Gráinne Murphy (born 26 March 1993) is a former swimmer who represented Ireland at international level. She qualified for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, though due to illness only swam the heats of the 400m Freestyle. She was forced to withdraw from the rest of the meet, including her focus event (the 800m Freestyle), where she would have been in contention for a place in the final.

Career

Murphy hails from Ballinaboola, New Ross, County Wexford. An accomplished junior athlete, she won three gold medals and one bronze at the

2009 European Junior Swimming Championships The 2009 European Junior Swimming Championships were held from 8–12 July 2009 in Prague, Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered ...

and was awarded Texaco Young Sportstar Award 2009. Murphy has also been successful at senior level, winning a silver medal in the 1,500 metres Freestyle at the 2010 European Aquatics Championships, ahead of Erika Villaécija García and behind '09 World Championship Silver Medallist,

Lotte Friis Lotte Friis (born 9 February 1988) is a Danish competitive swimmer from Allerød Municipality. Career Friis was born in Blovstrød. Finishing third in the 1500 metre freestyle competition at the European Championships 2008 in Eindhoven she wo ...

. She is also the current holder of the Irish record for that event. Murphy then competed in the

2010 European Short Course Swimming Championships The 2010 European Short Course Swimming Championships was held 25–28 November 2010 at Pieter van den Hoogenband Zwemstadion in Eindhoven, Netherlands. The meet featured competition amongst national teams from Europe, in 38 short course (25m) ...

in Eindhoven. She took bronze in 400 m freestyle behind Melanie Costa and

Ágnes Mutina Ágnes Mutina (born 19 April 1988 in Miskolc, Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén) is a female Hungarian swimmer, who competed three times for her native country at the Summer Olympics; in 2004, 2008 and 2012. In 2010 at the European Championships The ...

. She also claimed bronze in the 800 m freestyle, behind

Federica Pellegrini Federica Pellegrini (; born 5 August 1988) is an Italian retired swimmer. A native of Mirano, in the province of Venice, she holds the women's 200 meters freestyle world record (long course, 50 m), and won a gold medal at the 2008 Beijing ...

and

Boglárka Kapás Boglárka Kapás (; born 22 April 1993) is a Hungarian competitive swimmer. She is the world champion ( 2019 Gwangju) in 200 m butterfly and a bronze medallist at the Olympic Games ( 2016 Rio de Janeiro) in 800 m freestyle. Career Kapás won ...

. She was shortlisted for

RTÉ Sports Person of the Year The RTÉ Sports Person of the Year Award is the titular award of the RTÉ Sport, RTÉ Sports Awards ceremony, which takes place each December. The winner is the Irish sportsperson (from the island of Ireland) judged to have ach ...

in 2010. On 3 December 2011, she qualified for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. However, on 31 July 2012, after swimming in the heats of the 400m freestyle, she revealed that she had been suffering from

glandular fever In animals, a gland is a group of cells in an animal's body that synthesizes substances (such as hormones) for release into the bloodstream (endocrine gland) or into cavities inside the body or its outer surface (exocrine gland). Structure De ...

and it forced her to withdraw from the rest of the competition. She had been a contender to make the final of her favoured event, the 800m freestyle, and had withdrawn from the 200m Freestyle earlier in the meet to conserve her health and energy for that race. Prior to London 2012 she was based at the High Performance centre at the

University of Limerick The University of Limerick (UL) ( ga, Ollscoil Luimnigh) is a public research university institution in Limerick, Ireland. Founded in 1972 as the National Institute for Higher Education, Limerick, it became a university in 1989 in accordance w ...

. However, in the aftermath of the games she has returned to her hometown of New Ross, County Wexford to continue her training after her coach Ronald Claes was fired from his post of High Performance Coach. She retired from swimming in 2015 due to a combination of lung infection and tonsillitis.

References

1993 births Living people Alumni of the University of Limerick European Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Irish female swimmers Olympic swimmers for Ireland People educated at Castletroy College People from New Ross Swimmers at the 2012 Summer Olympics 21st-century Irish women {{Ireland-swimming-bio-stub

Career

See also

References