Shock across Irish athletics at death of former European medallist and 2012 Olympian Ciarán Ó Lionáird.
Tributes have poured in for the Leevale club member whom was always a very popular member of Team Ireland.
Despite his track career being blighted by injury, his accomplishments were still significant.
The pinnacle arguably came at the 2013 European Indoor Championships when he won a bronze medal in the men’s 3000m.
The year prior he had represented his country on the Olympic stage at the London Games.
IRISH athletics has been left in a state of shock after the death of 2012 Olympian Ciarán Ó Lionáird at the age of just 38.
The Cork native was found dead in Montreal, Canada on Tuesday having been based in the United States since 2011.
Tributes have poured in for the Leevale club member whom was always a very popular member of Team Ireland.
Despite his track career being blighted by injury, his accomplishments were still significant.
The pinnacle arguably came at the 2013 European Indoor Championships when he won a bronze medal in the men’s 3000m.
The year prior he had represented his country on the Olympic stage at the London Games.
He initially retired from the sport in 2016 but did return to the track in 2020 with his intention being to qualify for the Covid-delayed Olympics in Tokyo.
Unfortunately though, that plan was foiled by illness and he retired for good that same year.
Among the many tributes paid to him since word of his untimely passing broke was one on the Cork Athletics Facebook page.
It read: “Sad news announced this evening that Ciarán Ó Lionáird, Cork native and Leevale club member, passed away on Tuesday.
“Ciarán, who had been based in the US since 2011, gained considerable popularity during his relatively short international career and the news of his sudden death was greeted with similar shock throughout the wider athletics world.
“Ciarán grew up just outside Macroom, County Cork, Ireland, attending De La Salle College, Macroom, where he was an Irish Schools 1500 metre champion.
“Ciarán first took up running at age 7 with West Muskerry AC, but at age 12 joined Leevale.
“It was at Leevale that Ciarán improved his times and ran an Irish Youths indoor record of 3:50 at age 16.
“He went on to win a bronze medal at the Festival in Lignano in 2005 as well as taking 10th place in the World Youth Championships, both over the metric mile.
“Ciarán announced himself on the world stage at the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, reaching the 1,500 metres final on his major championship debut and finishing 10th in the world.
“He went on to win bronze in the 3,000 metres at the 2013 European Athletics Indoor Championships – a result that underlined the quality he carried throughout his career despite the injury setbacks that defined his later years.
“He competed in the men’s 1,500 metres at the 2012 London Olympic Games, finishing 13th in his heat after an injury-hampered build-up.
“Growing up near Macroom, he took up running aged seven with West Muskerry AC and was breaking Irish middle-distance age records at nine and ten.
“He attended De La Salle College Macroom, won the Irish Schools 1,500m title, won bronze at the European Youth Olympic Festival in 2005 and finished 10th at the World Youth Championships in Morocco the same year.
“Everyone at Cork Athletics extends their deepest condolences to Ciarán’s family and friends. RIP.”
Source: https://www.thesun.ie/sport/17081663/ciaran-o-lionaird-dead-age-athletics-ireland/
Former Olympian Ciarán Ó Lionáird dies aged 38
Raised just outside Macroom in Cork, Ó Lionáird rose to fame at schools level where he was a national 1500m champion and would go on to win bronze at the European Youth Olympic Festival in 2005.
After finishing school, Ó Lionáird accepted a scholarship at the University of Michigan, before transferring to Florida State University, culminating in becoming an ‘All American’ at the 2010 NCAA Men’s Division I Cross Country Championship.
Ó Lionáird’s first World Championships with Ireland was in 2011, where he would qualify for the final of the 1500m, a 10th place finish on the world stage.
He relocated to the United States as part of his build-up to the 2012 Games, working under coach Alberto Salazar, who in 2019, was handed a four-year doping ban.
However an Achilles issue that was a constant in his career curtailed his Olympic preparations, and he finished 13th in his 1500m heat.
“This has been the worst experience of my life,” he told RTÉ Sport. “There’s no positives I can take from this. Maybe if I spend some time away from the sport, it will get me healthy again and relight the fire.”
Despite bouncing back to secure a bronze medal in the European Indoors in 2013, competing this time in the 3,000m, the Leevale AC runner’s ailments persisted, and two further surgeries took O’Lionáird out of competition for large chunks throughout 2014 and 2015.
With the Rio Olympics approaching, O’Lionáird lost the battle to return to full fitness and bowed out of the sport at just 28-years old in 2016.
Four years later, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, Ó Lionáird revealed that he was to come out of retirement, then aged 32, in a bid to qualify for the following year’s postponed Olympic Games in Tokyo.
“I’d be lying if I wasn’t saying that a big part of the reason that the Olympics is starting to come into view is that I want to right the wrongs of 2012,” he told RTÉ Sport in May 2020.
Illness however scuppered those plans and he retired for a second time in 2020.
After working for Nike at the company’s headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon from 2015 until 2021, Ó Lionáird spent three years working in Los Angeles with Vizio, a manufacturer of smart TVs. He also spent a period of time working in Mexico City.
In a statement, his club Leevale paid tribute to their late member.
They said: “Leevale AC is deeply saddened by the untimely passing of Ciarán Ó Lionáird.
“Ciarán was an exceptional athlete who represented his club, county and country with distinction, but he was equally valued as a wonderful clubman, team-mate and friend.
“His achievements on the track inspired many, while his humility, warmth and generosity left a lasting impression on all who knew him.
“Ciarán will be dearly missed by his family, friends, his adopted Leevale family the Shines, and the wider athletics community.”
