Ireland's double champion leaves best until last

The emotional scenes as Michael McKillop’s mother presented his medal capped off a very special story

IT IS rare for Irish Paralympic double champion Michael McKillop, who last night added the 1,500m T37 title to the 800m title he won on Saturday, to be behind the curve. But this week it happened.

All the members of “M – Team McKillop”, as the victorious athlete calls his entourage, including his family and friends, his fellow Irish Paralympians and officials and even the media knew that McKillop’s mother Catherine was going to present him with his gold medal.

Everybody except the Newtownabbey man was in on it. He was completely unaware of what was in store when he cantered down the back straight to another gold, winning with six seconds to spare over his nearest rival on a humid night in London.

McKillop immediately clapped when it was announced that his mother was going to present the medal in the company of legendary British parathlete Tanni Grey-Thompson. He struggled to hold back the tears as mother and son embraced.

It may seem presumptuous given the uncertain nature of sport to make such an arrangement, but McKillop is probably as close as it comes in sporting terms to a sure thing.

He has not been beaten at Paralympic sport in six years, he broke the world record in the same stadium prior to the Games, and he is in the form of his life.

Ms McKillop (48) saw her son compete for the first time at a major championships only on Saturday night, and admitted to having been a bag of nerves.

“I was very overwhelmed that my son has to go out and compete in front of 80,000 people,” she said. “You feel for your child from a mother’s point of view. He’s used to the pressure. It was all new to me.”

Ms McKillop was an athlete herself in her younger years. Indeed, she and her husband Paddy were the All-Ireland under-17 1,500m champions at the same time and met through athletics. Michael is the second youngest of four children.

She admitted it was a “real shock” when Michael was diagnosed with cerebral palsy when he was three. “We didn’t know what it meant, we didn’t know whether it was progressive or not or how Michael was going to end up,” she recalled.

McKillop had to have constant physio, his leg was put in plaster to lengthen his Achilles’ tendon and he was the first child in Northern Ireland to be given injections of Botulinum (botox) to loosen his muscles.

Ultimately, though, she said Michael’s physiotherapy was through sport. “From the age of three he always had something in his hands whether it be a hurling stick or a ball. He was always playing”.

Michael eventually found his niche in athletics where he has pedigree through both parents. He is also coached by his father.

Ms McKillop said she was “immensely proud” to be chosen by the International Paralympic Committee, which runs the Games, and sponsors PG, to present the medal to her son. Speaking before the medal ceremony she predicted he would be “blown away”.