Name: Eric Favours
Event: Athletics - Shot Put
Age: 27
Eric Favours is the shot put national record holder, being only one of three Irishmen to have thrown over 20m. Favours broke his own national record this year by throwing 20.93m in America in April of this year.
Favours has been to multiple international championships but has never made the final. He missed the final at the European Championships earlier this year by only 14 centimetres. Given the competitive nature of the men's shot put he will likely need a throw near the 21-metre mark to make an impact. He becomes only the second Irish representative in the men's shot put at an Olympic Games, and the first since 1946.
Favour's grandmother comes from Ballina and he grew up in Rockland, New York where he was coached as a teenager by Ireland's Sydney Olympic hammer thrower Paddy McGrath. Favours is currently coached by Dane Miller and he works in a school in Pennsylvania part-time to support his throwing career.
