Eileen O'Keeffe (born 31 May 1981 in Kilkenny) is a former female hammer thrower from Ireland. Her personal best throw of 73.21 metres, achieved in July 2007 at the national championships in Dublin, is the Irish record for the event. Over her career, she represented Ireland at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, competed three times at the World Championships in Athletics (2005, 2007, 2009), and took part in the European Athletics Championships on two occasions. She won nine consecutive national hammer titles and also six titles in the discus throw.[1]

She finished fourth at the 2003 Summer Universiade, sixth at the 2005 Summer Universiade, won the silver medal at the 2007 Summer Universiade and finished sixth at the 2007 World Championships. She also competed at the 2002 European Championships, the 2005 World Championships, the 2006 European Championships and the 2008 Olympic Games without reaching the final.

In a January 2008 interview on RTÉ's The Panel, O'Keeffe said that she learned the sport from a Hal Connolly DVD her brother bought from a pound shop.[2]

She retired from competition in 2011 at the age of 29, having failed to return to form following a serious knee injury.[1]

Competition record

YearCompetitionVenuePositionNotes
Representing  Ireland
2000 World Junior Championships Santiago, Chile 26th (q) 50.13 m[3]
2001 European U23 Championships Amsterdam, Netherlands 17th (q) 57.08 m
2002 European Championships Munich, Germany 30th (q) 59.64 m
2003 European U23 Championships Bydgoszcz, Poland 15th (q) 59.64 m[4]
Universiade Daegu, South Korea 4th 62.96 m
2005 World Championships Helsinki, Finland 24th (q) 64.09 m
Universiade Izmir, Turkey 6th 67.61 m
2006 European Championships Gothenburg, Sweden 17th (q) 65.07 m
2007 Universiade Bangkok, Thailand 2nd 68.46 m
World Championships Osaka, Japan 6th 70.93 m
2008 Olympic Games Beijing, PR China 23rd (q) 67.66 m
2009 Universiade Belgrade, Serbia 9th 66.97 m
World Championships Berlin, Germany 35th (q) 63.20 m

References

  • Eileen O'Keeffe at World Athletics
  • Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Eileen O'Keeffe". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 25 October 2012.
  1. 1 2 Irish hammer thrower Eileen O'Keeffe retires. European Athletics (2011-05-26). Retrieved on 2011-05-29.
  2. ↑ "RTÉ Television - the Panel". RTÉ.ie. Archived from the original on 22 September 2008. Retrieved 28 September 2008.
  3. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 4 May 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. ↑ "European Championships U'23 Bydgoszcz 2003" (PDF). european-athletics.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 December 2003. Retrieved 26 October 2020.


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