“On a GOLDEN Autumn day” – Van Morrison.

“GOLDfinger” – Ash.

When the 2024 Olympics in Paris started, I pondered on the previous three Northern Ireland Olympic gold medal winners. I wondered if we could add to that total. It had been 36 years since Seoul in 1988 and suddenly over a magical 16 hour period, 30th July 2024 we had three more Northern Irish athletes winning gold medals! We doubled our historic medal tally in an evening and a morning! We are now waiting on Rory McIlroy to bring home a GOLF GOLD and maybe another one from Daniel Wiffen! While I wish Northern Ireland had our own Olympics team (where we’d have much more probability chance of more golds!), it makes the feat even more remarkable that Northern Irish athletes need to fend off the best from Great Britain and Republic of Ireland to even get IN to the Olympic Games! Some of these amazing athletes have represented Northern Ireland, UK, England, Great Britain and NI, Ireland and Republic of Ireland down the years. The common denominator? They’re all Northern Irish legends! Here’s an overview of all of Northern Ireland’s Olympic Gold Medal winners, now we have 6. Yes, SIX!

Who Are Northern Ireland’s Olympic Gold Medal Winners? ☘️🔴✋🥇

1.Lady Mary Peters🥇 for (1972)

Sport – Pentathlon
Gold Medal Year – 1972 Olympics in West Germany
Born – Liverpool, England and grew up in Ballymena, Portadown and Belfast, Northern Ireland
Unique Fact – Mary Peters was Northern Ireland’s FIRST ever Olympic Gold winner.
Geek Fact – Mary Peters represented Northern Ireland at every Commonwealth Games between 1958 and 1974. In these games she won two gold medals for the pentathlon, plus a gold and silver medal for the shot put.
Lady Mary Peters

Lady Mary Peters is Northern Ireland through and through despite being born in England. Lady Mary Peters moved to Ballymena (and later Belfast) as a child when her father’s job was relocated to Northern Ireland. She spend her childhood in Ballymena, Portadown and Belfast. As a teenager, her father encouraged her athletic career by building her home practice facilities as birthday gifts. She qualified as a teacher and worked while training.

Dame Mary Peters – Photo © by John Harrison/Harrison Photography

In the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Lady Mary Peters competing for Great Britain and Northern Ireland and won the gold medal in the women’s pentathlon. She had finished 4th in 1964 and 9th in 1968 so it was third time lucky. To win the gold medal, she narrowly beat the local favourite, West Germany’s Heide Rosendahl, by 10 points, setting a world record score! Wow just wow. Mary Peters is a hero back home and has a running track, statue and trust in Northern Ireland.

Lady Mary Peters with her statue (Photo copyright Athletics Northern Ireland ©)

2.Jimmy Kirkwood🥇 for (1988)

Sport – Field Hockey
Year – 1988 Olympics in South Korea
Born – Lisburn, Northern Ireland
Unique fact – along with Stephen Martin, Jimmy Kirkwood and him were Northern Ireland’s first male Olympic gold medal winners.
Jimmy Kirkwood

Jimmy Kirkwood won a field hockey gold in Seoul in 1988. He represented both Ireland and Great Britain at international level. He represented Great Britain at the 1988 Summer Olympics when they won the gold medal. He also represented Ireland at the 1990 Men’s Hockey World Cup. Kirkwood was also an Ireland cricket international!

Jimmy Kirkwood – © copyright Belfast Telegraph

3.Stephen Martin🥇 for (1988)

Sport – Field Hockey
Year – 1988 Olympics in South Korea
Born – Bangor, Northern Ireland
Unique fact – along with Jimmy Kirkwood, Stephen Martin and him were Northern Ireland’s first male Olympic gold medal winners.
Geek fact – I went to the same school as Stephen Martin – Bangor Grammar School, also attended by golfer David Feherty and footballer Keith Gillespie.
Stephen Martin

Stephen Alexander Martin MBE also won in 1988, the first time Northern Ireland athletes won two golds at the same Olympics. It is currently the only time that two Northern Irish athletes won a gold in the same Olympic team. Stephen also played at international level for both Ireland and Great Britain. He made 135 senior appearances for Ireland between 1980 and 1991, serving as the team captain. Martin competed in the EuroHockey Nations Championships in 1983, 1987, and 1991, and the Men’s Hockey World Cup in 1990. Additionally, he earned 94 senior caps for Great Britain from 1983 to 1992, participating in the Summer Olympics in 1984, 1988, and 1992. He won a bronze medal in 1984 and a gold medal in 1988. In recognition of his contributions to the sport, he was awarded an MBE in 1994.

Stephen Martin – © Belfast Telegraph

4.Daniel Wiffen🥇 for (2024)

Sport – Swimming
Year – 2024 Olympics in Paris
Born – Leeds, England, grew up in Magheralin
Unique Fact – Daniel was Northern Ireland’s first ever gold medal whilst representing Team Ireland
Geek Fact – Daniel Wiffen has also been an actor in Game Of Thrones!
Daniel Wiffen

Daniel Wiffen’s win

On 30th July 2024 in Paris, France, Daniel stormed into the lead in the men’s 800 metre freestyle swimming. In an epic race, Daniel lost some ground then recovered to beat off former holder USA’s Bobby Finke and Italian Gregorio Paltrineri in the final 100 metre race to the finish. Daniel’s win went viral quickly with both Northern Irish media and Irish media praising his energetic win and his passionate demeanour. A few days later, Daniel also took bronze in the men’s 1,500 metre freestyle swimming!

Daniel Wiffen wins in 2024! © Copyright Sky Sports

With Daniel’s win, he created all sorts of crazy records and facts –

Daniel won the first ever male swimming gold medal for Team Ireland
Daniel acted in Game Of Thrones.
Daniel has an identical twin brother.
Daniel has represented Northern Ireland at Commonwealth Games, Ireland at Olympics and England/UK for his University.
Daniel is the first athlete raised in Northern Ireland to win an Olympic title for Ireland.
Daniel is Northern Ireland’s first EVER male solo gold medalist.
Daniel is Northern Ireland’s first solo gold medalist since Lady Mary Peters in 1972.
Daniel is Northern Ireland’s first gold medalist since 1988.
Daniel also set an Olympics record yesterday in men’s 800 metre freestyle with his victory.
Daniel was born in Leeds, England. His mother is Northern Irish, his father is English.
Daniel grew up in Magheralin, County Down.

5.Jack McMillan🥇 for (2024)

Sport – Swimming
Year – 2024 Olympics in Paris
Born – Belfast, Northern Ireland
Unique fact – Jack was Northern Ireland’s first ever swimming gold for Team GB!
Geek fact – Jack has often swam in my homecity of Bangor, Northern Ireland

Just one hour after Daniel Wiffen became only the fourth athlete from Northern Ireland to win a gold medal at the Summer Olympics, fellow swimmer and close friend Jack McMillan became the fifth!! Two within an hour. It’s like you wait an hour for a bus and then two come at once! The Great Britain and Northern Ireland 4 x 200m Freestyle team retained their Olympic title from 2021 with an electrifying performance in a thrilling final. Silver went to the USA with Australia claiming bronze. Jack McMillan played his part in the heat on the day. What makes Jack’s gold even more impressive is that he was shunned from the Ireland team for this Olympics!

Jack McMillan – © Copyright British Swimming

6.Hannah Scott🥇 for (2024)

Sport – Rowing
Year – 2024 Olympics in Paris
Born – Coleraine, Northern Ireland
Unique fact – Hannah was the first Northern Irish female to win a gold medal at the Olympics in the 21st century, and also the first since Lady Mary Peters in 1972
Geek fact –

Hannah Scott

Hannah Scott helped Team GB take victory in a thrilling women’s quadruple sculls final, becoming the third athlete from Northern Ireland to win a gold medal in the space of 24 hours at the Paris Olympics!

Hannah Scott – © Copyright Francois Nel/Getty Images

7.Rhys McClenaghan🥇 for (2024)

Sport – Pommel Horse
Year – 2024 Olympics in Paris
Born – Newtownards, Northern Ireland
Unique fact – Rhys was the first Northern Irish male to win a gold medal in gymnastics at the Olympics.
Geek fact – Rhys is an ambassador for Ards FC

Rhys McClenaghan

European Championships 2022, All-around Competition, Pommel Horse Depicted: Rhys McClenaghan Photo taken in Munich, DEU on 2022-08-18 Copyright Norman Seibert, CC BY-SA 4.0 NIKON Z 9, NIKKOR Z 70-200mm f/2.8 VR S ¹⁄₁₆₀₀ Sek. bei ƒ / 2,8 File: DSC_0194.NEF

On the Pommel Horse, a magnificent performance by Rhys McClenaghan won him the gold medal in Paris in 2024! Rhys from Newtownards became the fourth Northern Irish athlete to win a gold medal at Paris 2024, and the seventh in history! Before that in his career, Rhys has won golds at World Championships, European Championships, Commonwealth Games!

Men’s artistic gymnastics

Event	1st	2nd	3rd
Olympic Games	1	0	0
World Championships	2	0	1
European Championships	3	0	0
Commonwealth Games	1	1	0
N. European Championships	1	0	1
Total	8	1	2

Unfortunately – illegally and wrongly, Rhys was banned from representing Northern Ireland at the 2022 Commonwealth Games because they made a fake stuck-up, left-wing rule that because he had represented Ireland before. This is corrupt because Northern Ireland doesn’t have a team called Northern Ireland in the Olympics and our athletes are illegally coerced into deciding between Team Ireland or Team GB and NI.

My hats off to these Northern Irish legends and I hope many more Northern Irish athletes will win gold medals in days to come. There’s something magic in the air in the six counties of Antrim, Armagh, Derry/Londonderry, Down, Fermanagh and Tyrone!

Well done yousens!