IRISH TIMES/IRISH SPORTS COUNCIL SPORTSWOMEN AWARD FOR DECEMBER/Mary Cullen (Athletics): Mary Hannigantalks to Mary Cullen whose close-up fourth in the European Cross Country Championship had courage and class written all over it
IT WAS a few years ago that football manager Iain Dowie praised his then Crystal Palace side’s resilience by hailing their ‘bouncebackability’, the term subsequently becoming so popular it began turning up in every walk of life. Looking through our list of monthly award winners in 2008 ‘bouncebackability’ is a quality shared by most, probably all, of them, not least our December winner, runner Mary Cullen.
Just as, for example, the sportswomen who took our August and October awards, walker Olive Loughnane and squash player Madeline Perry, had to battle back from debilitating illness and serious injury before producing memorable performances in 2008, Cullen had to overcome the desperate disappointment of missing out on the Olympic Games because of a stress fracture in her lower back.
By then she had had to recover from a stress fracture in her right fibula and a tear in her calf, but the latest in a litany of injuries put paid to her hopes of making it to Beijing.
“It was tough to take,” she said. “I stayed in America through the summer, I know it was ‘avoiding’ it a little bit, but I was going to find it tough at home in Ireland talking to people about missing out on the Olympics.”
Ultimately Cullen blamed herself for the injuries, having pushed herself beyond the limit in her pursuit of the qualifying standard for Beijing, but rather than allow despondency overcome her she simply set new targets for the year.
She returned in September and finished second behind Olympic 10,000 metres bronze medallist Shalane Flanagan at the USA 5km Championships in Rhode Island, where she has been based since taking up a sports scholarship at Providence College.
Now a social science graduate Cullen, who was American Colleges champion over 5,000 metres two years ago, has stayed on in Rhode Island where she is coached by Ray Treacy, brother of Ireland’s 1984 Olympic silver medallist, John.
“Because it was my first race back, it was more about feeling good and just getting used to the pain of racing again,” she said. “When you’ve been away from it for so long you have to teach your body that hurt. For me it was more that than anything else.”
The next goal for the 26-year-old from Drumcliffe, Co Sligo was a performance at December’s European Cross-Country Championships in Brussels that would confirm to her that she was back to full strength and fitness. It’s precisely what she got – in top-class company she finished fourth, just two seconds off a medal, bettering her previous best finish in the race, 11th three years before.
Never outside the top three in the opening stages of a gruelling race – the conditions getting the better of Olympic steeplechase champion and world record holder Gulnara Galkina-Samitova, who could only finish 12th – Cullen, who led briefly at the halfway stage, was in sight of bronze going in to the final lap, but was beaten to the line by Portuguese runner Ines Monteiro. Kenyan-born Hilda Kibet, now running for the Netherlands, won the race, with Portugal’s Jessica Augusto taking silver.
“I would have loved a medal, I gave myself every chance, I got stuck in, but the muddy parts took it out of me – and I’m not exceptionally good on the mud. But I was in good company, I’ll take it for today and look forward to Dublin, I’m even more excited to go for the medal next time,” she said in reference to this year’s Championships which will be hosted in Santry in December.
Having admitted that she struggled at times to “see the light at the end of tunnel” in 2008 and that she “didn’t know if I was going to ever be able to get back healthy again” Cullen’s performance in Brussels was a fair indication of her character.
Bouncebackability, they call it.
2008 monthly awards
January: Kelly Proper (Athletics)
The Waterford teenager, the 2007 Junior Athlete of the Year, broke the Irish indoor record for the long jump over three successive meetings in Nenagh, Belfast and Cardiff.
February: Chloe Magee (Badminton)
The 20-year-old from Donegal began the year with a hat-trick of titles at the National Championships and went on to qualify for the singles in Beijing.
March:Nina Carberry (Horse racing)
The jockey had another memorable visit to Cheltenham, winning the Cross Country Chase for the second successive year, also picking up a couple of wins at Fairyhouse later in the month.
April:Siobhan Byrne (Fencing)
Byrne became the first female Irish fencer to compete in the Olympics in almost 50 years after qualifying for Beijing by reaching the final of the European qualifying tournament in Istanbul.
May:Leona and Lisa Maguire (Golf)
The Cavan twins made it an all-Maguire affair in the final of the Irish Close at Westport, Leona becoming the youngest ever winner of the tournament, Lisa going in to the Close as the leading qualifier by winning the Leitrim Cup.
June: Emma Davis (Triathlon)
Became the first Irish athlete to qualify for the Olympic Triathlon when she finished 15th in a field of 79 at the World Championships in Vancouver.
July:Sinead Jennings (Rowing)
The Donegal woman won silver at the World Championships in Austria, missing out on gold by just .55 seconds.
August: Olive Loughnane (Athletics)
Knocked 93 seconds off her personal best to finished seventh in the 20km walk at the Olympic Games, Ireland's best result in track and field.
September:Briege Corkery (Camogie) and Angela Walsh (Gaelic football)
The Cork women shared the September award, Corkery for her displays in both the camogie and football All-Ireland finals and Walsh, outstanding at full-back, for captaining the footballers to a four-in-a-row.
October:Madeline Perry (Squash)
Reached the semi-finals of the World Championships, led Ireland to a fifth place finish at the World Team Championships (their best in 18 years) and regained her top 10 place in the world rankings – all only a year after sustaining serious head injuries in a mugging.
November:Katie Taylor (Boxing)
Taylor confirmed her status as the best pound-for-pound female fighter in the world when she retained her world lightweight title in China and was then named Boxer of the Year at the AIBA awards in Moscow.
Each sportswoman was eligible for just one monthly award in 2008 but her achievements through the year will be taken into account by the judges when the decision on the overall winner is made.
