Derval O'Rourke
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Derval O'Rourke (born 28 May 1981, in Cork, Republic of Ireland) is an Irish sprint hurdles athlete. She competes internationally in the 60 and 100 metres hurdles, and is the Irish national record holder in both events. She has participated in the last two Indoor World Championships and "Outdoor" World Championships and the 2004 Olympic Games.O'Rourke attended University College, Dublin where she held a sports scholarship between 2000 and 2004. She graduated with a BA (Hons) degree from the college in 2003 and a Diploma in Business Studies from their Smurfit Business School in 2005. O'Rourke is now based at Dublin City University and trains in the High Performance Gym in the University Sports Club under Jim Kilty, where she has also worked part time as a marketing assistant. From 2006 she has received sponsorship from SPAR Ireland.
At the 2006 IAAF World Indoor Championships O'Rourke won the gold medal in the 60m hurdles, becoming the first Irish woman to win an indoor world athletics championship.On her way to winning she broke the Irish national record twice and her winning time was 7.84s.
O'Rourke enjoyed a successful 2006 outdoor track season, after missing the initial part of the season due to injury. In the run up to the European Championships, O'Rourke lowered her Irish national record for 100m hurdles twice and had a personal best of 12.85s before the championships. In the 2006 European Championships in Athletics O'Rourke took home the Silver Medal in the Women's 100m Hurdles and set a new Irish record of 12.72s. Later in the same championship O'Rourke ran the first leg for the Irish 4 x 100m relay team, which set a new national record of 44.38s.
In 2007 Derval went to Osaka for the World Championships and qualified for the semi-finals but finished eighth. She had encountered an injury during the early part of the season in 2007.
Born in Cork, O'Rourke lists Sonia O'Sullivan and footballer Roy Keane among her sporting idols, to the extent that she has become "a bit of a Sunderland fan", due to Keane's management of the club. [1]
Contents |
[edit] Major medals and records
[edit] Medals
- 2006 - GOLD - 7.84 (NR)
- 2006 - Silver - 12.72 (NR)
- 2005 - Bronze - 13.02
[edit] Records
Irish national records
- Outdoor
- 100 metres hurdles - 12.72 (Gothenburg, August 11, 2006)
- 4x100m Relay - 44.38 (Gothenburg, August 12, 2006} with Anna Boyle, Ailis McSweeney and Joanne Cuddihy
[edit] See also
[edit] External links and references
- Dervals Official website www.dervalorourke.com
- IAAF profile for Derval O'Rourke
- Athletics Ireland Profile
- Double Delight For Derval Report on Athletics Ireland of silver medal winning performance
- Irish Track and Field Records from Athletics Ireland
