Shane Ryan –Swimming

Born and raised in the suburbs of Philadelphia, where his father Thomas moved from Laois, Ryan always aspired to swim for Ireland and has always considered himself more Irish than American. For over a year now he’s been living in a small house in a far corner of the National Sports Campus at Abbotstown in order to fulfil his Irish allegiance. He also postponed his final year of a scholarship at Penn State to make it Rio, qualifying in the 100m backstroke with 53.96 seconds in Bangor, back in March. Improvement in Rio should see him progress from heats.