'Ciara set the standard' - Irish Athletics CEO Adams

Athletics Ireland CEO Hamish Adams says Ciara Mageean set a new standard for Irish athletics and will go down as a sporting legend.

The Irish Olympian and European champion runner died on Sunday aged 34. Mageean revealed in July 2025 that she had been diagnosed with stage four bowel cancer.

She will be reposing at her parents' home in Portaferry today, before her funeral at St Patrick's Church, Ballyphilip Road on Tuesday.

A two-time Olympian, Mageean made history by winning European 1500m gold for Ireland in Rome in 2024.

The Portaferry woman represented Ireland at the Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in the 1500m even, and was due to compete at the 2024 games before an Achilles injury ruled her out, just one day before her first heat at the Paris games.

Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Adams was asked what Mageean’s legacy is likely to be.

"Ciara transcends all sports," he said. "You’d often hear Ciara talking about playing camogie growing up in Portaferry. I think she is one of those people that could have played any sport. She had such physical talent and mental resilience, everything that goes with being an elite sportsperson.

"Ciara will be remembered as legend of Irish sport. In Athletics Ireland we look upon her as a huge, huge loss. We want to remember Ciara forever. We will take our time and we will put some processes in place to do that.

"One of the best athletes in the world, culminating in that European gold in Rome. I’m sure If she hadn’t have picked up an injury in 2024, Paris would have been very, very interesting. She was a strong medal hope.

"Her legacy is where Athletics Ireland is at this point in time. She has driven the standards internally. She is the person the younger athletes have looked up to. She has been a mentor to all of us and is really going to be missed."

Along with her European gold in 2024, she won European bronze in 2016, silver in 2022 and she also claimed silver at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

Mageean holds Irish records in the 800m (1:58.51), 1000m (2:31.06), 1500m (3:55.87) and mile (4:14.58).

Patsy McGonagle was Ireland team manager at the 2016 Rio Games where Mageean made her Olympic debut, making the 1500m semi-final and finishing 11th in 4:08.07.

He recalled a warm, yet highly motivated individual.

"She was a dream really (to work with)," he told Morning Ireland. "She was the star girl, she was the chatty girl from Portaferry. She was the girl who loved running for Ireland and she was popular in the team.

"She was so grounded, so straightforward, so easy to deal with.

"Sometimes in the sport, it knocks you off and you don't actually come back. You don’t have that determination.

"But it was very clear that she had that determination ongoing and over a long period of time because she was out for quite a period and she bounced back from that and she just worked at it, worked at it, worked at it and it all came good for her in the end.

"It was shocking how quickly in the end she passed."

Speaking on RTÉ Radio in June, Mageean said she was determined to "fit as much living into the years I have left" as she spoke about her stage four cancer diagnosis.

"I am so grateful for the support of the Irish nation," she added. "It's been there for me throughout my entire career. But I feel supported and loved throughout this journey."

Mageean and her long-term partner Thomas Moran were married last month in a ceremony at Belfast City Hall.

President Catherine Connolly led the tributes on Sunday, saying the Down woman stood out not just for her "exceptional talent", but for her "strength and perseverance, for her clear speaking, and for her determination to succeed".