Ireland competed at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States.

Ireland won three gold and one bronze medal at the 1996 Olympics, the highest number ever, and was placed 28th in the medals table.

Two years after the Atlanta Games, FINA banned Smith for four years for tampering with her urine sample using alcohol; the testers also found traces of a metabolic precursor of testosterone, Androstenedione.

[1][2] Smith was not stripped of her medals, as the test upon which the ban was based was conducted well after the Games.

Keith Hanlon won his first match, but was defeated in the second round.