Mens 100 metres Heat 3 | 15 Aug 22 | |||||
Israel Olatunde (born 29 May 2002) is an Irish professional track and field athlete specializing in the sprints. He competed at the 2022 World Athletics Indoor Championships, and reached the final of the 100 metres at the 2022 European Athletics Championships, the first Irishman ever to do so, and where he finished sixth in an Irish record time. He later broke the national record in the 60 metres in 2023.
Olatunde's parents, Elizabeth and Isaac, immigrated to Ireland from Nigeria in 1999 with their oldest son Gabriel. Israel was born in Drogheda and raised in Dundalk along with his older sister Sharon, though he made three trips to his parent's homeland during his upbringing. He played association football in his youth, where he "always knew was faster than the other kids". He also tried Gaelic games and basketball. He gravitated towards the sport of athletics, though, because he "always copied whatever sister did."
Olatunde took up competitive sprinting under coach Gerry McArdle during his first year at St Mary's College, Dundalk, where he would go on to earn his Leaving Certificate in June 2019. Olatunde also joined his first athletics club, Dúndealgan AC, representing them at the Louth Championships in the under-17 category at age 14. He enrolled at University College Dublin in 2019, studying computer science on an Ad Astra Elite scholarship.
Olatunde is a Christian. He is good friends with fellow Irish sprinter Rhasidat Adeleke.