# Ireland at the 1996 Summer Olympics

Ireland competed at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States.

## Medalists

Ireland won three gold and one bronze medal at the 1996 Olympics, the highest number ever, and was placed 28th in the medals table. Sonia O'Sullivan, who was seen as the best medal chance prior to the competition, did not win a medal.
Michelle Smith was accused of doping, though the accusations were not substantiated at the time. Two years after the Atlanta Games, FINA banned Smith for four years for tampering with her urine sample using alcohol; the testers also found traces of a metabolic precursor of testosterone, Androstenedione. Smith was not stripped of her medals, as the test upon which the ban was based was conducted well after the Games. Her achievements at the Games remain controversial.
| Medal | Name | Sport | Event |
| Gold | Michelle Smith | Swimming | Women's 400 metres Freestyle |
| Gold | Michelle Smith | Swimming | Women's 200 metres Individual Medley |
| Gold | Michelle Smith | Swimming | Women's 400 metres Individual Medley |
| Bronze | Michelle Smith | Swimming | Women's 200 metres Butterfly |

## Results by event
### Archery

Ireland again sent only one archer to the Olympics. Keith Hanlon won his first match, but was defeated in the second round.

#### Men

| Athlete | Event | Ranking round | Ranking round | Round of 64 | Round of 32 | Round of 16 | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals | Finals |
| Athlete | Event | Score | Seed | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Rank |
| Keith Hanlon | Individual | 650 | 34 | Koprivnikar (SLO) (31) W 155–151 | Jang (KOR) (2) L 159–165 | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance |

### Athletics
#### Men

| Athlete | Events | Heat | Heat | Quarterfinal | Quarterfinal | Semifinal | Semifinal | Final | Final |
| Athlete | Events | Result | Rank | Result | Rank | Result | Rank | Result | Rank |
| Neil Ryan | 100 m | 10.78 | 7 | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance |
| Gary Ryan | 200 m | 20.78 | 3 Q | 20.89 | 8 | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance |
| Eugene Farrell | 400 m | 47.18 | 6 | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance |
| David Matthews | 800 m | 1:46.76 | 4 Q | — | — | 1:47.83 | 5 | did not advance | did not advance |
| Niall Bruton | 1500 m | 3:37.42 | 3 Q | — | — | 3:42.88 | 12 | did not advance | did not advance |
| Shane Healy | 1500 m | 3:37.28 | 5 Q | — | — | 3:39.81 | 11 | did not advance | did not advance |
| Marcus O'Sullivan | 1500 m | 3:38.16 | 6 | — | — | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance |
| Cormac Finnerty | 5000 m | 13:54.01 | 10 Q | — | — | 14:08.88 | 10 | did not advance | did not advance |
| Sean Dollman | 10000 m | 29:19.03 | 19 | — | — | — | — | did not advance | did not advance |
| Sean Cahill | 110 m hurdles | 14.28 | 7 | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance |
| T. J. Kearns | 110 m hurdles | 13.67 | 3 Q | 13.55 | 5 | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance |
| Tom McGuirk | 400 m hurdles | 50.76 | 5 | — | — | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance |
| Jimmy McDonald | 20 km walk | — | — | — | — | — | — | 1:32:11 | 51 |
| Mark Mandy | High jump | 2.20 | 11 | — | — | — | — | did not advance | did not advance |
| Nick Sweeney | Discus throw | 62.04 | 13 | — | — | — | — | did not advance | did not advance |
| Terry McHugh | Javelin throw | 72.84 | 15 | — | — | — | — | did not advance | did not advance |
| Roman Linscheid | Hammer throw | 68.14 | 33 | — | — | — | — | did not advance | did not advance |

#### Women

| Athlete | Events | Heat | Heat | Quarterfinal | Quarterfinal | Semifinal | Semifinal | Final | Final |
| Athlete | Events | Result | Rank | Result | Rank | Result | Rank | Result | Rank |
| Sinead Delahunty | 1500 m | 4:10.20 | 5 Q | — | — | 4:12.52 | 9 | did not advance | did not advance |
| Sonia O'Sullivan | 1500 m | 4:19.77 | 10 | — | — | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance |
| Sonia O'Sullivan | 5000 m | 15:15.80 | 1 Q | — | — | — | — | DNF | - |
| Katy McCandless | 5000 m | 15:55.56 | 10 | — | — | — | — | did not advance | did not advance |
| Marie Davenport | 5000 m | 15:59.12 | 14 | — | — | — | — | did not advance | did not advance |
| Catherina McKiernan | 10000 m | 32:32.10 | 6 Q | — | — | — | — | 32:00.38 | 11 |
| Susan Smith | 400 m hurdles | 55.22 | 3 Q | — | — | 54.93 | 5 | did not advance | did not advance |
| Deirdre Gallagher | 10 km walk | — | — | — | — | — | — | 45:47 | 23 |

### Boxing

| Athlete | Event | Round of 32 | Round of 16 | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Final | Final |
| Athlete | Event | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Rank |
| Damaen Kelly | Flyweight | Strogov (BUL) W 12–11 | Hussein (AUS) W 27–20 | Jumadilov (KAZ) L 6–13 | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance |
| Francis Barrett | Light welterweight | Ferreria (BRA) W 32–7 | Missaoui (TUN) L 6–18 | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance |
| Brian Magee | Middleweight | Thompson (CAN) W 13–5 | Tietsia (CMR) W 11–6 | Bahari (ALG) L 9–15 | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance |
| Cathal O'Grady | Heavyweight | da Silva (NZL) L RSC 1 | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance |

### Canoeing
#### Slalom

| Athlete | Event | Run 1 | Rank | Run 2 | Rank | Total | Rank |
| Mike Corcoran | Men's C-1 | 162.90 | 8 | 173.61 | 13 | 162.90 | 10 |
| Stephen O'Flaherty | Men's C-1 | 188.75 | 21 | 220.73 | 23 | 188.75 | 25 |
| Ian Wiley | Men's K-1 | 145.21 | 3 | 207.26 | 35 | 145.21 | 5 |
| Andrew Boland | Men's K-1 | 201.92 | 34 | 184.51 | 31 | 184.51 | 40 |

#### Flatwater

| Athlete | Event | Heats | Heats | Repechages | Repechages | Semifinals | Semifinals | Final | Final |
| Athlete | Event | Time | Rank | Time | Rank | Time | Rank | Time | Rank |
| Conor Maloney Gary Mawer | Men's K-2 500 m | 1:43.074 | 7 | 1:44.375 | 7 | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance |
| Conor Maloney Gary Mawer | Men's K-2 1000 m | 4:03.432 | 6 | 3:40.656 | 6 | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance |

### Cycling
#### Road
##### Men

| Athlete | Event | Time | Rank |
| David McCann | Road race | 4:56:49 | 72 |

#### Track
##### Pursuits

| Athlete | Event | Qualifying | Qualifying | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Finals | Finals |
| Athlete | Event | Time | Rank | Opposition Time | Rank | Opposition Time | Rank | Opposition Time | Rank |
| Phillip Collins | Men's pursuit | 4:41.207 | 16 | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance |

##### Points races

| Athlete | Event | Points | Rank |
| Declan Lonergan | Men's points race | 0 | 22 |

#### Mountain Bike

| Athlete | Event | Time | Rank |
| Martin Earley | Men's cross-country | 2:43:56 | 25 |
| Alister Martin | Men's cross-country | 2:47:46 | 32 |

### Equestrian
#### Eventing

| Athlete | Horse | Event | Dressage | Dressage | Cross-country | Cross-country | Show jumping | Show jumping | Show jumping | Show jumping | Total | Total |
| Athlete | Horse | Event | Dressage | Dressage | Cross-country | Cross-country | Qualifier | Qualifier | Final | Final | | Total | Total |
| Athlete | Horse | Event | Penalties | Rank | Penalties | Rank | Penalties | Rank | Penalties | Rank | Penalties | Rank |
| David Foster | Tilt 'n' Turn | Individual | 54.60 | 20 | DNF | - | - | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | - |

### Rowing

Men's Double Sculls
* Brendan Dolan 3rd in the repechage (→ Unplaced)
* Niall O'Toole 3rd in the repechage (→ Unplaced)
Men's Lightweight Fours
* Derek Holland 4th in the A final (→ 4th)
* Sam Lynch 4th in the A final (→ 4th)
* Neville Maxwell 4th in the A final (→ 4th)
* Tony O'Connor 4th in the A final (→ 4th)

### Shooting
#### Rifle

| Athlete | Event | Qualification | Qualification | Final | Final |
| Athlete | Event | Score | Rank | Score | Rank |
| Gary Duff | Men's 50 m prone rifle | 580 | 52 | did not advance | did not advance |
| Rhona Barry | Women's 10 m air rifle | 382 | 43 | did not advance | did not advance |

### Swimming
#### Men

| Athlete | Events | Heat | Heat | Final | Final |
| Athlete | Events | Time | Rank | Time | Rank |
| Nicholas O'Hare | 50 m freestyle | 24.03 | 48 | did not advance | did not advance |
| Earl McCarthy | 100 m freestyle | 50.99 | 27 | did not advance | did not advance |
| Earl McCarthy | 200 m freestyle | 1:53.67 | 29 | did not advance | did not advance |
| Adrian O'Connor | 100 m backstroke | 58.56 | 41 | did not advance | did not advance |
| Adrian O'Connor | 200 m backstroke | 2:08.90 | 35 | did not advance | did not advance |

#### Women

| Athlete | Events | Heat | Heat | Final | Final |
| Athlete | Events | Time | Rank | Time | Rank |
| Marion Madine | 200 m freestyle | 2:04.92 | 27 | did not advance | did not advance |
| Marion Madine | 100 m butterfly | 1:03.80 | 31 | did not advance | did not advance |
| Michelle Smith | 400 m freestyle | 4:09.00 | 2 Q | 4:07.25 | |
| Michelle Smith | 200 m butterfly | 2:10.03 | 2 Q | 2:09.91 | |
| Michelle Smith | 200 m individual medley | 2:16.35 | 7 Q | 2:13.93 | |
| Michelle Smith | 400 m individual medley | 4:43.79 | 3 Q | 4:39.18 | |