Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
It’s been an Olympic feat ... but we’re still going for gold in Tokyo
Irish team aiming high at summer event
TWO months before the first Covid case was reported in China, the world’s eyes were trained on Japan.
South Africa’s mauling of England in the final of the 2019 Rugby World Cup was a satisfying end to a tournament that was a globally recognised triumph of Japanese organisation.
Economically, it was also the most economically successful World Cup generating more than £4.3 billion and showcasing Japan’s renowned culture and spirit of ‘Omotenashi’.
For the thousands of visiting fans, it was a unique sporting and cultural experience.
The world’s eyes will once again turn eastward in July but with no visiting fans allowed – much of the pomp and fanfare.
The jury is out on whether the 2020/21 Olympic Games will deliver in the same way oval ball game did.
In many cases Irish athletes have had to be inventive to maximise their preparations for the games.
Elite athletes can resume training from today under the Government’s plan to lift restrictions.
Modern pentathlete Natalya Coyle – who will compete in five disciplines – has battled to get herself into shape despite the restrictions.
The 30-year-old said: “I’ve been training pretty hard though for a long time now that the swimming pools are back open but the one thing that I have been lacking is fencing sparring.
“The standard in Ireland isn’t that high, I am the current national champion and I need better girls to fence but we haven’t been able to go abroad to do that.
Luckily Natalya’s boyfriend, double Olympian Arthur Lanigan O’keefe, has helped her with sparring in between competitions.
Sport can be a lonely thing. I’m lucky to have him with me NATALYA COYLE IRISH MODERN PENTATHLETE
DEFENCE
Natalya said: “I fence him an awful lot, but men fence very differently to females. He’s got a great defence and he’s incredibly fast and really, really technical.
“He’s also a lot taller than most girls are as well so that plays in a little bit. I rarely beat him, but when I do I really dine out on it.”
Arthur, 29, also competes in the modern pentathlon and is in with a fighting chance of reaching his third Olympics.
He currently sits 32nd in the men’s pentathlon Olympic World Rankings and Natalya hopes he will join her on the plane to Japan.
She added: “Having a boyfriend who competes with you is exciting because you get to travel the world together.
“We’re very in tune with each other and sport can be a lonely thing so I’m really lucky I have him with me.” Since the Rugby World Cup, the pandemic has seen almost every major sporting event cancelled. Without fans, sport in an empty stadium has become sterile.
But others have found it to be their saving grace through lockdowns. Paralympic cyclist Eve Mccrystal was devastated and in shock when she lost her father to suicide in 2017. Sport has helped to fill the void and after tasting Olympic gold at the Rio Games in 2016 as a sighted pilot for blind cyclist Katie-george Dunlevy, she is ready to get on the podium once again.
Eve, 42, said: “Sport has been amazing for my mental health and I have found I look at my training very differently than I did before. I found training for Rio quite hard at times.
“I thought of it as a bit of a chore but now I think it’s not hard to go out and ride your bike for three hours – hard is losing a parent.
“And If I don’t win a gold medal then that’s not a disappointment either, because losing a parent is a disappointment.
“Once I get the best out of myself and I don’t let my coach, my family or myself down – even if that’s fourth place then that’s good enough for me. But I’m still going for gold.”
Irish marathon runner and doctor Paul Pollock has been battling the fallout of Covid.
He said: “The NHS has always been under stress but this past year it’s just been pushed to its limits. I’m quite lucky in
To ride your bike for three hours isn’t hard. Losing a parent is EVE MCCRYSTAL PARALYMPIAN CYCLIST
Every time I’m competing my goal is to take that gold medal RHYS MCCLENAGHAN GYMNAST
that I’m part time. You see the staff who are in there full time and from the strain on their faces It’s clear that it’s taking its toll.
“It’s one of the main benefits of what I do and it’s why I’ve been able to run for so long.
MEDICINE
“Medicine really gives you that flexibility where if you’re coming up to a championship or something like that you can focus more on the running, and after they finish you can kind of step back from the running and focus more in the medicine so it’s quite nice to have that balance really.”
Paul, 34, is one of three Belfast runners who secured the qualifying time for the Games over a year ago.
It’s unlikely any one of the trio will be ousted by a faster time with the present uncertainty around qualifiers.
Meanwhile, 21-year-old gymnast Rhys Mcclenaghan also has his eyes on the big prize this summer and he believes a winning mindset is seeping into the Irish team from all angles.
He said: “Every time I’m competing my goal is to take that gold medal.
“It was very inspiring to see the success of the rowers again and the competition was very inspiring, to see more and more Irish athletes come along saying, ‘We want to take Olympic gold’. We’ve all talked about in previous times that hasn’t been the case, whereas I’m sitting beside the women’s hockey team and they’re saying the same thing, ‘We’re going to take gold’.
“I don’t know if that gives anyone else goosebumps, but it gives me goosebumps, seeing the country taking the initiative, saying, ‘We’re going to go there and try get that gold medal’ and not just say, ‘Hopefully things go well, hopefully we’ll get a personal best’.”
While the Tokyo Olympics will be stripped of the joy and charm that make it an event unlike any other, the strength of the travelling Irish team the possibility of a few medals is well worth tuning in for.