Turner: ‘The experience has made me stronger’
BERNIE TURNER is the volunteer chauffeuse making it possible for her 18-year-old daughter Nicole to pursue her Paralympic dream.
Six days a week Bernie drives Nicole from their home in Portarlington, Co Laois to the National Aquatic Centre in Abbotstown, a round trip of two hours and 20 minutes.
Due to Covid-19 restrictions, she is not allowed into the centre. So, for the two hours Nicole swims, her mother knits, crochets or walks around the campus. “She is doing about 12,000 steps a day,” according to Nicole. “She’s a super mum.”
The past year has been challenging for all aspiring Paralympians but particularly so for Nicole, who took a sabbatical from Leaving Certificate studies in Portarlington’s Coláiste Íosgáin to focus on the Tokyo Games.
Ultimately, the Paralympics were postponed due to the pandemic and Nicole didn’t see the inside of a swimming pool for two-and-a-half months. “Previously the longest I had ever been out of a pool was three weeks. Obviously not every family has a pool in the back garden. During the first lockdown I trained out the back of our house where I have a little gym in a converted shed, and I went cycling six days a week.
“We didn’t get back swimming until the middle of June. Obviously, we didn’t know what to expect. I thought I would be absolute horrible in the pool. But it was no way near as bad as I thought. I’m obviously a much different swimmer now than I was ten months ago. The whole experience has made my stronger.”
At the Rio Paralympics, Turner was Ireland’s youngest competitor. While she didn’t medal, she qualified for five finals, setting personal best times in six of her ten races with a best-placed fifth finish in the 50m butterfly.
Her progress since was underlined when she won a bronze medal in the 50m butterfly at the 2019 World Championships in London. She simply doesn’t entertain the possibility of the rescheduled Tokyo Paralympics not going ahead in August. “I’m taking it as if the Games are going ahead and I’m not letting anything get in the way.”
Ultimately, she will have to return to her studies but already she is thinking about the next Paralympics in Paris in 2024. “I feel like I have been swimming for a lifetime. But to be honest I can’t even imagine my life without swimming. It is a huge commitment, but it is something I love.”
Right now though the Irish Paralympic squad needs to raise at least €500,000 to meet the extra cost of sending them to Tokyo a year later than scheduled.
“We’re asking our country to get behind us and donate as much or as little as they can. But we are not just trying to raise funds for Tokyo but also for the Paris and LA Games so we can help future Paralympians as well.”
Titled the ‘Next Level’, the campaign also calls for equality of esteem, respect and admiration for paraathletes. To donate, go to https:// paralympics.ie/ and click.