Susan Smith-Walsh (born 14 September 1971 in Waterford city, Ireland,[1]) Height 1.64m (5'41/2") Weight 53 kg (116 lbs) is a retired international Irish hurdler and sportsperson.

She competed in the British Amateur Athletic (AAA) under-age championships winning four medals; one gold, two silver and one bronze.

[8] When she reached eighteen years of age she was no longer eligible for juvenile competition so she progressed to the oldest senior club in the city, Waterford A.C., for whom she competed until her retirement.

[9] To mark the 30th year of BLOE the Federation held a banquet in February 2000 at which the best athletes from all the 32 counties of Ireland were honoured.

Before the European tests held in Varaždin, Yugoslavia Susan had won the Irish indoor 60m hurdles in an Irish record time and in Varaždin she reached the semi-final of the 100m hurdles where she finished in 5th place, missing the final by one place (see external links below).

Several months before the Games opened she competed in the Penn Relays and broke the Irish Junior record for the 400m hurdles with 60.26 secs, in only her second run over the distance.

Her four years there were encapsulated in an article by the associate editor of Brown Alumni Monthly, James Reinbold who wrote "In four years at Brown, Smith won fifteen individual titles – more than any athlete, female or male, in the history of the Heps [Ivy League Colleges plus Army and Navy].

[12] She was named Hep MVP three times and was Brown's female athlete of the year as both a junior and senior.

[16] Although the foot-operation enabled Smith to walk properly, her athletic career appeared to be over because she could not run round a bend without experiencing excruciating pain.

The operation revealed that a screw that was used to join the broken bone in 1993 had lodged in a tendon, causing the terrible pain.

With a new and tougher training regime under coach Loren Seagrave she felt that she could qualify for the upcoming Olympic Games – but needed the opportunity to prove it.

With the help of her firm, Coopers & Lybrand she went to South Africa for early season competition and thus began an impressive single-year assault on the Irish record.

This was not possible without sponsorship but after discussions with her employers, Coopers & Lybrand, they transferred her to their Dublin office and allowed her to work part-time.

During one of her training sessions she tore a hamstring (an injury that was to come back to haunt her in subsequent years) and two days later she contracted a virus that seriously affected her health.

She resigned her position with Coopers and Lybrand and with sponsorship from the Irish Sports Council, the shoe company ASICS and TNT Express Worldwide, she returned to the USA.

[25] In 1999, after a full season of International and Grand Prix competition, she competed in the Seville World Championships where she reached the semi-final stage.

Just four days before her first round race in the Sydney Games she pulled a hamstring during some light training in the Olympic village.

[29] In addition to Smith's ham-string problem she also suffered a flu-like bug that struck-down both her and another member of the Irish team.