ONE-SHOT WONDER!
MILFORD TEEN TAKES BRONZE AT RIO PARALYMPIC GAMES
MILFORD teen Noelle Lenihan catapulted herself into the Paralympic history books on Saturday in a throw she knew would be her first and only shot at discus glory.
Noelle’s dad, and coach, Jim, revealed how Noelle knew her first shot would be her only chance at a placing due to a shoulder injury she had been carrying.
That she kept her head and coolly let fly a thumper of a discus that soared 31.71 metres, speaks volumes of the youngster’s precocious mettle. It emerged later that she had not been able to train for five days due to the same injury.
“Because of the injury that first shot was her only chance at a medal and we are just over the moon she managed to get the bronze,” dad Jim –
who coached his daughter at North Cork Athletic Club in Charleville alongside Tom Galvin – told The Corkman.
All were gearing up for the mother of all homecomings on Wednesday evening. “If it’s anything like Saturday night it’s going to be some homecoming,” said Jim
CONGRATULATIONS to North Cork Athletic Club athlete Noelle Lenihan who won the bronze medal at the Rio Paralympic Games when she threw the discus 31.71 to secure third place in the Olympic stadium behind Brazilian athlete, Shirlene Coelho, who won the silver medal and the Chinese gold medal winner, Na Mi.
The Milford teenager, who already holds world and European Championship medals for the discus, was the second youngest, at 16 years, to compete for Ireland at the Paralympic Games in Rio. All in her native Milford and in the Charleville based North Cork Athletic Club were delighted with Noelle’s success and a royal welcome awaits her in her native Milford as people get ready to welcome their very own Olympian home.
That she achieved the bronze medal is a testament to her strength of character and determination to succeed after the long wait until the last day of the games to compete in her event, the FF38 category.
Undeterred, Noelle went on to win Ireland’s 11th medal of the Games and write herself into the Paralympics history books.
Collins’ Bar in Milford was packed to capacity on Saturday night with her family, her father and coach Jim and mother Liz, and her sisters twin sister Eimear, Megan Siobhan, Elizabeth, Sharon and brother James, as they viewed Noelle’s event on television. A mighty cheer went up when she was adjudged winner of the bronze medal.
Noelle already holds the world record and world silver medal from Doha in World Paralympics and also has a European Championships gold medal for the discus in the F38 category. Coached by her father Jim since she started in athletics, she has been a member of the North Cork Athletic Club in Charleville since 2008 when she was eight years old. “I started running but quickly discovered that this discipline was not for me, so I took up the shot putt, but only took up the javeline and discus last year, after discussing the best options available to me with my Dad,” said Noelle.
Her father Jim took on the role of discus coach when the club didn’t have a throwing coach and he was later assisted by the club’s Tom Galvin. However, neither Jim, a native of Co. Limerick, or Tom were in Rio to see Noelle achieve the bronze medal position on the winner’s podium, but both men instead watched the RTE coverage of the Games in Collins’ Bar in Milford on Saturday night and exulted in the success of their star charge.