Olatunde sixth in 100m
TV PRESENTING and movie stuntman in the making — Ireland’s newest gymnastics medal hopeful is a man on a mission.
Dominick Cunningham was born and raised in Birmingham and represented Britain before switching his allegiance earlier this year.
Injuries, frustration over selection and what he saw as politics within Team GB left him disillusioned.
He even got in a row with teammates when he let it be known he felt he should have been selected for the Tokyo Olympics.
“I did put a video online saying Covid ruined my Olympics and I know it annoyed a few people but I’m not here to make friends,” said Cunningham.
“I was fourth in the world on Vault in 2019, I had so many results behind me. Covid happened, we had so long off and I couldn’t get back in time, my body changed and it was just one of those things.
“I was pretty disappointed but now I’m in this position where I see such a big future, not just for myself but for Team Ireland.”
Cunningham first spoke to Team Ireland about making the change in 2015.
Exercise
His dad, also Dominick, hails from Carlow and the 27-year-old has a raft of Irish connections. Cunningham won team Commonwealth gold and silver in the vault in 2018 and also floor exercise gold and team silver in the European Championships in Glasgow that year.
Now that he’s qualified for Ireland but not Northern Ireland, this time
ISRAEL OLATUNDE set a new Irish record to finish sixth in the first ever appearance by an Irishman in the 100m final at a European Athletics Championships.
Olatunde (20) finished strongly in 10.17 seconds in Munich last night, beating Paul Hession’s mark set 15 years ago by
.02 seconds.
Italy’s Olympic champion Marcell Jacobs took gold in a championship-record equalling
9.95, with
British duo
Zharnel
Hughes
(9.99) and around he was a co-presenter for the gymnastics events for the BBC, having applied for the role.
“I wanted to be a part of it, especially being in Birmingham,” he explained.
“I turned up in a tracksuit and everyone else was there in suits. That was quite cool!”
“I had such a great experience doing something different. Gymnastics is my playground, I knew everything about it, knew all the athletes.
“It was nice to see the Irish boys go out there and smash it.” Cunningham won’t have family in Munich as the European Championships marks his Ireland debut but, if it goes well, starting tomorrow, he will welcome them to Liverpool for the Worlds.
And, in the longer term, there is always stunt work to look forward to. He has already done bits and pieces but Cunningham has been amassing the qualifications needed to get work — even recently completing some MMA and boxing training.
“That was good because you have to do some sort of fighting in the movies,” he said.
“Stunt work is too dangerous to do with my gymnastics. So I’ve passed my drifting test with the car, I did the motorbikes, horse riding, I’m doing my scuba diving next and then obviously the gymnastics skills takes the stuntman skills up massively.
“I enjoy the fear of... well, not dying but getting seriously hurt. I like to push the boundaries but the motorbikes, they’re dangerous.”
Jeremiah Azu (10.13) second and third.
Meanwhile, Ciara Mageean and Rhasidat Adeleke qualified for their respective finals.
Wait Starting
Adeleke (below) had to nervously wait for confirmation of her spot in the 400m decider as she made it as one of the two quickest nonautomatic qualifiers. Adeleke, 19, had finished third in her semi-final in 51.08s, overtaken for second by Belgian Cynthia Bolingo. Femke Bol of the Netherlands was first.
It’s been a year to remember for the University of Texas student as she set national records in the 60m, 200m, 300m, and 400m, but she’s also had to endure a mammoth grind as this was the 48th race of her season.
She’ll run out of lane 1 in the final tonight, at 9.02pm Irish time.
Down woman Mageean booked a more comfortable passage to Friday’s 1,500m final as she came second.
She was able to ease up towards the end as she was assured of a top four placing and therefore automatic progression.