Ireland have power in the pool with McSharry out to make a splash
ONCE every four years, or in this case five, swimmers are shoved into the limelight. Outside of the Olympics, the blearyeyed parents dropping kids to early morning sessions, the endless lengths in the pool, and the relentless dedication still happens. But it goes on in the margins.
Nine Irish swimmers will compete in Tokyo, along with two divers in Oliver Dingley and Tanya Watson. It’s the largest team this country will ever have in an Olympic pool, recognition and reward for those early mornings and all the sacrifices.
We already know a bit about Mona McSharry, but not just because she became the first Irish swimmer to ever win a world title with her stunning triumph in 100m breaststroke at the 2017 World Juniors. She has also been part of the winning team in Ireland’s Fittest Family, the popular RTÉ show.
Coached by Donncha O’Callaghan, McSharry, her brother Mouric and parents Aidan and Viola scooped the top prize a couple of years ago, while she was studying for the Leaving Cert. ‘It was a great experience, but it was very different. I am used to competing but not in front of TV cameras, so had to get my head around that,’ McSharry recalled.
There will be plenty of cameras in the Tokyo Aquatics Centre. McSharry was 11 years of age when she watched Lithuanian teenager Ruta Meilutyte win gold in the 100m breaststroke in London, and immediately told her family that she was going to become an Olympian.
That ambition comes to fruition on the opening evening in the pool when she lines up for the 100m heats.
Almost every moment of her life in the past nine years has been directed towards that moment. From the pretty village of Grange in North Sligo, McSharry learnt to swim in the sea but soon joined Marlin’s swimming club in Ballyshannon, 20 minutes away.
When the time came to decide on a secondary school, McSharry opted for Coláoste Cholmcille in the south Donegal town, rather than enrol somewhere more local, as it facilitated her early morning training sessions in the Ballyshanon pool.
Those sort of decisions have to be made early in life to become an Olympian.
Under the tutelage of her coach Grace Meade at Marlins, McSharry made steady progress in her early years as a junior before claiming her first major medals at the 2016 European Junior Championships in Hungary, winning silver in the 100m breaststroke and bronze in the 50m.
The following summer, she became European junior champion in the 50m and 100m breaststroke and added a silver in the 200m breaststroke for good measure. Two months later, she travelled to Indianapolis for her ground-breaking success at the World Junior Championships.
‘It was amazing, incredible to do something which had never been done before by an Irish swimmer,’ McSharry told the Irish Mail on Sunday a couple of years ago. ‘To stand on the podium and listen to the national anthem being played, it’s the reason you go through all those tough times, the early mornings and hard sessions. And what made it even more special was my family, my best friend and my coach were all there to see me do it.’
McSharry seemed destined for greatness, but sporting careers don’t always follow a straight trajectory. Her progress stalled after she was way-laid by glandular fever in her first season as a senior swimmer. Sidelined for more than two months, she missed out on what should have been her first World Senior Championships.
And just as she had done when thinking of secondary school, her choice of college was determined by what was best for her swimming. Although she took a year out of education following her Leaving Cert to concentrate on qualifying for Tokyo, she has just finished her first year at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, home of one of the top collegiate swimming programmes in the States.
Even though she has just finished her freshman year, McSharry has already made an impact in Knoxville. At the NCAA Championships in March, she broke the University of Tennessee records in both the 100m and 200m breaststroke, winning a silver and bronze in the process, while also been part of the 400m freestyle relay team that just missed out on a medal.
McSharry’s Irish 100m breaststroke record of 1:06;29 has her seventh in the current world rankings, so she has a chance of making the final. But like much of this youthful Irish swimming team, she insists her sights are set further down the road towards Paris. But we might get to know a bit more about her in Tokyo.
It’s the largest team Ireland has ever had in the pool