‘It’s the stuff of dreams’ – Ballyshannon reaction to Mona McSharry’s bronze.
Kieran Summerville gives his immediate reaction after the Marlins Swim Club star took bronze in Paris.
“My goodness. It is the stuff of dreams altogether. We are small fish in a big pool but it is unbelievable what we have seen tonight, the stuff of dreams altogether,” was the immediate reaction of Marlins Swim Club’s Kieran Summerville, as he watched their star pupil, Mona McSharry take Olympic bronze in Paris.
The Ballyshannon club came together, young and old, in the Aodh Ruadh Social Centre to watch the final of the 100m Breaststroke on the big screen.
The excitement levels were growing from 8pm and the noise levels were able to match those in the Racing 92 Stadium in Paris as Mona appeared on the screen at around 8:35.
After qualifying as the second fastest, expectations that the Grange native would be in the mix for the medals was pretty high.
“What an absolute achievement for herself; what amount of work has gone into it, hardship and hard times. Today is a day to celebrate, for Mona, her family, Marlins Swimming Club and I must say we are really enjoying ourselves up here in Aodh Ruadh.”
And while she lives in Grange, Ballyshannon has played a big part in her swimming education as well as academically as well as she is a past pupil of Coláiste Cholmcille in the town.
“Absolutely and she has a lot of friends in Ballyshannon as well and a lot of friends that have gone out with her to Paris and given her great support. She comes back as often as she can to help out with the swimming club and she will train away and offer advice in her own humble way of doing things.
“Fantastic girl, fantastic ambassador for swimming, for Swim Ireland, the Marlins Swimming Club and even the college in Tennessee.
“We have all cheered and we’ve had music all evening. We’ve had tea and stuff. We are really enjoying it. We can’t believe what we are after seeing, to be honest. To get there is unbelievable, to get to the final is fantastic by my God, to get a medal is some achievement.
“It’s very hard to describe at this moment in time but we are all very delighted for her.”
After the great achievement of reaching the 100m Breaststroke final in Tokyo in 2021, there was a fantastic homecoming for Mona in Ballyshannon and Kieran is hopeful that there will be an even bigger event now to show off her medal.
“We all want to see the medal. And I think we asked her at the time would she come back the next time when she had a medal, and I think she said she would. We’ll see what we can work out in the meantime. I know she has certain plans and commitments to work out but hopefully we will see her in the town shortly,” he said.
(Source – Donegal Democrat / Donegal Live – Local News – Peter Campbell – 29/07/2024)
‘Unbelievable’ – Mona McSharry Savours Her Brilliant Bronze
Barely a fingertip was in it at the end of a tense women’s 100m breaststroke final in the Paris La Défense Arena at the Olympic Games, where Mona McSharry won a bronze medal
The tears flowed, dropping down upon the new bling around Mona McSharry’s neck.
Tears, though, of a different kind on Monday night in Paris.
There was no hard luck story. There were no ‘what if’s now for Mona McSharry, the Olympic bronze medal.
Barely a fingertip was in it at the end of a tense women’s 100m breaststroke final at the Paris La Défense Arena, McSharry touching the wall just 0.01 of a second ahead of Benedetta Pilato.
“Unbelievable,” McSharry reflected through those joyous tears.
“There was a moment on the podium where I just started tearing up and it was like: ‘oh shit, this is really happening’.
“It’s unbelievable. It’s been a lot of hard work and I think there has always been a little of bit of doubt: ‘Do I belong at the top?’ This proves it.
“I raced my heart out. To be on the right side of a really tight race is just unbelievable.”
McSharry secured a valuable middle lane via an Irish record swim, going 1:05.51 in her semi-final on Sunday night.
The Grange native, who spent countless early mornings of her young years improving those percentages at Marlins Swimming Club in Ballyshannon.
The 23-year-old University of Tennessee student said: “I am so proud of myself and all the people who have supported me to be able to come out with this performance. Honestly, regardless of the result, just being able to compete at this level and be in with a chance of medalling and actually medalling, it’s what sport is about.
“Sometimes it’s hard, because you’re so nervous, to have fun, but that’s the most important part, soaking up these moments.”
McSharry was behind Tatjana Smith from South Africa, who won gold in 1:05.28, and Chinese swimmer Tang Qianting, who took silver in 1:05.54.
McSharry was second when the eight swimmers turned for the final 50m, despite being inhibited as she entered the water.
She said: “The most important takeway is that that wasn’t a perfect race. I dove in and my goggles filled up with water. I pushed to the end. I could see the Chinese girl on one side of me, I didn’t know what was going on on the other and I knew I had to dig deep.”
McSharry might’ve quit the sport when falling out of love in 2022, just months after reaching the 100m breaststroke final at the last Olympic Games in Tokyo.
From somewhere, she found a way back into the lane again.
“I think that walking away from this sport almost put into perspective why I do it,” she said.
“These are just bonuses – and they’re amazing bonuses.
“I was a little girl from a tiny little village and I was able to win a medal at the Olympics so it just goes to show that you can do anything you put your mind to.”
The nails of many of those watching were bitten to the quick; the width of which was all that was in it.
Next to nothing, but in fact it was everything.
(Source – Donegal Democrat / Donegal Live – Local News – Chris Mc Nulty – 29/07/2024)
‘I Started Crying On The Podium And I Haven’t Really Fully Stopped’ – Mona McSharry On What Olympic Bronze Means To Her
Mona McSharry had flashbacks to some of the tougher moments in her swimming career as she stood on the medal podium with an Olympic bronze around her neck.
McSharry had set off a riptide of emotion around the La Défense Arena after she produced the gutsiest race of her life to clinch third by the skinniest of margins in the 100m breaststroke. She was on the right side of a glorious 0.01 difference to win Ireland’s first medal at the Paris Olympics.
Sligo’s finest rose to this moment magnificently. She had to wipe away tears from her eyes as she watched the tri-colour being raised to honour her historic achievement. In the stand behind her were her supporters and family from Grange, Co Sligo, and to her right were her teammates, like Ellen Walshe and Danielle Hill, who were the first to embrace the newly minted Olympic medallist.
“Unbelievable. I started crying on the podium and I haven’t really fully stopped crying yet. It’s just unbelievable. I think it’s just the pinnacle of sport to have all your hard work pay off in something like this at this moment,” McSharry said in the mixed zone afterwards, describing how she felt on the podium.
“I kind of had a bit of a flashback of all the hard work I’ve been going through this year. Maybe some of the tougher moments and the moments where I was like, I don’t know if I can do this. And, it was just really nice. And then, just scanning the crowd and watching the flag go up.
“I got a little bit flustered after I won it and I had to really calm myself down and be like, ‘You need to take in the moment here, we need to just really enjoy this’. I don’t think I’ve ever cried for a medal before, so I think that just goes to show how big of a deal it is.”
McSharry’s Olympic medal had been at least nine years in the making. This was all part of her master plan.
“I’ve been telling myself that I’m going for a medal all year and honestly this was in the plan way back when I sat down with my coach Grace Meade in maybe 2015. And we said that 2020 [Tokyo 2021] was the ‘feeler’ Olympics and 2024 would be the one where we get stuff done.
“So it’s been in the works for a while and there’s definitely been doubts in there but I’ve always had the expectation that I could do it.”
McSharry’s pursuit was evident in this final. She cannonballed through the first 50m and was second at the turn before she emptied herself to grasp that bronze medal. Victory went to Tokyo gold medallist Tatjana Smith from South Africa in 1:05.28, 20-year-old current world champion Qianting Tang was second in 1:05.59, McSharry third in 1:05.59 and then the severest of margins with Italy Benedetta Pilato fourth in 1:50.60, the same time as world record holder Lilly King.
McSharry knows what it’s like to miss out by the smallest of margins. Like her two fifth-place finishes at the World Championships in Doha earlier this year, and her fifth place at last year’s Worlds. And maybe what makes this bronze medal all the sweeter is the struggle that came with it.
She’s spoken openly about how six months after she competed in the final at the Tokyo Olympics, she considered quitting because she felt “trapped” in something she didn’t like.
“Those moments where I thought I was done really put into perspective what I really do this for and this is a huge bonus. But there are so many other things like that become a part of this like training and watching my friends compete and being able to see myself progress and get better. And then you do have bonus moments like this, where you get to stand up on the podium and watch your flag raised at the Olympic Games.”
As well as the class of her opponents, McSharry also had to deal with one part of her goggles filling up with water as soon as she dived in.
“Yeah, they just filled up a little bit with water, but look, no race is perfect. And you just kind of push through it. There was a little moment of, ‘Oh, did it have to happen now’ but I can still see.
“It probably, honestly, was a little bit of a benefit because this one filled up, so I couldn’t see anything on the side of it. So, I was really just watching the Chinese girl and like, OK, come on, I gotta get her, I gotta get her, and kind of had my blinders on for what was going on.”
How will she celebrate? Well, she’s got the heats of the 200m breaststroke to come this week, so she’s not done yet: “Try and calm down as much as possible tonight. Get some good grub, maybe a chocolate muffin, they’re really good. And then just try and get to bed.”
The magic of Mona now has its place in Irish Olympic history.
(Source – Irish Independent – Sport – Sinéad Kissane, at the Paris La Défense Arena – 29/07/2024)
‘Unbelievable’ – Mona McSharry Savours Her Brilliant Bronze
Barely a fingertip was in it at the end of a tense women’s 100m breaststroke final in the Paris La Défense Arena at the Olympic Games, where Mona McSharry won a bronze medal
The tears flowed, dropping down upon the new bling around Mona McSharry’s neck.
Tears, though, of a different kind on Monday night in Paris.
There was no hard luck story. There were no ‘what if’s now for Mona McSharry, the Olympic bronze medal.
Barely a fingertip was in it at the end of a tense women’s 100m breaststroke final at the Paris La Défense Arena, McSharry touching the wall just 0.01 of a second ahead of Benedetta Pilato.
“Unbelievable,” McSharry reflected through those joyous tears.
“There was a moment on the podium where I just started tearing up and it was like: ‘oh shit, this is really happening’.
“It’s unbelievable. It’s been a lot of hard work and I think there has always been a little of bit of doubt: ‘Do I belong at the top?’ This proves it.
“I raced my heart out. To be on the right side of a really tight race is just unbelievable.”
McSharry secured a valuable middle lane via an Irish record swim, going 1:05.51 in her semi-final on Sunday night.
The Grange native, who spent countless early mornings of her young years improving those percentages at Marlins Swimming Club in Ballyshannon.
The 23-year-old University of Tennessee student said: “I am so proud of myself and all the people who have supported me to be able to come out with this performance. Honestly, regardless of the result, just being able to compete at this level and be in with a chance of medalling and actually medalling, it’s what sport is about.
“Sometimes it’s hard, because you’re so nervous, to have fun, but that’s the most important part, soaking up these moments.”
McSharry was behind Tatjana Smith from South Africa, who won gold in 1:05.28, and Chinese swimmer Tang Qianting, who took silver in 1:05.54.
McSharry was second when the eight swimmers turned for the final 50m, despite being inhibited as she entered the water.
She said: “The most important takeway is that that wasn’t a perfect race. I dove in and my goggles filled up with water. I pushed to the end. I could see the Chinese girl on one side of me, I didn’t know what was going on on the other and I knew I had to dig deep.”
McSharry might’ve quit the sport when falling out of love in 2022, just months after reaching the 100m breaststroke final at the last Olympic Games in Tokyo.
From somewhere, she found a way back into the lane again.
“I think that walking away from this sport almost put into perspective why I do it,” she said.
“These are just bonuses – and they’re amazing bonuses.
“I was a little girl from a tiny little village and I was able to win a medal at the Olympics so it just goes to show that you can do anything you put your mind to.”
The nails of many of those watching were bitten to the quick; the width of which was all that was in it.
Next to nothing, but in fact it was everything.
(Source – Donegal Democrat / Donegal Live – Local News – Chris Mc Nulty – 29/07/2024)