IRISH PENTATHLETE Arthur Lanigan-O’Keeffe has confirmed he will miss the Olympics this summer despite qualifying for the event.
The Dubliner is carrying an injury and opted to give his place to another athlete rather than trying to compete at less than 100%.
It means 30-year-old Meath pentathlete Natalya Coyle, who finished ninth at London 2012 and sixth at Rio 2016, will be Ireland’s sole representative in the sport at Tokyo this summer, though Galway’s Sive Brassil, who finished 40th in the UIPM Olympic World Rankings, remains on standby for the Games in case of withdrawals.
Lanigan-O’Keeffe, who finished 25th at the 2012 London Olympics and eighth four years later in Rio, will be replaced in this year’s competition by Mexico’s Alvaro Sandoval Aguilar.
The 29-year-old posted a statement to his social media channels explaining the decision.
“My injury to my hip is too much to overcome and I have decided that the honourable thing to do would be to pass my place onto another athlete who was fit to compete at the highest level,” he wrote.
“This is not a decision I have taken lightly and it’s been one of the most painful things for me to do having fought soo hard to get here.
“I made my intentions for Tokyo very clear and that was to go competing for a medal.
“This is no longer possible with my injury, so to travel and not represent myself or my country to the fullest would be dishonourable and in my opinion against the core values of Olympism which are “excellence, friendship and respect”.
“Thank you everyone for your support over the past few weeks.
“It has been almost overwhelming and something I honestly didn’t expect.
“I just want to say every one of those messages made a difference and I appreciate you all for that. I am doing good and now focusing my energy into helping my beautiful fiancé Natalya Coyle reach the top of that podium for both of us.”
Paddy Boyd, Pentathlon Ireland CEO, added: “Pentathlon Ireland is very proud of all the athletes who have conducted themselves so well and worked so hard to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics in the face of a great deal of disruption.
“We congratulate Natalya and commiserate with Arthur, and we know that Sive will be part of our sport for many years to come. We now look forward to supporting Natalya from afar and we are certain the whole nation will get behind her.”
