in 2015 and she celebrated in style by winning the bronze medal.
She won gold at the 2018 and 2021 European Championships and was fourth in the T13 1500m final on her Paralympic debut in Rio.
She credits her PE teacher Sean Gallagher for encouraging her to start running and coach Enda Fitzpatrick for bringing her to international standard. Disappointed at only finishing fifth at the 2019 World Championships, she switched to train with the Dublin Track Club where she is coached by Feidhlim Kelly.
Greta qualified at slot for Team Ireland at the 2024 Para Athletics World Championships with a time of 4:33.27, a new European record.
Greta competes in T13 because she has retinopathy with only vision in her left eye. Her family moved from Lithuania to Swords (Co Dublin) when she was 15 and she is a triplet. She has a degree in International Relations from DCU where she also obtained a Masters in Business Management in 2019. Greta also completed masters in Applied Sports Psychology from Setanta College in 2023
She works, two days a-week, for AIB to facilitate her training.
Sport for Business, in partnership with Allianz, will hold the 2024 Sport for Business Sport for Social Good Conference on Thursday, October 24th. This is one of ten events currently planned for the remainder of 2024.
Register your interest to attend a Sport for Business event here.
The Sport for Business Membership comprises nearly 300 organisations, including all the leading sports and sponsors, as well as commercial and state agencies.
Find out more about joining us today.
