Rory McIlroy and Stephanie Meadow part of Paris panel for Olympic Games

Rory McIlroy and Stephanie Meadow have been officially confirmed on the Team Ireland golf panel for this summer’s Olympic Games.

The Northern Ireland-born players join Offaly’s Shane Lowry and Leona Maguire of Cavan on the Olympic Federation of Ireland squad – matching the Tokyo 2020 team.

placeholder image — Rory McIlroy (right) and Shane Lowry have been named in the Team Ireland golf panel for Paris along with Stephanie Meadow and Leona Maguire. (Photo by Richard Sellers/PA Wire)

The golf tournament runs at Le Golf National in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines near Versailles.

McIlroy came close to bronze in Tokyo and Lowry heads for Paris with podium ambitions.

“My first experience in Tokyo was amazing and it feeds you with the hunger of wanting to do it again and to come back and give it a better shot this time,” he said. “A lot of what I’ve talked about and done this year has been geared towards the Olympics in Paris. I have always said that I’d love to bring a medal back to Ireland, and that’s my number one goal. It’s great to be going back there with Rory too.”

Maguire and Meadow head in for a third Olympic Games experience.

“It’s a huge honour to be selected for my third Olympics,” said Maguire. “There are not a lot of people who can say that they have been to three Olympic Games. Anytime you get to represent your country is a huge honour, and to do it at an Olympic Games, there’s no bigger honour. As golfers we don’t get to be part of a team very often, so it is special to be part of a team heading to Paris.

“Me and Steph have known each other a lifetime now, it seems, and it is our third Olympics together. It’s been quite the journey over the last, almost 20 years, at this point. It is nice to see growth in each other’s games and lives, and nice to be able to share this together.”