Ciara Mageean cursing cruel timing of the Olympic gods as she's forced out of Games
By Sam Barnes/sportsfile Of Photo Ciara Mageean Ireland
For those who shine brightest at the Olympics, the Games’ quadrennial nature is to be treasured, making those golden moments all the more precious. But for those who endure heartbreak on this stage, there’s nothing left to do sometimes but curse the cruel timing of the Olympic gods.
By now, Ciara Mageean knows all about the dark side of the five-ringed circus: having performed below her best in Rio 2016; having raced with an injury in 2021; and now, worst of all, having been unable to race at all in 2024.
For many weeks, there had been signs that all was not well in Camp Mageean, that golden night in Rome when she won the European 1500m title feeling, in one sense, a lot more than seven weeks ago. She withdrew from the nationals a few weeks after that win, citing fatigue, and then turned in below-par runs in Paris and Monaco last month on the build-up to the Games, finishing 10th in both races.
Having come up just metres shy of a medal in last year’s world final, finishing fourth, she had ticked every box possible to give herself a shot at the ultimate prize in Paris. But then it all fell apart due to a pesky Achilles tendon.
Mageean had done everything she could to make it to the start line for this morning’s 1500m heats, but in the end she simply ran out of time, the news confirming her withdrawal released in a statement by Team Ireland on Monday evening.
“I’m absolutely heartbroken not to be able to compete in my third Olympic Games,” said Mageean. “I gave it everything to make it possible to be on the start line, but time was against me. I want to thank everyone for all their support.”
The Portaferry native went to the 2016 Games in Rio as the European bronze medallist but could only finish 11th in her semi-final, having turned in an off-colour run in the semi-final. Five years later in Tokyo, she tore her calf the week before her opening round heat and ran despite that, trailing home 10th in her heat. At 32, Paris was likely to be her last Olympics, and if that’s the case it might be the most painful one of all, given the level she’s climbed to in the years since and the chance that has now passed her by.
It means Ireland will no longer have a full complement of athletes in the 1500m heats at the Stade de France on Tuesday morning, though Sophie O’Sullivan and Sarah Healy should carry the Irish colours with pride.
O’Sullivan will line up in the opening 1500m heat and while 11 of the 14 other athletes have run quicker than her season’s best of 4:05.77, O’Sullivan has shown repeatedly that she’s capable of taking major scalps on a stage like this. The 22-year-old had a difficult start to the year with injury but she took a big step forward last month when setting a lifetime best for 800m of 2:00.28. The closing pace she possesses could prove vital in this setting.
Sarah Healy will line up in the second heat after the season of her life, the 23-year-old Dubliner going second behind Mageean on the Irish all-time list with 3:57.46 in Paris last month.
She endured a baptism of fire at her first Olympics in Tokyo and some major championship disappointments in the years since, but Healy is now a far stronger athlete. She is the sixth fastest athlete in the race this year and possesses the range of gears required to advance automatically and avoid the repechage.