Bar raised as Irish target 10 Paralympic medals and many changed lives

These are the Ellen Keane retirement Games. These are the Games at which Keane will attempt to sign off with a third consecutive podium finish. Only one Irish female swimmer, Mairead Berry, has ever managed such sustained excellence.

From equaling history to potentially making history. These are the Games at which Keane, Nicole Turner, and Roísín Ní Riain will attempt to become the first trio of Irish women to medal in the pool at the same Games. 17-year-old Dearbhaile Brady from the Derry village of Feeny could well muscle in on that act and make it four Irish women onto the same rostrum climbed by Mona McSharry on July 29.

These are the Games at which more Irish women than ever before stand ready to deliver and dominate. Keane. Turner. Ní Riain. Brady. Orla Comerford on the track. Cassie Cava in the Para triathlon. Chloe MacCombe, and her guide Catherine Sands, in a separate triathlon class. Richael Timothy on her bike and on the road. Katie-George Dunlevy and Josephine Healion, and their yet-to-be confirmed pilots, also on the road.

“We have a huge number of women on the team, and that is really very heartening to see,” says Sport Ireland CEO Dr Una May of women accounting for 24 of the 35-strong Irish team.

These are the Games at which Jason Smyth will not take to his blocks for the first time since Athens 20 years ago. These are the Games at which a new Jason Smyth will emerge draped in gold. These are the Games at which Irish athletes will compete across nine different sports. These are the Games at which Ireland will have a first boat on the water since London 2012. Stroking and pulling the green oars in the PR2 Mixed Double Sculls will be Galway's Katie O'Brien and Limerick's Tiarnán O'Donnell.

These are the Games at which the bar has been raised. Significantly raised. In Roísín Ni Riain’s favoured S13 100m backstroke, the qualifying standard of 1:12.66 would have got you fourth at the Rio Games. Eight years later, it just about gets you past check-in at the departures lounge.

The F40 shot putt is Mary Fitzgerald’s circle. The entry mark was 7.48m. A throw of 7.48m would have secured you silver in the Brazilian city in 2016.

Fitzgerald was the Irish athlete to feature in the very clever and very provocative social media campaign run by the International Paralympic committee on the lead into Paris. In an Instagram post earlier this month, the 24-year-old Kilkenny native announced that she won’t be “participating” at the Paralympics. Swipe left on the same post and you see Fitzgerald declare she will be “competing” at the Paralympics.

“This campaign that challenges the language used around Paralympic sport strikes at the heart of the argument; Para athletes are not taking part in the Games, they are competing, just like their Olympic counterparts,” Eimear Breathnach, president of Paralympics Ireland, explains.

If the team of 35 loathe the prospect of being viewed differently to those that ran, swam, and rowed to history and heartache in recent weeks, then the conversation surrounding them must be no different to what it was heading into the first of this summer’s Paris Games.

The pre-Olympic conversation centred on medals and how many we might take home on the Aer Lingus chartered flight. So, how many should we hope to land into Dublin airport around lunchtime on Monday, September 9?

“What we're looking at, hopefully, is somewhere between eight and 10 medals,” says Paralympics Ireland CEO Stephen McNamara.

“Only three people in each category will win a medal, and I think what we've seen from the Olympics is actually fourth at that level is also phenomenal. But we make no secret of it, we do want to get medals and the whole way along, we haven't even had to say it to the athletes. They go out there wanting to bring back medals.

“We would hope people like Ellen Keane will bring back medals, Nicole Turner, we'll certainly have medals in cycling. We're hoping to maybe get a medal with Orla Comerford in athletics. But everybody else has got the opportunity - they've gotten there and they have a real chance.” 

A successful Games will not be measured in gold, silver, and bronze. Nor will it be measured in the number of finalists or number of personal bests clocked. The team of 35 has a second job. The job of making an impression and leaving an indelible mark on those at home.

Kerrie Leonard is the sole Para archer in the country. No Irish Para rowers have been seen on television in 12 years. As a nine-year-old kid, Britney Arendse’s heart stopped beating on three separate occasions after being involved in a car accident that ultimately put her in a wheelchair. These days, she’s blazing a trail on the weights bench.

These Games, and their proximity to home, offer round-the-clock visibility. Timely visibility. Visibility that must be harnessed.

“The Irish population are going to experience a whole new range of opportunities that exist out there that they may not have considered in the past,” says May.

McNamara nods in agreement.

“This is a huge Games in terms of visibility and the opportunity is [there] to inspire a kid to think, ‘I’m going to go and find out about Para sports’.

“We have already done a lot of work in relation to that. We've used, if we are honest, the interest from the Olympics in athletes seeing what is available and we have already run some next generation events, and we will run more,” he continues.

“We’ll have another big one in November to try and hopefully inspire kids. Some of these kids are still in the National Rehabilitation Hospital, having had an accident where their life has instantly changed and they are coming to an event where we are able to say, ‘ok, how about you get into the road bike', and you can see a change in them straight away, they know actually there is a sport here for me.” 

The job of paving the path for the next generation is not exclusive to the 35 athletes currently getting themselves accustomed to the now world-famous cardboard beds resident in the Olympic Village. It is a job in which the Government must also step up.

For the 2021-24 Paris cycle, over €8m has been invested in Paralympics Ireland. A 21% increase on what was spent ahead of Tokyo. Within that €8m, €3.7m was ringfenced for high performance sports funding. That a 36% increase on the Tokyo cycle. Twenty-two of Ireland’s Para athletes are currently being supported under the international carding scheme.

“We have made progress in recent years, but I do acknowledge that we don't have a level of equal opportunity that is needed, especially when it comes to people with disabilities participating in sport,” admitted Minister for Sport Thomas Byrne at a pre-Paralympic briefing in Abbotstown last week.

“There is a disability participation gap and that needs to be closed more than it is at the moment.

“I've been engaging with Sport Ireland for some time now about the appointment of a disability in sport lead within the organisation and I hope to see this appointment made within the coming period. This must be backed by funding.” Talk of funding on the eve of these Games, the Paralympics is on more of an equal footing with the Olympics than it thinks. Or, as Dr Una May put it, round one in Paris was the “warm-up act” for round two.

To the ready and primed athletes, the stage and spotlight is now theirs. Sit back and marvel at both their success and the story that brought them here.