Age: 29

Hometown: Clontarf, Dublin 

Club: NAC Swim Club 

Disability: Left arm dysmelia 

Sport Class: S9, SB8, SM9

Paris will be Ellen Keane’s fifth and final Paralympic Games. She was Ireland’s youngest ever athlete at 13 when she competed at the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing. She competed impressively, placing sixth in the 100m breaststroke.

At the London 2012 Games she qualified for three finals and followed that up in 2013 by claiming two bronze medals at the IPC World Championships in Montreal, Canada marking her first time to make a major international podium.

The following year she went on to make three fourth place finishes and swim two lifetime bests at the European Championships in Eindhoven. At the IPC World Championships in Glasgow in 2015, Ellen secured a bronze medal after a fantastic finish in the 200m Individual Medley final (SM9) where she also set a new lifetime best time.

She also represented Ireland at the 2016 IPC Swimming European Open Championships where she secured two lifetime best swims.

Rio was Ellen’s third Paralympic Games and saw her make the podium claiming a brilliant bronze medal in the final of the SB8 100m Breaststroke. She also swam lifetime bests finishing eighth in each of the S9 100m Backstroke and Butterfly finals.

At the 2018 World European Para-Swim Championships Ellen added to her long list of honours with a gold and bronze in the 200m Individual Medley and the 100m breaststroke.

Ellen added a bronze medal to her tally at the World Para Swimming Championships in London with a season’s best performance in the 100m breaststroke SB8. This performance saw Ellen named on the RTÉ Sport Awards 2019 Sportsperson of the Year alongside team mate Nicole Turner.

The Tokyo Paralympic Games were pivotal for Keane as she swam to the pinnacle of her sport and eclipsed her bronze medal from Rio by winning gold in the 100m breaststroke SB8.

She secured a world silver in the 100 Breaststroke SB8 Final for Team Ireland at the 2023 World Para Swimming Championships in Manchester and an all important slot for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.

At her final European Championships in Madiera this April, Keane won her final European medal, silver in the 100 m Breaststroke SB8.

From Clontarf, she studied Culinary Entrepreneurship in DIT Aungier Street.

Ellen was born without part of her left arm below her elbow.

Schedule: 

Day 2 – August 30th 

SB8 100m Breaststroke (heat) 10:32

SB8 100m Breaststroke (final) 19:21

Day 6 – September 3rd 

S9 100m Backstroke (heat) 08:45

S9 100m Backstroke (final) 16:44

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