Team Ireland have announced the swim team that will compete for them at the Olympic Games in Tokyo this summer, with the announcement confirming that it will be the largest Irish Olympic swim team ever.
Nine Irish swimmers are set to compete in Tokyo across 14 events and will be in action in the newly built Tokyo Aquatics Centre from Saturday 24 July – Sunday 1 August 2021.
The strength and depth of Irish swimming has been on display over the past number of years, culminating this year with the ultimate qualification of six swimmers who have achieved the FINA A time across their events.
Jon Rudd, National Performance Director and Team Leader for the Games is excited to see the swimmers in action.
He said: “The standard of swimming in Ireland is growing, and without all these athletes striving for improvement, we would not be where we are today, fielding the largest ever swim team for Ireland.”
25-year-old Darragh Greene from Longford is one of the nine swimmers travelling to Tokyo.
Coached by Ben Higson, who has two other swimmers making the trip to Japan, Greene will compete in 100m and 200m breaststroke events.
It will be the first Olympic Games for the first Irishman to swim the 100m breaststroke in under one minute.
The Irish senior record holder for both events said that “the Olympics have been something that [he has] dreamt about for a long time, and it is a real honour to be officially selected to compete for Team Ireland in Tokyo.”
Other swimmers on the team include record-holders such as Mona McSharry and Tipperary native Finn McGeever.
Team Ireland Chef de Mission for Tokyo 2020, Tricia Heberle, is excited by the large number of qualified swimmers.
She believes it’s especially encouraging seeing the number of FINA A standard swimmers qualifying.
Heberle concluded: “The past year has been tough for everyone, but seeing how our swimmers handled that first lockdown, coming out of it producing personal bests and national records, in challenging circumstances has been a true test of resilience.”
Team Ireland Swim Team For Tokyo 2020
Darragh Greene
Danielle Hill
Brendan Hyland
Finn McGeever
Jack McMillan
Mona McSharry
Shane Ryan
Ellen Walshe
Daniel Wiffen
