MICHELLE IS SET TO REALISE HER TOKYO DREAM
MICHELLE O’NEILL watched Sonia O’sullivan race to a podium finish at Sydney in 2000 and dreamed one day that she would take part in an Olympic Games.
Little did the one-time budding athlete know that her ambition would be realised – but that she would make it as an assistant referee for the women’s football tournament.
O’neill will jet out to Tokyo tomorrow to become the first ever Irish person to officiate at an Olympics football event.
She is one of just 99 match officials across the men’s and women’s competitions – highlighting her standing in the global game.
Of the 99, there are 25 referees, 50 assistant referees, 20 video match officials and four support referees.
“My first sport was athletics, running around, watching Sonia O’sullivan (below) on TV, going ‘I want to be there one day’,” said O’neill.
“I always wanted to be at an Olympics, representing Ireland.
“Obviously I didn’t know what sport back then as you are only seven, but you go on and whatever pathways and opportunities bring you, you dedicate your all to it.
“It proves to me that you have a dream as a kid and you never give up on it, no matter what path opens for you, you put your heart and soul into it.
“And now I am on the eve of my Olympic dream.”
Rather than on the track or with a ball at her feet, O’neill has hit the headlines for her achievements running the line.
She was chosen as an assistant referee at the 2019 women’s World Cup final.
Later that year she made history when she was part of an all-female refereeing team for the men’s European Super Cup decider between Liverpool and Chelsea.
“It is super exciting,” she added. “I totally got my mind into a bubble already, by adhering to protocols at home.
“It is a huge honour, I am so excited, I cannot wait to put my two feet on the ground in Japan and hopefully have a very successful tournament.
“It is going to bring joy and hope to the world to be able watch the Games, and for them to go ahead, and that’s why we are super alert around the Covid guidelines.
“But we will take them out of our mind and concentrate on officiating the best teams in the world at the highest stage you can be
at – the Olympic Games.
“To be the first Irish [refereeing] representative to go out to an Olympic Games is a huge
honour.”