Aoife Hoey (born 6 September 1983) is an Irish

bobsled Bobsleigh or bobsled is a team winter sport that involves making timed runs down narrow, twisting, banked, iced tracks in a gravity-powered sleigh. International bobsleigh competitions are governed by the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Feder ...

der who has competed since 2004. She finished 22nd out of 23 in the two-woman event at the 2005 FIBT World Championships in

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

. At , she was the tallest woman at the

2010 Winter Olympics )'' , nations = 82 , athletes = 2,626 , events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = February 12, 2010 , closing = February 28, 2010 , opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean , cauldron = Catriona Le May DoanNancy GreeneWayne Gretz ...

Bobsleigh career

Aoife and her older sister

Siobhán Siobhán is a female given name of Irish origin. The most common anglicisations are Siobhan (identical to the Irish spelling but omitting the acute accent over the 'a'), Shevaun and Shivaun. A now uncommon spelling variant is Siubhán. It is de ...

, teamed up in the Winter of 2002 – Aoife as pilot and Siobhain on brake. They received partial funding from the

Olympic Council of Ireland The Olympic Federation of Ireland or OFI ( ga, Cónaidhm Oilimpeach na hÉireann) (called the Irish Olympic Council until 1952 and the Olympic Council of Ireland until 2018) is the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of the island of Ireland. At ...

but no commercial sponsorship. Following the worst possible start to the 2005–2006 Winter season (Serious injury) they narrowly missed out on qualification for the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially the XX Olympic Winter Games ( it, XX Giochi olimpici invernali) and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February 2006 in Turin, Italy. This marked the second t ...

. Teaming up with new recruit Jennifer Corcoran, for the 2007–08 bobsleigh season, Hoey qualified to compete in the European Bobsleigh Cup. She competed in the first two events of the season, finishing fifth at

Igls Innsbruck (; bar, Innschbruck, label=Austro-Bavarian ) is the capital of Tyrol and the fifth-largest city in Austria. On the River Inn, at its junction with the Wipp Valley, which provides access to the Brenner Pass to the south, it had a pop ...

on 22 November 2007 and 14th at

Königssee The Königssee is a natural lake in the extreme southeast Berchtesgadener Land district of the German state of Bavaria, near the Austrian border. Most of the lake is within the Berchtesgaden National Park. Description Situated within the Berchte ...

on 29 November 2007. Following a difficult season 2009–2010 racing in European Cup and World Cup events with brake athlete

Claire Bergin Claire Bergin (born 1 February 1985) is an Irish people, Irish bobsledder who has competed since 2008. She finished 17th in the two-woman event at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Bergin's best World Cup finish was 19th in the two-woman even ...

, Hoey qualified for the

Winter Olympic Games The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were he ...

Vancouver, British Columbia Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

, Canada. She was named flagbearer for the Irish team at the opening ceremony of those games. The bobsleigh team of Aoife Hoey and Claire Bergin finished in 17th place at the

. At a routine MRI scan at the Olympic village, three days before the competition, Hoey was diagnosed with

endometriosis Endometriosis is a disease of the female reproductive system in which cells similar to those in the endometrium, the layer of tissue that normally covers the inside of the uterus, grow outside the uterus. Most often this is on the ovaries, f ...

as well as three herniated discs in her back. She competed anyway, but announced her retirement from competitive sport shortly afterwards, to prevent further and potentially permanent spinal damage.

Athletics career

In 2005, she was Irish national outdoor champion in the

triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to the long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down th ...

. She also works for the

Athletics Association of Ireland Athletics Ireland, officially the ''Athletic Association of Ireland'' or AAI, is the governing body for athletics in Ireland, with athletics defined as including track and field athletics, road running, race walking, cross country running, mount ...

in the High Performance unit.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hoey, Aoife 1983 births Living people Bobsledders at the 2010 Winter Olympics Irish female bobsledders Olympic bobsledders of Ireland Irish female triple jumpers