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Ireland’s Ciar\u00e1n \u00d3 Lion\u00e1ird before the Men’s 1,500m final at the 2014 European Athletics Championships in Zurich in August 2014. Photograph: Morgan Treacy\/Inpho <\/p>\nIrish athletics has been left shocked and saddened by the news that Ciar\u00e1n \u00d3 Lion\u00e1ird, the former Irish 1,500 metres champion and London 2012 Olympian, has died suddenly at the age of 38.<\/p>\n
\u00d3 Lion\u00e1ird was found dead in Canada on Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n
The Cork native and Leevale club member, who had been based in the US since 2011, gained considerable popularity during his relatively short international career and the news of his sudden death was greeted with similar shock throughout the wider athletics world.<\/p>\n
In a running career frequently plagued by injury, \u00d3 Lion\u00e1ird\u2019s conspicuous talent as a junior athlete was often thwarted, before he made his senior breakthrough in 2011, when in the one summer he improved his 1,500m best from 3:48.36 to 3:34.46. That time qualified him for the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, South Korea and the following year\u2019s London Olympics. <\/p>\n
His laid-back and old-school approach to training and racing brought him many admirers, and he became affectionately known as \u201cMad Len\u201d. \u00d3 Lion\u00e1ird was also outspoken on matters on and off the track, including the difficulties most elite athletes face trying to make a living from the sport, and later the challenges they face when entering retirement. <\/p>\n
Ireland’s Ciar\u00e1n \u00d3 Lion\u00e1ird before the Men’s 1,500m final at the 2014 European Athletics Championships in Zurich in August 2014. Photograph: Morgan Treacy\/Inpho <\/p>\n
Despite his inexperience, \u00d3 Lion\u00e1ird made the final in Daegu in 2011, where he finished in 10th position. Two months later he moved to the Nike Oregon Project, based in Portland, Oregon, to train under the controversial coach Alberto Salazar. Although that was short-lived, he soon switched to the Nike Track Club Elite, a sort of alternative training camp in Eugene, Oregon, to train under Britain\u2019s Mark Rowland.<\/p>\n
By the time of the London Olympics, however, \u00d3 Lion\u00e1ird\u2019s injuries were taking a physical and mental toll, particularly the reoccurrence of an Achilles tendon strain. \u201cThis has been the worst experience of my life, there\u2019s no positives I can take from this,\u201d he said on RT\u00c9<\/a> after finishing 13th in his 1,500m heat in London. \u201cI\u2019m going to find something else to do with my life.\u201d<\/p>\n He bounced back in March 2013, however, going to the European Indoor Championships in Gothenburg and winning the bronze medal in the 3,000m, having boldly struck for gold on the last lap. He then missed that entire summer with injury.<\/p>\n