Michelle Smith in 1980. At aged 14, Smith won ten medals at the Irish National Swimming Championships. At 14, she became National Junior and Senior Champion and dominated Irish women's swimming until her retirement in 1998. Smith first appeared on the world scene as an 18-year-old at the Seoul Olympics and only narrowly missed the semi-finals (top 16). Smith's second major championship was at the 1991 World Championships in Perth, Australia, where she finished 13th in the 400 m individual medley. She competed at the 1991 European Championships and qualified for the 1992 Olympic Games. She competed in the 200 m medley
Sport in New Zealand and earned the Bronze medal at the 2014 FIFA Club World Cup held in Morocco. Nowadays, the "Navy Blues" are looking into the possibility of joining the A-League as the second New Zealand team after the Wellington Phoenix. Football is especially popular amongst young people. In 2017, football was played by 25,037 secondary school students, making it the fourth-most popular sport behind netball, rugby union and basketball. New Zealand hosted the 1999 FIFA U-17 World Cup and the inaugural FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup in 2008. Athletics is New Zealand's second-most successful Olympic sport with 24 medals, of which 10