Eoghan Clifford (born 26 August 1980) is an Irish

Paralympic The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaire ...

racing cyclist competing in C3 classification events. Clifford has represented Ireland at both

road A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation. There are many types of ...

and

track Track or Tracks may refer to: Routes or imprints * Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity * Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across * Desire path, a line worn by people taking the shorte ...

disciplines and is a multiple UCI Para-cycling World Champion, winning the C3 road race and the C3 time trial in Greenville in 2014, the scratch race at the track world championships in Apeldoorn in 2015 and the time trial event at Nottwil in 2015. He also won a bronze medal at the track world champions for the C3 pursuit in Apeldoorn in 2015 and Montichiari in 2016.

Early life

Clifford was born in 1980 in Dublin and grew up in

Bruff Bruff () is a town in east County Limerick, in the midwest of Ireland, located on the old Limerick–Cork road ( R512). The town lies on the Morning Star river, with two bridges in the town itself. The horseshoe lake of Lough Gur is nearby ...

, County Limerick. He attended both Primary and Secondary school in Bruff. He cycled back and forth to secondary school daily. He moved to Galway, where he still lives, in 1998 to study at NUI Galway. He graduated with a

Bachelor of Engineering A Bachelor of Engineering (BEng) or a Bachelor of Science in Engineering (BSE) is an academic undergraduate degree awarded to a student after three to five years of studying engineering at an accredited college or university. In the UK, a Bache ...

(

Environmental A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...

) in 2002. While at NUI Galway he cultivated an interest in rowing, which he still enjoys. Clifford lives with Charcot–Marie–Tooth disease, a

hereditary motor and sensory neuropathy Hereditary motor and sensory neuropathies (HMSN) is a name sometimes given to a group of different neuropathies which are all characterized by their impact upon both afferent and efferent neural communication. HMSN are characterised by atypical ne ...

, but still races at a national level in able-bodied events.

Career

Dr Clifford has worked as a full-time lecturer at NUI Galway since 2010. He has an interest both in Transport Engineering and Water Waste Engineering. He first entered Ireland's para cycling squad in 2014. The following year he qualified for the

2016 Summer Paralympics ) , nations = 159 , athletes = 4,342 , opening = 7 September , closing = 18 September , opened_by = President Michel Temer , cauldron = Clodoaldo Silva , events = 528 in 22 sports , stadium = Maracanã , sum ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

. He brought one gold and one bronze medal back with him.

Personal life

He is married to Magdalena Hajdukiewicz.

References

External links

*
Eoghan Clifford
at

Paralympics Ireland Paralympics Ireland (formerly known as the Paralympic Council of Ireland) is the National Paralympic Committee in Republic of Ireland, Ireland for the Paralympic Games movement. It is a non-profit organisation that selects teams, and raises funds ...

(archived) {{DEFAULTSORT:Clifford, Eoghan 1980 births Living people Academics of the University of Galway Alumni of the University of Galway Cyclists at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Irish male cyclists Irish track cyclists Medalists at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Paralympic cyclists for Ireland Paralympic medalists in cycling Paralympic gold medalists for Ireland Paralympic bronze medalists for Ireland Sportspeople from Galway (city) UCI Para-cycling World Champions People from Bruff Sportspeople from County Limerick