The meteoric rise and notorious fall of a long-distance runner

Cathal Lombard’s story

Listen | 13:32
Cathal Lombard competing in the Men's 5,000m at the 2003 National Athletics Championships. Photograph: Patrick Bolger/©INPHO

In the run-up to the Paris Olympics, Irish Times sports journalists have looked back at the Irish Olympic stories you didn’t know. This podcast series brings you a selection of those pieces, as read by their authors.

In episode two, Paul Howard tells the story of an Irish athlete who, in a year, went from being barely known outside his native Cork to preparing for the 2004 Athens Olympics as the fastest non-African in the world over 10,000m. It really was too good to be true.

Listen to Episode 2 here or on your podcast app. You can read all the stories in the series here.