GOLDEN BOY….Derry’s Jason Smyth won 100m sprint final in a time of 10.64 seconds but go no invite to National Stadium opening
PARALYMPIC gold medallist Jason Smyth has questioned why he was not invited to take part in an event at Windsor Park on Saturday night.
The Lap of the Legends event was organised to mark the redevelopment of the stadium, home to the Northern Ireland football team.
The five-times gold medallist from Eglinton in Co Derry represents Team Ireland.
The Irish Football Association said they did not intend to cause any offence.
Smyth tweeted at the weekend that only in Northern Ireland does “the colour you wear mean more than what you achieve”.
He tagged Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness in the tweet and asked: “Do you think we will ever move on?”
In a later interview, Smyth said there were four paralympic gold medallists from Northern Ireland – himself, his Team Ireland colleague Michael McKillop along with Team GB’s Kelly Gallagher and Bethany Firth.
Bethany Firth and Kelly Gallagher were invited to the event.
“My question was – what is the difference between those two girls being there and us two not,” Smyth said.
In a statement the Irish Football Association said they did not intend to cause any offence to Jason Smyth.
The organisation said that there was a short window to stage the event, limiting the number of people that could be invited.