The Costin brothers from Waterford are both Olympians one competed at the Olympic Games in Sydney and the other at the Special Olympics in Dublin.
The Costins from An Rinn in the Waterford Gaeltacht have not one but two Olympians in their family. They are preparing to send one of their sons to the Athens Olympic Games, while another competed in the Special Olympics in 2003.
Jamie Costin is a 50km walker who competed in the Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000. Now ranked inside the top 20 marathon walkers he is concentrating his energies on the Athens Olympics, which will commence on 13 August.
But last year the family’s focus was on Niall Costin, when he competed in the 2003 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Dublin. He took part in the motor activities event, which became one of the successes of the games.
People queued for hours to support and applaud the efforts and achievements of those athletes taking part. Jamie Costin was delighted to see brother Niall take centre stage,
For Niall to be able to go to the Special Olympics and for all of us to go to Croke Park to watch him there was just absolutely super.
Parents Margaret and Jimmy Costin take pride in seeing both their boys pushing themselves to their limits, and are always there to cheer them on wherever they compete, be it in Santry or Sydney. According to Margaret,
Both events were very special really.
Jimmy Costin is aware of the dedication and hard work that goes into both events, and for Jamie in particular,
It’s great to see someone getting results when they put in the effort.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 5 August 2004. The reporter is Anne Marie Smyth.
