Robert Heffernan is an Irish

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 race walker

Race walking

Racewalking, or race walking, is a long-distance athletic event. Although it is a foot race, it is different from running in that one foot must appear to be in contact with the ground at all times...

. Having been seen as one of Ireland's best hopes of an athletics medal at the 2008 Olympic Games, he came eighth in the 20km Walk

Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics - Men's 20 kilometre walk

The Men's 20 kilometres walk at the 2008 Summer Olympics took place on 16 August at the Beijing National Stadium.The qualifying standards were 1:23:00 and 1:24:30 .-Medalists:- Records :...

. His wife Marian Andrews is also national women's 400 metres champion and was on the Irish women's team that finished 4th in the European indoors. On 27 July 2010, Heffernan finished fourth in the 20 km

2010 European Athletics Championships – Men's 20 kilometres walk

The men's 20 kilometres walk at the 2010 European Athletics Championships was held on the streets of Barcelona on 27 July.-Medalists:-Records:-Schedule:-Final:-References:*...

 walk, in a time of 1:21:00 (only 11 seconds away from a bronze medal). He also finished 4th in the 50km walk

2010 European Athletics Championships – Men's 50 kilometres walk

The men's 50 kilometres walk at the 2010 European Athletics Championships was held on the streets of Barcelona on 30 July.-Medalists:-Records:-Schedule:-Final:-References:*...

 in a national record time of 3:45:30.This was an amazing achievement due to the fact it was just 3 days after the 20 km event.

Performance at major championships

Representing
2000	European Race Walking Cup European Race Walking Cup The European Race Walking Cup is a race walking event established in 1996, and organised by the European Athletic Association. In 1996, the team scores were calculated by aggregating the points awarded to the first three finishers...	Eisenhüttenstadt Eisenhüttenstadt Eisenhüttenstadt is a town in the Oder-Spree district of Brandenburg, Germany at the border with Poland. The town was founded in 1950 alongside a new steel mill as a socialist model city and has a population of 32,214... , Germany Germany Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...	18th	20 km 2000 European Race Walking Cup The third edition of the European Race Walking Cup took place in the German city of Eisenhüttenstadt on Saturday June 17 and Sunday June 18, 2000.-Abbreviations:*All times shown are in hours:minutes:seconds-20 km walk:*Held on Saturday June 17, 2000....
			—
	Olympic Games Athletics at the 2000 Summer Olympics At the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, 46 events in athletics were contested, 24 for men and 22 for women. There were a total number of 2134 participating athletes from 193 countries.-Men's events:...	Sydney, Australia	28th	20 km
2001	European Race Walking Cup European Race Walking Cup The European Race Walking Cup is a race walking event established in 1996, and organised by the European Athletic Association. In 1996, the team scores were calculated by aggregating the points awarded to the first three finishers...	Dudince Dudince Dudince is a spa town in southern Slovakia, with a population of 1,500. It is known for its healing mineral waters and spas.-Geography:... , Slovakia Slovakia The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...	17th	20 km 2001 European Race Walking Cup The fourth edition of the European Race Walking Cup took place in the Slovak city of Dudince on Saturday May 19, 2001.-Abbreviations:*All times shown are in hours:minutes:seconds-20 km walk:-50 km walk:-20 km walk:-References:****...	1:23:57
	World Championships 2001 World Championships in Athletics The 8th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held at the Commonwealth Stadium, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada between 3 August and 12 August and was the first time the event had visited North America...	Edmonton, Canada	14th	20 km
2002	European Championships 2002 European Championships in Athletics The 18th European Athletics Championships were held from 6 August to 11 August 2002 in the Olympic Stadium of Munich, Germany.-Track:1994 |1998 |2002 |2006 |2010 |...	Munich, Germany	8th	20 km
2004	Olympic Games Athletics at the 2004 Summer Olympics At the 2004 Summer Olympics, the athletics events were held at the Athens Olympic Stadium from August 18 to August 29, except for the marathons , the race walks , and the shot put...	Athens, Greece	—	20 km	DSQ
2005	World Championships 2005 World Championships in Athletics The 10th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations , were held in the Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland , the site of the first IAAF World Championships in 1983. One theme of the 2005 championships was paralympic sports, some of...	Helsinki, Finland	—	20 km	DSQ
2007	World Championships 2007 World Championships in Athletics The 11th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations , were held at Nagai Stadium in Osaka, Japan from 24 August to 2 September 2007...	Osaka, Japan	6th	20 km 2007 World Championships in Athletics - Men's 20 kilometres walk The men's 20 kilometres walk event at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics took place on August 26, 2007 in the streets of Osaka, Japan.The event saw some controversy as Francisco Javier Fernández, who finished second after overtaking Hatem Ghoula in the final straight, was disqualified after...
2008	Olympic Games Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics were held during the last 10 days of the games, from August 15 to August 24, 2008, at the Beijing National Stadium. The Olympic sport of athletics is split into four distinct sets of events: track and field events, road running events, and racewalking...	Beijing Beijing Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's... , PR China	8th	20 km
2009	European Race Walking Cup 2009 European Race Walking Cup The 8th edition of the European Race Walking Cup took place in the French city of Metz on Sunday May 24, 2009.-Timetable:*All times are Central European Time -Abbreviations:*All times shown are in hours:minutes:seconds-20 km walk:...	Metz, France	4th	20 km
	World Championships 2009 World Championships in Athletics The 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics were held in Berlin, Germany from 15–23 August 2009. The majority of events took place in the Olympiastadion, while the marathon and racewalking events started and finished at the Brandenburg Gate....	Berlin, Germany	15th	20 km 2009 World Championships in Athletics – Men's 20 kilometres walk The men's 20 kilometres walk event at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics was held throughout the city of Berlin on August 15, beginning and ending at the Brandenburg Gate.-Medalists:-Records:-Qualification standards:-Schedule:...
2010	European Championships	Barcelona, Spain	4th	20 km 2010 European Athletics Championships – Men's 20 kilometres walk The men's 20 kilometres walk at the 2010 European Athletics Championships was held on the streets of Barcelona on 27 July.-Medalists:-Records:-Schedule:-Final:-References:*...
			4th	50 km 2010 European Athletics Championships – Men's 50 kilometres walk The men's 50 kilometres walk at the 2010 European Athletics Championships was held on the streets of Barcelona on 30 July.-Medalists:-Records:-Schedule:-Final:-References:*...