July University of Galway sends congrats and good luck to Olympians

 University of Galway has shared a message of congratulations and good luck to alumni on Team Ireland ahead of the Paris Olympics.

Olympic medallists Aifric Keogh and Fiona Murtagh are to compete on the water in the Women’s Pair, with the heats commencing on July 28^th.

They will be supported at the Games by Heather Boyle, Head of Communications and Athletes Commission Support at the Olympic Federation of Ireland, an alumna of the University.

Dean of Students Professor Ciara Meehan said: ”On behalf of the University of Galway community, I wish Aifric and Fiona every success, along with all the other rowers and athletes on Team Ireland. Everyone in the country, never mind the University, will be cheering them on. We know they have done it on the biggest of stages before and we hope that they can take another step or two up the podium in Paris.”

Des Ryan, Director of Sport and Physical Wellbeing at University of Galway, said: “Our rowers are fantastic ambassadors for University of Galway, but also for the sport and for the country. We put huge effort into rowing at the University, in particular the coaching and mentoring of students who come through the University’s High Performance Unit. It is a great sense of pride for us to see our students go on to reach the Olympics, and we will be supporting them every step of the way.”

Feargal O’Callaghan, High Performance Sports Lead, University of Galway, said: “All of us are 100% behind both Aifric and Fiona for the Olympics. They are among the world’s sporting elite and their success and achievements in representing Ireland are a testament to the talent and dedication that we saw first-hand here in the University.” 

Aifric Keogh, from Furbo, Co Galway, and Fiona Murtagh, from Moycullen, Co Galway, have Olympic bronze medals to their names, having made history in Tokyo as one of Ireland’s first female rowers to make it to the podium as part of the Women’s Four.

Aifric Keogh holds BSc from the University and regularly competes under the alumni club Gráinne Mhaol, having first learned to row while at Coláiste Iognáid before rowing on the University team. 

Fiona Murtagh holds an MBA and competes under our University rowing club, having taken up the sport at Galway Rowing Club.

Both rowers have competed at the World Championships and paired for the first time in 2023, narrowly missing out on a podium finish with a fourth place in Belgrade. They have made the podium in all three of this season’s World Cup regattas.

Heather Boyle has represented Ireland in rowing and worked with Cycling Ireland for several years, before contributing to the media teams for the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.

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