Sycerika McMahon named Swimmer of the Year

Sycerika McMahon was last night named High Performance Athlete of the Year at the Swim Ireland Annual Awards in the Galway Bay Hotel. McMahon had an outstanding year in 2012, winning two European medals, silver in the 50m Breaststroke at the European Long Course Swimming Championships in May and Bronze in the same event at the European Short Course Swimming Championships in December. The 17 year old qualified and competed at the London Olympic Games and over the year she set a total of 17 Irish Records and is now the current holder of 7 Senior and 17 Junior Irish Records. Sycerika's coach Bobby Madine (Leander ASC) was named High Performance Coach of the Year for the second year running.

A total of 16 Awards which celebrate and honour the fantastic work and outstanding accomplishments of Swim Ireland's athletes, coaches and volunteers were handed out on the night including Disability Swimmer of the Year (Bethany Firth), Club of the Year (Longford SC) and National Volunteer of the Year (Michael Angus Bangor).

In honouring the achievements of 2012, Olympians and Paralympians were invited to celebrate their performances at the London 2012 Olympic Games. Ten swimmers and six coaches were awarded with commemorative medals. Fourteen Junior International Athletes were also honoured on the night, they represented Ireland at European Junior Championships in Swimming, Open Water and Diving in 2012.

The final part of the evening saw an induction into the Swim Ireland Hall of Fame. The 2013 inductee was Paralympic Gold Medallist Mr Dave Malone. Dave represented Ireland at five Paralympic Games and is now the Head of Paralympic Swimming in Ireland as well as coaching at the NAC Swimming Club. It is only fitting that after the success of the swimmers at the Games in 2012 and given his contribution to the sport over the years that Dave was inducted into the Swim Ireland Hall of Fame in 2013.

Speaking after the event, Swim Ireland's Chief Executive Officer Ms. Sarah Keane commented: "Hosting the Awards each year is a great opportunity for the aquatic community, young and old, to get together and celebrate our athletes, coaches and volunteers achievements and accomplishments, it was great to see so many of these people in the same room tonight and to celebrating a great year."