Last week the Paralympic movement in Ireland received a significant boost, the reason being a world first by an elite Irish athlete - an athlete who is also a Paralympian. 

Jason Smyth has repeatedly amazed us by his continuous progress, his achievement of ranking 14th out of 36 competitors in the mens 100 metres at the European Athletics Championships in Barcelona indicates that his aspirations over the coming years should have no limits.

To be the first male Paralympian to compete at a major IAAF Championships is a milestone we are extremely happy that an Irishman achieved. 

Jason first started competing in the sport in 2004 and emerged in 2005 at a cold, wet and windy event at ALSAA in Dublin when he defeated Conal McNamara, the reigning Athens 2004 T13 400m silver medallist by a comfortable margin at Irish Blind Sports May Games. 

In doing so, Jason posted a time which qualified him for the Irish team. 

The Paralympic Council of Ireland with the support of the Irish Sports Council immediately agreed a support package for Jason to ensure his potential over the coming years was realised. 

Smyth has delivered a marvelous return in the interim:

• T13 100m and 200m gold medals at the 2005 European Championships, Espoo 

• T13 100 and 200m gold medals at the 2006 World Championships, Assen

• T13 100 and 200m gold medals at the 2008 Paralympic Games, Beijing

Jason has high ambitions and has continued his march towards achieving them.  In the summer of 2009 he decided to move his training base, along with his coach Stephen Maguire, to Clermont in Florida and joined Lance Bauman’s training group. 

The progress made from that decision was clear for all to see in Barcelona. Now ranked 14th in Europe and the second fastest Irishman of all time, Jason’s dual dream of competing at the London Olympics and winning gold medals at the London Paralympics are evidently achievable.



Jason is very much becoming an icon of Paralympic Sport worldwide, however he is a "team player", one of many Irish athletes targeting success at the London 2012 Paralympic Games. 

Ireland is aiming to qualify athletes 50 athletes in nine of the sports on the summer programme - up from 45 in Beijing and 41 in Athens. 

Many of these athletes may not be known around the world, but are developing into household names in Ireland such as Michael McKillop, Orla Barry and Garrett Culliton in athletics, Padraic Moran and Gabriel Shelly in boccia, Catherine Walsh in Cycling, Gary Messett and Luke Evans football seven-a-side,  Karen Cromie in rowing, Ellen Keane in swimming and Rena McCarron in table tennis.

The selection of London as the host of the 2012 Paralympic Games has provided us with a major opportunity to highlight our sport in Ireland. For us, these Games are a "home Games" from which we want to capitalise both in terms of athletic achievement, but also importantly to raise awareness and educate the Irish public of the elite athletic ability of Ireland’s Paralympians. 

The successes of our Paralympic athletes - such as Jason’s European success - along with the continued support of the Irish Sports Council have brought us to the point where the doors of corporate Ireland have opened. 

With new supporters of Paralympic sport in Ireland such as Renault Ireland, OCS, O’Neills Sportswear along with further new partners soon to come on board, our aim of leading elite Irish Paralympic athletes to achieve sustain competitive excellence is looking more assured as we get closer to London. 

Liam Harbison is the chief executive of the Paralympic Council of Ireland