FENCING Irish fencer Siobhan Byrne qualifies for Beijing Olympic Games

Ireland’s leading fencer; Siobhan Byrne has sensationally qualified for the 2008 Beijing Olympics by winning the silver medal at the European qualifying tournament in Istanbul this evening (Sat 26th April). In doing so Siobhan Byrne becomes the first Irish fencer to reach an Olympic Games since Michael O’Brien in 1992. Only the two finalists at this tournament would qualify for Beijing and Byrne booked her place by beating the tournament’s number one seed Andreea Pelei of Romania 15-14 in a thrilling semi-final.

Byrne, who competes in the Sabre weapon category, and is supported by the Irish Sports Council, was one of nine fencers from around Europe competing for only two qualifying spots in Istanbul. The top two ranked fencers from Greece and Romania received a bye into the direct elimination phase of the competition, with the remaining seven; including Byrne fighting it out in the pool format to advance to direct elimination. The two lowest ranked fencers after the pool stage were eliminated.

Byrne recorded three wins in the pool stage to emerge from it ranked fifth of the seven heading into the direct elimination. She faced Joanna Hutchinson of Great Britian in her quarter-final. In that match Byrne was in impressive form on the piste winning it 15-8 to advance to the semi-final where the winner was guaranteed a place at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

Twenty three year old Byrne had to defeat the tournament’s number one seed; Andreea Pelei of Romania if she was to fulfill her dream of competing at the Olympic Games. She did so in thrilling fashion edging out the favourite 15-14 to book her place on the Irish team for this summer’s Olympics. An hour later she faced Spaniard Araceli Navarro in the final of the tournament but missed out on gold by a mere one hit; 14-15.

After the final a delighted Byrne said: “I am so so thrilled to qualify for the Olympics; I just can’t believe it! I felt good coming into this tournament; I knew what I had to do to realise my goal and I stayed focused and positive throughout. I felt like it was my time, and it is; this is my turn. I am so grateful to my coach, and manager, Ohio State; my college and the Sports Council for backing me for years, and I’m just so pleased for my family.”

Siobhan Byrne is in her final year of a sports scholarship at Ohio State University, studying Health Management and is supported under the Irish Sports Council’s International Carding Scheme, and Performance Planning Programme for the last number of years. Byrne was born in Germany where her family is based and her father is from County Meath. This year her primary focus has been the highly competitive US college circuit where she won silver in the NCAA individual event helping Ohio State take team gold. Her next competition will be a Grand Prix in Las Vegas in June.

There will be 34 fencers in the Irish fighter’s event in Beijing but 24 of these have qualified from the 2007 world championship team event. The remaining ten qualifiers will consist of a handful of top ranked fencers who have not qualified via a team, with the balance from these zonal qualifying competitions.
 
Byrne was desperately unlucky not to qualify for Athens at this event in 2004; she was fourth by a mere two hits missing out on qualification by the very narrowest of margins.
Ends.
Issued on behalf of the Irish Amateur Fencing Federation

For Further Information:
Sinéad McElroy, Irish Sports Council smcelroy@irishsportscouncil.ie 087-6338512

Website to watch:
www.fie.ch

Additionally: Stock images of Siobhan Byrne are available reproduction fee free from Sportsfile www.sportsfile.com or 01-4547400.