Pentathlon Ireland and the Irish Olympic Council are pleased to announce that the team headed to the Olympic games in Rio will include two Irish Pentathletes. Arthur Lanigan-O’Keeffe and Natalya Coyle have both received their official invites to represent Ireland at the XXXI Summer Olympiad in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on Aug 5-21, 2016.
This will mark the second time that both Arthur and Natalya have qualified for the summer Olympiad, having previously competed at the XXX Summer Olympiad in London, England in 2012. Head coach for Pentathlon Ireland’s High Performance Program Andy MacKenzie had this to say about the announcement today “Both athletes have made continuous improvement over the last four years, and have become multiple medalists with Arthur as the current European Champion. We are very grateful for the ongoing support of our High Performance programme by Sport Ireland, which has made this possible. Both Natalya and Arthur are extremely proud and excited to be representing Ireland for the second time at the summer Olympics”.
This announcement comes just one month before Ireland is set to host the UIPM Youth A World Championships on the 14th to 18th of July at the University of Limerick. With an event of this scale coming to Ireland just prior to the Olympic Games in Rio, the announcement of having both a male and female representative at the Olympics speaks volumes of the hard work and dedication that both the athletes and Pentathlon Ireland have put into growing the sport here in Ireland.
The Olympics are the culmination of four years of hard work and are the inspiration for the next generation of athletes to achieve their best to compete for a spot at the XXXII Summer Olympiad in Japan 2020. “There is no greater honour for an athlete that to represent one’s country on an international stage. Pentathlon has given Irish athletes a truly magnificent opportunity this year. The excitement and joy from putting on your nation’s colours for competition this year takes on a whole new meaning. Pentathlon Ireland is truly proud of all of our athletes from youth to senior levels. We wish Arthur and Natalya all the best in August and look forward to cheering them on from home.” – Nickolas Boyle, Project Coordinator for the UIPM Youth A World Championships.
Natalya Coyle will compete on the 19th of August, followed by Arthur Lanigan-O’Keeffe on the 20th.
You can stay up to date on both our Olympians by follow both our Facebook and Twitter pages as we build up to the opening of the XXXI Summer Olympiad in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
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If you would like more information about this announcement, Pentathlon Ireland or the UIPM Youth A World Championships, please contact Nickolas C. Boyle at 085-719-5029 or by emailing nickolas.boyle@pentathlon.ie.
