Make New York Post a Preferred Source Two-time Olympian Ciara Mageean died on Sunday following a battle with bowel cancer just two weeks after her wedding.
Mageean, who represented Ireland on the track at the Rio Olympics and Tokyo Games in 2020, announced her diagnosis on July 4, 2025 in an Instagram post. By June this year, she shared she was diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer that spread to her lungs and liver.
“At 6:30 a.m. this morning, Ciara lost her battle with cancer surrounded by her loved ones. A beloved daughter, sister, wife, friend and inspiration to so many, she will be deeply missed,” her family wrote in a statement on her Instagram page on Sunday that featured a photo of her holding the Irish flag after winning gold at the 2024 European Athletics Championships in Rome.
The family concluded the statement with an Irish blessing — “Ar dheis Dé go raibh a hanam” — which means “May her soul be at the right hand of God.”
Ireland’s Ciara Mageean celebrates with her national flag after winning silver in the women’s 1500m final in Munich, Friday, Aug. 19, 2022. AFP via Getty Images In June, Mageean’s doctor gave her a prognosis of “two to three years,” she told RTÉ, Ireland’s national public broadcaster.
Mageean went to the doctor initally out of encouragment from her then-longtime partner Tommy Moran after noticing unusual bowel movements.
“I’m hopeful that I get to live into old age but the odds are stacked against me and that’s really, really hard,” she said at the time.
Mageean and Moran married on Oct. 12 in an intimate ceremony at Belfast City Hall in Northern Ireland, per the BBC. They went on to celebrate with friends and family on Oct. 25, which was one week before her death.
Ireland’s Ciara Mageean celebrates winning the women’s 1500m gold medal at the European Athletics Championships in Rome, Monday, June 10, 2024. AFP via Getty Images The Irish community has since paid tribute to the athlete, who specialized in the 1500-meter race and was the second person to ever take home an individual European title for Ireland after that 2024 win at the European Athletics Championships.
“Deeply saddened at the untimely passing of Ciara Mageean,” Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin wrote on X. “My heartfelt sympathies go to her husband Thomas, all her family and friends.”
Ireland’s deput prime minister, Simon Harris, also called Mageean’s passing “heartbreaking.”
“She was a European champion, two-time Olympian, a proud Irish athlete and an extraordinary person,” he added.
