Sinead's Story
Fast Facts
Sport: Athletics
Event: Marathon
Olympic History: Tokyo 2020
Coach: Nic Bideau
Club: Glenhuntly
Year Born: 1977
State Born: Castlebar, IRE
About Sinead
Late to the sport of athletics, over the last few years Sinead Diver has competed at three consecutive world championships and compiled an extraordinary series of personal best times which now rank her amongst Australia’s greatest long-distance running women.
Born in Ireland, Diver enjoyed climbing cliffs and swimming as a child. She attended a conservative Catholic school in the small Irish town of Belmullet where academics were the priority and they didn’t encourage girls to participate in athletics, aside from playing a little basketball at lunch.
Because of her love of sports, she went on to study physical education and Irish teaching at the University of Limerick, followed by post-grad study in computing, an industry she has worked in ever since.
After initially coming to Australia on a working holiday visa in 2002, she emigrated to Australia in her mid-20s.
In 2010, aged 33, she joined her sister Gráinne’s work team for a Corporate Cup event. Keen to get fit post-pregnancy she decided to join in.
One of the people on the team was surprised with how well she ran and suggest she join a recreational running group called Crosbie Crew. It is here that she met Tim Crosbie who would be her first coach.
Initially, her success was over shorter distances, but she knew she was better at longer distances and was intrigued by the marathon. After the birth of her second son, Dara, in 2013, Diver decided to make her marathon debut in Melbourne in 2014, where she ran 2:34.15, placing second.
“After my first one, I knew that was the distance for me,” Diver said.
The time qualified Diver for the Irish team for the 2015 World Championships, but shortly after this Athletics Ireland toughened their standard, making her time now outside the standard. Australia was more accommodating and selected her for the world championships, where in the stifling heat of Beijing, she made her international debut placing a magnificent 21st.
In 2017 she smashed her PBs including a 2:31.37 marathon in Nagoya, followed by placing 20th in the London World Championships.
Over two years in 2018 and 2019, Diver compiled a breath-taking series of performances from 5000m to marathon as she destroyed her personal bests, matched it with the world’s best and leapt up the Australian all-time list.
She brought her 5000m PB down to 15:23 and was third in the national title. At 10,000m she won Zatopek and the Oceania titles, then placed 14th at the 2019 world championships setting PBs along the way highlighted by Doha’s time of 31:25.49 – fifth fastest Australian ever. Over the half-marathon, she won the 2018 national title and clocked two sub-69 minute times in Japan reaching a best of 68:50.
Her best work was in the marathon. She set two personal bests 2:25.19 in Melbourne, then 2:24.11 in London, elevating her to number three Australian all-time. She placed seventh in London, then fifth in New York, against world-class fields.
In October 2020, she endured the challenge of travelling during COVID, placing eighth in the London Marathon with 2:27.07.
Selected for the Tokyo Olympics at age 44, Diver became the oldest Australia ever to compete in athletics at the Olympics.
“I find it extremely frustrating that a lot of the media attention I get is mainly focused on my age,” Diver said.
“I know, in some ways, it’s meant to be complimentary. Not a lot of athletes continue to find success in their 40s but I’ve been running for a relatively short period of time, so it’s a very different scenario for me. Succeeding at any age is all about your mindset.
"I’m still really motivated and determined because I haven’t been doing it for that long. My age isn’t an issue with people I train with. They’re all a lot younger than me but they show me the same respect as anyone else in the group.”
In her Olympic debut in Tokyo, Diver placed an outstanding 10th, the highest placed Australian woman in the event at the Olympics since Lisa Ondieki won silver in 1988 – 33 years ago. Her pathway to the top had been unlike any other on the current Australian Athletics Team.
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