Olympic Council of Ireland announce torch bearers for flame...including Jedward!

May 9th...The Olympic Council of Ireland have just announced the 34 people that will carry the Olympic torch through Dublin on the 6th of June. The list includes some obvious names like Gold Medalist Ronnie Delany, Olympic Silver medalists John Treacy and Sonia O'Sullivan as well as some medalists from other sports. Perhaps one of the big suprises was the inclusion of the the Eurovision duo, Jedward otherwise known as the twins Jon and Edward Grimes. No doubt their inclusion is an effort to appeal to a younger generation and perhaps inspire in them an interest in the Olympic Games.

The provisional route for the torch can be seen in an earlier post HERE

The 34 are......LEE KINSELLA, CILLIAN KIRWAN, LAUREN LAWLESS, ROBBIE LYONS, WAYNE ‘POCKET ROCKET’ Mc CULLOUGH (Boxing), PAUL McGRATH (Soccer), ALVA NOLAN (Special Olympics), GARY O’BRIEN (Special Olympics), SONIA O’SULLIVAN (5000m Silver medalist at the 2000 Sydney Games), OLIVIA O’TOOLE (Womens Soccer), NIAMH REID-BURKE (Womens Soccer), HENRY SHEFFLIN (GAA), TONY SUTHERLAND (Boxing), JOHN TREACY (Marathon silver medalist at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games) and......JEDWARD – aged 20, from Dublin. John and Edward Grimes are identical twins and are widely known for their blonde quiffs. The twins first appeared as John & Edward on The X Factor 2009, generating a phenomenon described as “the Jedward Paradox”. Both young men have competed very successfully in schools athletics and recently completed the Los Angeles marathon. They represented Ireland at the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 and will do so again in 2012.

Full details of the 34 people named on the OCI website

Jedward run LA Marathon...

Hot news from the world of showbiz! ;o)

Apparently, the dynamic duo of John and Edward Grimes, otherwise known as Jedward, ran the Marathon in Los Angeles last Sunday. Their time for the 26.2 mile course was just over 4 hours but they are not in the official results as they were too late to enter.

Jedward finish 8th in Eurovision Final...

Now, I bet that wasn't a headline you were expecting on the Running in Cork blog!

But appearently, both John and Edward Grimes are pretty good Cross-Country runners.

Jedward in Action

According to Eddie McDonagh, head coach for Dundrum South Dublin Athletics Club, the two were... "very good athletes. They finished 1st and 2nd at the Dublin regional indoor finals earlier this year (2009) and then went on to the national finals in Thurles and finished 3rd and 4th over 1,500m. .......I certainly would have seen them on the Irish team for the European Cross Country Championships next year, although I think they may be on a different path now."