Who are Katie-George Dunlevy and Linda Kelly? Five things to know about the Paralympic champions
And Linda Ramsey Picture: Cardy/sportsfile George Katie Celebrate Winning Dunlevy Gold Kelly
Katie-George Dunlevy was born in England and is based in Crawley, West Sussex. She has five sisters and competes for Ireland in cycling as her father is from Mountcharles, Co Donegal. She and her sisters spent their family holidays in Donegal when they were children. She is a champion rower, formerly a pararowing competitor for Great Britain, but turned to cycling while trialling for Team Ireland in 2011.
Dunlevy won a gold medal and a silver medal during the 2016 Summer Paralympics with pilot Eve McCrystal. The pair also won two golds and one silver medal during the 2020 Paralympics in Tokyo in the time trial and the road race, becoming the most successful Irish female Paralympian.
When she was 11, Dunlevy was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa (RP) and is registered blind.
“I changed school shortly after finding out I had RP, to a school for the blind. I didn’t cope well with the change and the news at first,” she told sportswomen.ie.
“However it turned out to be the right decision as the students were the same as me, I quickly got involved with sports and activities and it was something I could do and turned out to be naturally very good at. With this my confidence grew and I began to enjoy school.”
Linda Kelly rides on both the road and track as a women’s tandem pilot. Paris is her first time competing at the Paralympic Games.
On the road, Kelly won double gold at the 2023 UCI World Championships alongside Katie-George Dunlevy as well as overall victory in the UCI Para-cycling World Cup. In 2022, Kelly also won bronze at the UCI World Championships as pilot to Josephine Healion.