Clare Men Making Waves On International Swimming Scene

Derrick Lynch

The announcement of the phased return of sport in recent weeks has been welcomed in all quarters, including among those with their sights on one of the biggest global sporting stages.

The 2020 Olympic Games were one of the highest profile sporting casualties of the Covid-19 crisis with the games being postponed and now being held next July.

Among the athletes hoping to book their place on the plane for Team Ireland is Ennis swimmer Rory McEvoy. This week marked the first time competitors were allowed back into the pool for training since the outbreak began, as they resumed preparations at the National Aquatic Centre in Dublin.

McEvoy says it is a positive move to be back into the pool and getting the focus back on being ready for that shot at qualifying for the Olympics.

“It feels like the country is moving in the right direction again for the first time since the pandemic began so I am delighted to be able to get back training again and setting the target back on Tokyo for 2021. We have had no availability of pools over the last few weeks but we were able to keep training away on other aspects of our fitness. We were lucky enough to be supplied with equipment by Sport Ireland and we are in a much better position than some other athletes by having access to that for training” he noted.

It is the latest step in a progressive career for the Ennis man with his move to the training base at the National Aquatic Centre taking him into the elite ranks of the sport in Ireland. He says that was always a goal he had in mind but the ultimate aim is to book a spot on the biggest stage of all.

“I was always interested in water-sports but only got into it at a competitive level when I was 14. I played other sports but over the last few years I really fell in love with swimming and have not looked back since. It was the competitive element that really attracted me to it. A time does not lie and there is a high level of accountability so if you want to do something, you have to do it yourself which I love. I found swimming was a sport that you really have to work hard at and put the hours in to be good at and I was intrigued by it so I am lucky to be able to do it. When I decided to focus solely on swimming, it came at a time when I could see I was progressing much better than I was at other sports. I was going to UL to train the performance centre and my coach there pushed me to take things to the next level. I always felt that getting to train at the National Aquatic Centre was the final step in getting to pursue my dream of becoming an Olympic athlete” he said.

He is hopeful with a new date set for the 2021 Olympics, he can keep pushing to reach the qualification time that would see him book that ticket to Tokyo when the qualifying trials come around in April.

“Training at the National Aquatic Centre is a great environment to be in because you meeting all the top athletes from around the country so you are involved in really high level camps. I found that really beneficial at the start because I had a lot to learn from the outset and we have all pushed each other to take that next step and reach the goal we all have which is to be a part of the Olympic Games. At the start of the lockdown, it was hard to come to terms with it because I felt like I was ready to qualify for 2020 but I think now I can be better and I can be stronger and it will be exciting to see how much more we can improve with the extra time now to prepare. Getting that chance to go to the Olympics would mean everything to me. I have made a lot of sacrifices for the sport and I have no regrets about doing that but it really would be brilliant if it all paid off so hopefully it will all work out” he wished.

Another Clare man hoping to be part of the Irish contingent heading to Tokyo next year is Lahinch native Paul Talty. He is currently working with the athletes as part of his role as a performance coach with Swim Ireland having been appointed to the role in 2018.

He admits it has been a difficult few months to manage without access to the pools but is confident it will not have had a major bearing on the Irish performances.

“It has been a massive challenge for us because 11 weeks have passed since our swimmers have been in the water. When we first shut down the training we gave them a few days off to get their heads around what had happened and we stepped up remote programme after that. We got a lot of support from Sport Ireland for that in the loaning out of equipment, and the Sports Institute of Northern Ireland did the same so we were able to work around prescribed training. The athletes took on the challenge and really engaged with it but one of the most difficult parts for them after the first few weeks was not having a date in which we could return. A lot of work was going on between the various agencies in trying to secure that but I think not having that certainty is something that was a source of frustration at times. They were all delighted when the announcement came that we would be back this week” he explained.

Talty, who was a member of the Lahinch Swimming Club at underage level, outlined that while initial conversations suggested training may have been able to resume at an earlier date, the decision to wait until now took every consideration into account.

“One of the things we were pointing out in Swim Ireland was that we learned fairly early on that chorine was killing the virus so we made a bit of a push on that front. There were just so many things being juggled at the highest level around decision making that it was just difficult to make those individual calls at an early stage. Sport Ireland and the Department have worked hard to make the case for our high performance athletes to get back to their training environments as quickly as they could. It goes without saying that not being in the water is a massive drawback for our swimmers. It is a unique sport and it is not one that you can replicate the mechanics for. In other sports you can go for a run and be simulating some aspect of the discipline like in Gaelic Games but swimming is very different in that regard. That part has been a real drawback and it is why the athletes are so eager to get back in the water this week” he noted.

Preparing athletes for top international events is something Talty is used having spent five years working at the Sports Institute of Northern Ireland where he worked with the likes of Paddy Barnes among others. He feels the fact that there are now a limited number of events before the Tokyo games roll around will present difficulties but is confident they can overcome that.

“The international sporting calendar is destroyed effectively. We do not have any international swimming events for the rest of 2020, they are all gone. The only exception is the International Swimming League which is a private event and is invite only. Ireland only has two swimmers in that at the moment. That is going to pose serious challenge for us as we prepare for 2021 with the Olympics now in July. We are still planning on running our trials in April and we will have to face into that without any serious international competition exposure. At that point, it will have been 15 months since the European short course championships were held in Glasgow so that will be a challenge. Everybody is in the same boat in that regard so we will just have to knuckle down and get the work done. Every country is facing the same issues. Some were back in the water a little earlier than we were but we just have to focus on ourselves and be as prepared as we can when it rolls around again” he said.