Mary Hannigantalks to Irish Times/Irish Sports Council Sportswoman Award winner for August: Olive Loughnane (Athletics) about her future plans
WE WOULD, we feared, be interrupting a period of rest and relaxation when we contacted Olive Loughnane yesterday, having assumed she'd be taking it easy following her marvellous performance in the 20km walk at the Olympic Games, and all the work that went in to producing it.
We were wrong, "I'm still training," she told us, "I'm racing again in Spain in about two weeks."
So, while we were keen on getting Loughnane to look back to Beijing she was already planning ahead, and not just to a competition in a fortnight's time.
"I'm staying on 'til London 2012," she announced, a decision she evidently made with such relish you sensed she wished 2012 was in a fortnight's time.
Knocking 93 seconds off her personal best to finish seventh in Beijing persuaded her that she's not done yet. Her time of 1:27:45 was inside the old Olympic record and she finished just one minute and 14 seconds behind the gold-medal winner, Olga Kaniskina of Russia.
"If you'd told me last night I was going to do 87 minutes 45 I'd have said get the flags ready, because I'd have thought that would have to medal," she said after the race, admitting that there was some disappointment despite the fact that "I couldn't have done more."
"I'm a bit calmer now than I was back then," she said yesterday, "when I look back on it I'm delighted, thrilled that I pulled it out on the big day, on the day that mattered. The physical side was the easiest really, I was in great shape, no problems there, but it's just about being able to produce your very best in the biggest race of your life - that's the hard part."
That she was in Beijing at all was a testament to her strength of character having suffered a chronic iron deficiency following the birth of her daughter Eimear two years ago. The road back to race fitness was a long and gruelling one - "training 60 kilometres a week felt harder than the 120 kilometres I'd done before" — but back she came. When she travelled to China she was, she said, "in the shape of my life".
Loughnane went on to produce Ireland's best result at the Games in track and field, becoming only the 13th Irish athlete to finish in the top eight in an Olympic event. She also happened to produce the best two Irish quotes of the Games when recounting her race, which was held in torrential rain.
"I remember, around 14km, thinking 'God this is tough'," she said, "but sure I was after doing an 8.42 lap. What was I looking for, a couch?"
"I didn't panic. There were people hanging off me, using me, and I was like 'whatever girls! If ye can stay with me fair play to ye!'" The 32-year-old lives in Coachford, Co Cork with her husband Martin Corkery, a former Cork footballer, and young Eimear. She is, though, a native of Carrabane, Co Galway, where she moved from Cork when she was four. A Corkwegian, then?
"That's probably about right," she said, although…..". She's a Galwegian, she confirmed emphatically, after thinking about it for a whole second. And then she was back to training. Plenty of time for rest and relaxation - after London 2012.
MONTHLY AWARDS SO FAR
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):The German-born 23-year-old, whose father is from Meath, qualified for Beijing by reaching the final of the European qualifying tournament in Istanbul - last month she became the first female Irish fencer to compete in the Olympics in almost 50 years.
May - Leona and Lisa Maguire (Golf):The 13-year-old twins from Co Cavan 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):The 22-year-old 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, Switzerland's Pamela Weisshaupt pipping her to gold by just .55 seconds.
Each sportswoman is 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.
