O’Hare is settling in Stateside

CHRIS O’HARE has revealed that dealing with the highs and lows of his athletics career has become simpler since he realised almost no one knows who he is.

It is a show of undue modesty by the double European Championship medallist who is set to target a place on the start line for the 1500metres in Tokyo next summer.

But all success is relative, the 29-yearold proclaims — both on Scottish soil and in Oklahoma where he now lives.

And the return trip he took Stateside after earning Euro Indoor silver in Glasgow last year summed up the lack of recognition factor that he now uses to put everything in true perspective.

He said: ‘I’d got on the plane with my silver medal, feeling pretty good about myself. Then I go back to America, and I’m sitting in the middle seat with no one caring who you are.

‘I’ve been a volunteer coach assistant at Tulsa for a few years and the British guys are having to explain to the rest what a big deal Europeans are. It helps to bring that knowledge — that it doesn’t matter that much — into the losses. That experience helps you when you’re feeling sorry for yourself.

‘As athletes we want to do well and keep progressing. It’s important for mental health that we don’t put all our eggs in one basket, and if all your eggs are broken, it feels like life is falling apart. Because it’s not really like that.’

Although athletics have now restarted in the USA, O’Hare concedes that the decision to postpone the Olympics by 12 months came as a relief.

He told the Fontana Running podcast: ‘I was getting a bit panicked about it in that two-week period where stuff was getting cancelled but not everything was cancelled.

‘Not having the qualifying standard from last year, I was thinking I was under even more of a time crunch.’