James Nolan

James Nolan (born 27 January 1977 in Tullamore, Co Offaly) is an Irish runner and two time Olympian who specialized in the 800 metres before changing to the 1500 metres event in 2000. He was runner up in the 800 metre race at the European U23 athletics championship in 1999 and runner up over 1500 metres at the European Indoor Championship in 2000.

Biography

After leaving Tullamore to move to Dublin Nolan represented University College Dublin Athletic club from 1995 until around 2007 before joining Clonliffe Harriers AC he has also competed for Newham & Essex Beagles and New York Athletic Club from time to time. He announced plans to run the steeplechase in the summer of 2007; though he did not in fact seem to run the event during this time. A married man he is a two time Olympian who was brought up just outside Tullamore in County Offaly and returned to study at University College Dublin in 2005 having been a student there from 1996 to 2001. Between 2001 and 2005 he spent much of his time training in South Africa. Nolan was runner up in the European Under 23 Championship 800 metres in 1999 and second in the European Indoor Championship over 1500 metres in 2000. A one time Irish 800m Indoor record holder Nolan's noted potential as an underage athlete has rarely shown through since he turned 18. He made his senior international debut in 1996 and since then has competed in around 20 senior international Championships but has never really featured in those that were held outdoor and only enjoyed isolated success in some lesser regarded indoor competitions. Over the years Nolan has raced in more than 25 countries. He has enjoyed greater longevity, and has more consistently qualified for major competitions, than domestic contemporaries such as David Matthews, Daniel Caulfied and Gareth Turnbull but nonetheless must be seen as someone who once promised more than he delivered. In many of the indoor finals he made he has been accused of settling for the position his pre-race ranking suggested he should have achieved. Athletics journalist Ian O'Riordan noted his surprise in print that Nolan did not commit himself more during the 2003 World Indoor final in what he suggested was a relatively open race. Nolan was not selected for the Irish team for the 2007 World Championship which is the first time he has missed such an event when fit since 2003. He returned to some form in early 2008 and qualified for the 1500 metres at the 2008 World Indoor Championship and competed at the event for Ireland in early March failing to qualify for the final. Nolan is a quick witted man who is best known to the public at large in his home country for savaging RTÉ pundit Jerry Kiernan who had accused him during the 2004 Olympics of being a dilettante. In 2008 Nolan's early outdoor season form had been poor and he did not qualify for the Beijing Olympics; he needed to run 3 minutes 36.60 seconds for the 1500 metres and had only run 3 minutes 40.8 seconds- one of his last attempts at qualification saw him run 3 minutes 50.83 seconds to finish 13th in a race in Morocco. The 31 year old has been a professional athlete for 14 years but 3 years after loosing his Irish government grant aid it seems that his career will end shortly.

Achievements

Personal bests

*800 metres - 1:46.05 min (1999)
*1500 metres - 3:35.69 min (2003)
*One mile - 3:54.50 min (2003)
*3000 metres - 7:52.84 min (2006)

External links

*iaaf name|id=50384|name=James Nolan
* [http://www.ireland.com/sports/olympics/irish/athletics-nolan.htm Profile]