O'Rourke was one of the favourites for the European title at the European Championships after a seasonal best of 12.71 in the semi-final and, her silver medal attained at the 2006 Championships amongst other chief contenders like Carolin Nytra and Christina Vukicevic. In the final, she won the silver medal once again. O'Rourke set an Irish record of 12.65, cutting .02secs off her previous mark. Turkey's Nevin Yanit won in 12.63, just .02 of a second ahead. O'Rourke said after the race "Medals are very special and, winning a silver medal in a new Irish record, I would take every day of the week, I think when I look back on my career whenever it ends, the only thing that will count is medals because they go into the history books and can't be taken away". O'Rourke has now been the only Irish athlete to win medals at the European Athletics Championships in 2006 and 2010. She was greeted by her fans, the media and the sports minister Mary Hanafin when she landed home on 2 August.