Robert Heffernan (born 28 February 1978) is an Irish
race walker
Racewalking, or race walking, is a long-distance discipline within the sport of athletics. Although a foot race, it is different from running in that one foot must appear to be in contact with the ground at all times. Referee, Race judges careful ...
.
Career
At the
2000 Olympics
The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...
he finished in 28th place, and at the
2004 Olympics
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), ...
he was disqualified, both in the 20 km race walking discipline.
At the
2008 Olympic Games
The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...
he improved, coming eighth in the
20km Walk. His wife Marian Andrews is also national women's 400 metres champion and was on the Irish women's team that finished 4th in the European indoors. On 27 July 2010, Heffernan won the bronze medal in the 2010 European Athletics Championships in the 20 kilometres walk, posting a time of 1:21:00 (achieved retrospectively in 2014 after Russian Stanislav Emelyanov was found to have committed an anti-doping violation). He also finished 4th in the
50km walk in a national record time of 3:45:30.This was an amazing achievement due to the fact it was just 3 days after the 20 km event.
At the
2012 Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
, Heffernan finished ninth in the
20km race. A week later he finished fourth in the
50km, finishing seven minutes faster than the previous national record. His achievements in London were the top two performances for the Irish Athletics team at the 2012 Olympics.
In early 2015, it was revealed that a number of Russian male and female champion racewalkers were under investigation for doping violations including the winner of the 50 km walk in London, Sergey Kirdyapkin. The athlete was retrospectively suspended during specific periods between 2009 and 2012 by his federation (RUSADA) and had most of his results annulled —including world titles, but not his Olympic title.
The IAAF were unhappy with the verdict made by the Russian Athletics federation and made it clear that they would be taking the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) believing that the ban should include his participation in the London Olympics. In a statement, the IAAF disagreed with the selective disqualification of results applied by RUSADA.
On 24 March 2016, the court of Arbitration for Sport favoured the IAAF and Heffernan was upgraded to Olympic Bronze. He received his bronze medal in November 2016.
2013 World championships
On 14 August 2013, Heffernan finished first in the
2013 World Championships in Athletics
The 14th IAAF World Championships in Athletics (Moscow 2013) () was an international athletics competition held in Moscow, Russia, from 10–18 August 2013. Initially, Russia won the most gold medals to top the table for the first time since 200 ...
50km event in
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
, finishing over a minute clear of the silver medal position with a winning time of 3:37:56.
Speaking after the race Heffernan said "Its surreal, it's just a great feeling," he said. "When I came into the stadium it just felt like an out of body experience. It's hard to take it all in at the moment. I'm delighted."
The winning time was the fastest time in the world in 2013 by more than three minutes.
Other work
In November 2022, Heffernan was announced as performance coach of the
Cork senior footballers, working under the management of
John Cleary.
Performance at major championships
Personal life
Heffernan is married to
Marian Heffernan, a 400M Olympian, and lives with his wife and family in Cork city. He has written an autobiography of his life called Walking Tall in 2016. His son
Cathal Heffernan
Cathal Séan Heffernan Andrews (born 27 April 2005) is an Irish footballer who plays as a centre-back for Premier League club Newcastle United.
Early and personal life
Heffernan was born in Cork. His father Rob and mother Marian are both Olym ...
plays football for
AC Milan's under-19 squad and was captain of the Republic of Ireland under-17 national squad.
References
External links
*
Irish Times Olympic Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heffernan, Robert
1978 births
Living people
Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Olympics
Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics
Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics
Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Cork county football team
European Athletics Championships medalists
Irish male racewalkers
Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics
Olympic athletes of Ireland
Olympic bronze medalists for Ireland
Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field)
Sportspeople from Cork (city)
People educated at Coláiste Chríost Rí
World Athletics Championships athletes for Ireland
World Athletics Championships medalists
World Athletics Championships winners