Ireland at the 1968 Summer Paralympics

Ireland at the 1968 Summer Paralympics
IPC code	IRL
NPC	Paralympics Ireland
Website	www.paralympics.ie
in Tel Aviv
Medals Ranked 19th	Gold Silver Bronze Total 0 4 5 9
Summer Paralympics appearances
1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016

Ireland was one of twenty-eight nations to send a delegation to compete at the 1968 Summer Paralympics in Tel Aviv, Israel from November 4 to 13, 1968.^[1][2] The team finished nineteenth in the medal table and won a total of nine medals; four silver and five bronze.^[3] Seven Irish athletes competed at the Games, five men and two women.^{[1][n 1]}

Rosaleen Gallagher won a medal in four different sports; archery, athletics, swimming and table tennis.^[4]

Disability classifications

The Paralympics groups athletes' disabilities into one of five disability categories; amputation, the condition may be congenital or sustained through injury or illness; cerebral palsy; wheelchair athletes, there is often overlap between this and other categories; visual impairment, including blindness; Les autres, any physical disability that does not fall strictly under one of the other categories, for example dwarfism or multiple sclerosis.^[5][6] Each Paralympic sport then has its own classifications, dependent on the specific physical demands of competition. Events are given a code, made of numbers and letters, describing the type of event and classification of the athletes competing.^[7]

Archery

One Irish archer competed at the Games. Rosaleen Gallagher took part in the St. Nicholas round cervical for women. One of only two athletes in the event she won a silver medal after being beaten by Ruth Brooks of Great Britain.^[8]

Dartchery

The only dartchery event at the Games was the mixed pairs event which took a knockout format. The Irish pair of Kerrigan and Hughes was beaten by Spaniards Llorens and Lorente in the first round.^[9]

Snooker

One snooker event was contested at the Games, the men's open event. Jimmy Gibson entered for Ireland. After wins over Keaton of Great Britain and Aroldo Ruschioni of Italy, Gibson faced Britain's Michael Shelton in the final. Shelton defeated Gibson to take gold and the Irishman won the silver medal.^[10]

Swimming

Three swimmers competed for Ireland in Tel Aviv. Kerrigan took part in the men's class 2 complete breaststroke and backstroke but did not advance to either final. Ireland's two swimmers in the women's 25 m backstroke class 1 incomplete each won a medal; White won the silver and Rosaleen Gallagher the bronze behind Ingrams of Great Britain who won in a world record time.^[11]

Table tennis

Five players entered table tennis singles events and pairs in both the women's A2 doubles and men's C doubles.^[4] Jimmy Gibson added a bronze medal in the men's C singles to the silver he won in snooker.^[4] In the women's A2 singles Ireland won two medals, silver for White and bronze for Rosaleen Gallagher.^[4] White and Gallagher were Ireland's entry in the women's A2 doubles. Four pairs entered the event; the Irish pair lost their first match, against Great Britain, by a score of 2–1 but still won a bronze medal.^[12]

See also

• Ireland at the 1968 Summer Olympics

Notes

1. Data is taken from the International Paralympic Committee website and is based on information contained/sourced in the original hardcopy final results publications. Some information from earlier Paralympic Games (i.e. 1960 – 1984) is incomplete and is missing first names of some athletes

References

1. "Participation Numbers Tel Aviv 1968 Paralympic Games". International Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 17 May 2011.
2. "Paralympic Games History – Summer". Australian Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 13 May 2011.
3. "Medal Standings Tel Aviv 1968 Paralympic Games". International Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 28 April 2011.
4. "Athlete Search Results Ireland 1968". International Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 18 May 2011.
5. "Paralympics categories explained". ABC. 3 September 2008. Retrieved 17 May 2011.
6. "Making sense of the categories". BBC Sport. 6 October 2000. Retrieved 18 May 2011.
7. "A-Z of Paralympic classification". BBC Sport. 28 August 2008. Retrieved 18 May 2011.
8. "Results Tel Aviv 1968 Paralympic Games Archery Women's St. Nicholas Round cervical". International Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 18 May 2011.
9. "Results Tel Aviv 1968 Paralympic Games Dartchery Mixed Pairs open". International Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 17 May 2011.
10. "Results Tel Aviv 1968 Paralympic Games Snooker Men's Snooker Event open". International Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 18 May 2011.
11. "Results Tel Aviv 1968 Paralympic Games Swimming Women's 25 m Backstroke class 1 incomplete". International Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 18 May 2011.
12. "Results Tel Aviv 1968 Paralympic Games Table Tennis Women's Doubles A2". International Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 18 May 2011.