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The Jerries

Meet Ireland's Olympic Team: Ciara Mageean

The 24-year-old is aiming to add more silverware after earning a European bronze medal already this year.

Event: 1500m

Who is she? A European bronze medallist, middle-distance runner Ciara Mageean will represent Team Ireland in the 1500m later this month.

Where’s she from? The 24-year-old hails from Portaferry, Count Down. She also comes from good sporting stock as her father Chris played inter-county hurling for the Ardsmen.

Olympic CV: Set to make her Olympic debut, Ciara missed out on a place at the London Games of 2012 as she was severely-hampered by an ankle injury over a two-year period.

Road to Rio: The UCD physiotherapy student was handed a spot on the plane to Rio after a revision of the qualification process and entry standards saw the benchmark time moved from 4:06.00 to 4:07.00.

Mageean, whose personal best is 4:06.49, ran inside the qualification time twice in Italy in September 2015.

Then in Amsterdam last month, she incredibly won bronze at the European Championships.

When does she start? Her heat is Saturday, 13 August.

Where can I follow her? Check her out on TwitterInstagram and Facebook.

What she says: “I aim to be in the final. I’ll be disappointed if I’m not there. Once I’m there I’m going to my damnedest to do my best for Ireland.” (RTÉ)

Medal chances: Jerry Kiernan actually coaches Mageean and she gets a four out of five on The42‘s scientifically-developed, patented Jerry Kiernan scale…

Four Jerries

And here’s something you probably didn’t know: Mageean has named her Springer Spanial puppy Rio after you know what.

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