Olive Loughnane (born 14 January 1976) is an Irish retired

racewalker 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. Race judges carefully asse ...

. A four-times Olympian, she is the 2009 world gold medalist in the 20 km walk.

Early life

Loughane was born in 1976 in

County Cork County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns a ...

, the eldest of seven children. She moved to Carrabane, County Galway, with her family when she was a child. She is a graduate of

University College Galway The University of Galway ( ga, Ollscoil na Gaillimhe) is a public research university located in the city of Galway, Ireland. A tertiary education and research institution, the university was awarded the full five QS stars for excellence in 201 ...

, having obtained a B.Comm. in 1996.

Sporting career

Loughnane competed at four

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...

(2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012) and six consecutive editions of the

World Championships in Athletics The World Athletics Championships (until 2019 known as the World Championships in Athletics) are a biennial athletics competition organized by World Athletics (formerly IAAF, International Association of Athletics Federations). Alongside the Ol ...

. She won a gold medal at the 2009 World Championships after the disqualification of the original gold medallist for a drug offence. As of December 2016, Loughnane had not received the prize money. Loughnane failed to finish the walk at the

2010 European Athletics Championships The 2010 European Athletics Championships were the 20th edition of the European Athletics Championships, organised under the supervision of the European Athletic Association. They were held at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys in Barcelona, C ...

. She had a win on the 2011 World Race Walking circuit at the Dudinska Patdesiatka in March 2011. Loughnane announced her retirement in February 2013.The Score (2013-02-12)
‘One of Ireland’s best’: Olive Loughnane retires from athletics
. The Score. Retrieved on 2013-02-12.

Achievements

Sports administration

Loughnane became a member of the

Sport Ireland Sport Ireland ( ga, Spórt Éireann), formerly the Irish Sports Council, is a statutory authority that oversees, and partly funds, the development of sport within Ireland. It is located at the National Sports Campus in the townland of Sheephi ...

High Performance Committee after retiring from competitive sport in 2013, and subsequently became of a member of the board of Sport Ireland.

Personal life

Loughnane currently lives in

Coachford Coachford () is a village in County Cork, Ireland. It is located on the north side of the River Lee. The village is located in the civil parish of Magourney. Coachford is part of the Dáil constituency of Cork North-West. Coachford owes its n ...

, Cork with her husband, Martin Corkery, and their three children. She currently works as a Statistician in the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Loughnane, Olive 1976 births Athletes from County Cork Athletes from County Galway Alumni of the University of Galway Irish female racewalkers Irish statisticians Olympic athletes for Ireland 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 World Athletics Championships medalists Sport Ireland officials Living people World Athletics Championships winners