Name: David McCarthy

Height: 1.90m

Weight: 80kg

Location: Limerick

Coaches: Drew and Hayley Harrison

How did you get into running? I became involved in athletics in Secondary School, at first competing in cross-country races. I progressed from here to the track and soon became a member of Leixlip Athletic Club, and then Celbridge AC. Since then I have joined, and presently compete for, Le Chéile AC. As a juvenile I competed across a wide variety of disciplines and was also involved in the multi-events. My first international competition was in the Schools International Multi-Events in Glasgow, where we won a team bronze medal.

At junior level, I began to focus on 400m running and competed at international level in this event for a number of years. I reached the final of both the European and World Junior Championships (2001, 2002) before finishing 5th at the 2003 World Indoor Championships, setting a personal best of 46.61 in the final. 2003 also saw me set my outdoor best of 46.05, while finishing 6th at the European U-23 Championships.

In 2004 I was the final leg runner on the 4×400m Irish relay team that historically finished 3rd at the World Indoor Championships in Budapest. Along the way, we set a National Indoor Record of 3.08.83.

Following a couple more years of 400m running, I decided to turn my attention to 800m, having run this distance quite often as a juvenile athlete. I knew that I had some natural ability for this discipline and it had always been a long-term intention to try my hand at the longer distance.

In 2007, I finished 7th at the European Indoor Championships and 9th in the World University Games in the 800m. I also set a personal best of 1.47.71, which places me just outside the B Qualifying standard for next year’s Olympic Games. It also gives me a very realistic chance of securing an A Qualifying time, in which case it would be my intention to double up with the 800m and the 4×400m relay.