James "Jamie" Costin ( ga, Séamus Ó Coistín; born 1 June 1977) is an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

race walker from the

Gaeltacht ( , , ) are the districts of Ireland, individually or collectively, where the Irish government recognises that the Irish language is the predominant vernacular, or language of the home. The ''Gaeltacht'' districts were first officially reco ...

area of

Old Parish Old Parish ( ga, An Sean Phobal) is a village in west County Waterford, Ireland. It is part of the Gaeltacht in Waterford Gaeltacht na nDéise. Geography ''An Sean Phobal'', as it is known locally, is a large parish covering about 35 square kil ...

, County Waterford. He has qualified to represent Ireland in the 50km Walk at three Olympic Games. Having finished 38th at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, he was unable to compete at the

2004 Olympic Games The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

following a serious road accident where he broke his back. Fully recovered, he represented Ireland at the 2008 Olympic Games in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. In March 2009, Costin set a new Irish record of 3.50.52 at a race-walking meet in Dudince,

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

. He therefore qualified to compete in 2009 World Championships in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

. He is married to Zuzanna Malikova, a Slovak Olympian.

Achievements

External links

* * 1977 births Irish male racewalkers Olympic athletes of Ireland Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from County Waterford Living people {{Ireland-athletics-bio-stub