Hometown: Cork
Coach: Alison O’Riordan
Classification: F41
Disability Group:
Niamh was one of Ireland’s sensational ‘Rebel Treble’ of medal-winning discus throwers from Cork in Rio 2016, winning F41 discus silver on her Paralympic debut with her penultimate throw of 26.67m.
That came less than three years after she was first identified through a Paralympics Ireland talent ID day but she had already demonstrated her talent by winning bronze at the 2015 World Championships.
She has since won four more major medals, including silver at the 2017 World Championships, gold at the 2018 European Championships (with a new European record of 31.76m) and bronze at the 2019 World Championships.
This year she retained her European title in Poland in June with a throw of 30.03m and her throw of 31.18m in Dublin in June puts her third in the world rankings. Alison O’Riordan, who is Paralympic Ireland’s throws coach since late 2019, is now her technical coach and, as well as training at Leevale AC Niamh now has a throws circle in her local GAA club for training.
To facilitate her training Niamh works part-time for Dell in Cork. She is also an avid sky-diver.
Tokyo 2021 Results:
McCarthy has finished in 5th place in the women’s discus F41. Her best throw was 28:94 metres.
