NEW LAOIS OF LIFE
Lockdown allowed Shane Ryan to get into peak shape ahead of the Olympics
IN February of last year, just before the world was flipped upside down, Shane Ryan and his extended family were invited to a civic reception hosted by Laois County Council. They were putting on a bit of a shindig for the swimmer, acknowledging that his World and European championship medals had put Portarlington on the sporting map, as well as wishing him well for the Tokyo Olympics.
Ryan wears his O’Moore County roots like a badge – he proudly proclaims that his father, Thomas, still has the broadest Laois accent you could hear, despite 30 years in Philadelphia. When he first moved to Ireland in the spring of 2015, Portarlington was his haven. Having gone from the hustle and bustle of Penn State campus with its 50,000 students to living on his own close to the National Aquatic Centre, he would head down to his father’s hometown in his free time.
‘My dad was one of 10 and he was the only one to move away,’ Ryan explains. ‘So, I have plenty of cousins down there. I would have known them all anyway, because we would be over nearly every summer.
‘But it just meant that I got to know them even better. It was great to be able to go down there every weekend.’
Apart from the family dinners and the stories he heard about when his father and his siblings were growing up, there was also a weekly trip to the golf course with his grandfather, Paddy, who sadly passed away before his grandson became an Olympian. ‘It was nice to have that time with him though, and when I did qualify for Rio, I thought of him,’ Ryan recalls.
He made the semi-finals of the 100m backstroke in Rio, underlining the potential he has shown in the pool since he was a high school student in south-west Philadelphia, and followed that up with a gold in the World University Games in 2017 and a bronze in the World Short Course Championships in China the following year. He also added to his collection with a European bronze.
His career trajectory seemed to be only going upward. However, disappointing performances in the 2019 World Championships in South Korea left him unsure about his future in the sport.
‘When I went to the worlds, I wasn’t in a good place. I was 99 kilos. Okay, I am a big guy, 6ft 6in, so that mightn’t seem like a lot but my optimum swimming weight is 92 or 93 kilos. I was like a slug going through the water. I was really struggling because I wasn’t hitting the times. In my head, I started doubting myself, wondering if I needed to stop swimming.’
He didn’t. There was a bloodletting session with his coaches. A couple of things were tweaked and Ryan attacked the pool with a whole new zeal. And then the pandemic hit.
In the first, and strictest, lockdown, Ryan was able to draw on his experience when he first moved to Ireland. Of course, he couldn’t hop on a train to Portarlington but the Swim Ireland coaches kept everyone in touch via Zoom.
‘I am used to living on my own, so it didn’t bother me. When I first came over it was probably worse, because I was coming from a campus with more than 50,000 people and there was 60 on our swim team, and I went from that to living on my own. That was harder to deal with, mentally,’ says Ryan. ‘The thing about the pandemic was that everyone was in the same situation, so you just had to adapt. It was a struggle for everyone at times.’
It became more of a struggle for Ryan with the news from home that his parents and sister had all contracted Covid-19.
‘That was the most difficult part. They were all pretty ill and I couldn’t get over to them. But they are all fine now and my mother has been giving blood for transfusions for Covid patients, because she has antibodies now. But that was the only time I felt it really tough.
‘But I had a stationary bike and did a few hours a day on that, watched movies or Netflix, played a lot of computer games and just tried to keep in touch with as many people as I could.’
One consequence of lockdown is that he came out in much better condition. He is around 93kgs now, what he reckons is his perfect weight. ‘I am in much better shape, much leaner. I had a barbecue in the house, so I was just throwing chicken and shrimp on it as a way of cooking. I was eating pretty well the whole way through it.’
Ryan will be in Aquatic Centre this Tuesday for Swim
Ireland’s Olympic trials, which will be broadcast on the RTÉ Player. He has already booked his ticket to Tokyo, following his stunning performances in the International Swimming League in Budapest last November when he broke six Irish records. Darragh Greene, who has made the mark in 100m and 200m breaststroke, has also qualified.
It promises to be an exciting week for the sport in this country. There are plenty of swimmers who are within touching distance of Tokyo and hope to make the mark this week. Brendan Hyland is just 0.7 of a second outside it in the 200m butterfly, Mona McSharry is within 0.3 of a second of making it in the 100m breaststroke while Jack McMillan is 0.8 away in the 200m freestyle. Ryan and Green are also part of the 4 x100m medley and 4 x 200m freestyle relay teams who hope to qualify for Tokyo – both teams lie inside the top 16 in the rankings, which is the cut-off point for the Olympics. ‘There’s no relay this week,’ Ryan explained. ‘But we will be competing in the European relay championship in Budapest next month.’ Having a relay team in Tokyo will be a real boost to swimming. And in Ryan, they have someone who has ambitions of challenging for a podium placing.
‘I got to the semi-finals in Rio when I was just this small toothpick. I am five years older, much more experienced and in better shape. I have made finals in the world and Europeans, so why not the final in the Olympics too? And anything can happen in a final,’ he says with confidence.
During his high school and college career in the States, where he was named an NCAA All-American, Ryan proved himself to be a swimmer who thrives on the bigger stages. ‘It feeds into my competitiveness,’ he smiles. He recently moved to a new house in Castleknock, a stone’s throw from the golf club. When the restrictions lift, he hopes to get back out on the course and bring down his handicap, which currently stands at 19.
‘I just got a set of clubs customised, because I am so tall, so I can’t wait to get out there and try them,’ he says. ‘I love golf, I think there are a lot of similarities with swimming. Both sports rely on skill and precision but when I am out on the golf course, it’s the one place I am able to completely switch off from the pool, forget about the water and my technique. For a couple of hours, I just forget about it. It recharges the batteries, so I am ready for the pool the next morning.’ It feels that Shane Ryan is ready now to make an impact in Tokyo this summer.
The O’Moore County may have to plan for an even bigger reception later this year.
‘I DOUBTED MYSELF AND WONDERED IF I SHOULD STOP SWIMMING’