John McAdorey, Irish Olympic sprinter from Ballymena has died aged 45

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

John McAdorey, Irish Olympic sprinter from Ballymena has died aged 45 after an illness. He passed away at Belfast City Hospital's Cancer Centre on Wednesday.

The Ballymena native represented Ireland in the 4x100m relay at the Sydney Games in 2000. McAdorey was part of the team (Paul Brizzel, Gary Ryan, Tom Comyns, John McAdorey, Mark Howard (Sub), Donal McCarthy (Sub) whose Irish record set in Sydney of 39.26 seconds still stands.

He had many sucesses throughout his athletic career, Outdoor Irish National U23 100m Champion in 1995, U23 200m Champion in 1996, Senior 100m Champion in 2001 and two time Indoor Champion in the 60m in 1996 and again in 2001. He retired from sport due to work commitments and returned in a coaching capacity.

 

Ex-Ireland team manager Patsy McGonagle told the BBC that the passing of McAdorey was "very sad news".

"He was a very popular member of the team," he said.

"He was on several teams when I was manager - most notably at the Sydney Olympics when the 4x100m relay squad set that national record which remains to this day.

"John was a very good team man. He started off in athletics quite young, then drifted away from the sport for a time but came back to become an Olympian and that was a tremendous achievement for him."

 

He is survived by partner Julie and children Conor and Callum. His funeral will take place at Stevenson's Funeral Home in Ballymena at 2pm on Saturday. It will be followed by burial in Cullybackey New Cemetery.

For futher funeral arrangement please click HERE.

Athletics Ireland offer our deepest condolences to his family & friends. He will be greatly missed in the athletics community.

May he rest in peace.