IRELAND’S Olympic medal heroes have urged Kellie Harrington to go and make history.
Swimming superstar Daniel Wiffen, who’s won both a gold and bronze already, told The Irish Sun: “She’s ready for it, I’m sure she’s going to put on a show and show how world class she is.”
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And new pommel horse champion Rhys McClenaghan also thinks Kellie will claim the big prize, adding: “She’s looking better than ever, in my eyes, and her mind is in a good place. So I will support her all the way.”
Harrington will on Tuesday night be attempting to secure an unprecedented fourth Olympic gold medal for Ireland.
The 34-year-old faces China’s Yang Wenlu in Roland Garros and a win will see her join rowers Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy and hammer thrower Pat O’Callaghan as our only back-to-back gold medal winners.
Even a defeat in the women’s 60kg division and a silver medal would make it seven medals for Ireland at Paris 2024, which would be another record.
She made history on Saturday by securing bronze in her semi-final win over Beatriz Ferreira — the first Irish woman to win at consecutive Olympic Games.
Hundreds of fans, including Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch, watched her bout at the Diamond Park basketball court near her north Dublin city centre home.
Wiffen told us that he and Kellie are “very good friends” and that he couldn’t wait to watch the fight.
He said: “I’ve watched every single round so far.
‘She’s ready for it’
“I was talking to her this morning. She was loving my gold medal which I was showing her.
“She’s ready for it, I’m sure she’s going to put on a show and show how world class she is.”
When asked if Kellie will win gold, he said: “I think so. She’s unmatched. I don’t really watch much boxing, but I watch her fight every time and she’s levels above her opponents.”
Meanwhile, gymnast McClenaghan said he’s “trying to” attend the fight in person.
‘Really excited’
But unlucky bronze medal heroine Mona McSharry told us that she won’t get to the fight as it’s “sold out, we tried”.
She added: “So we’re probably going to have to watch it somewhere, but it’ll be a great fight and I’m really excited to watch it.
“She’s honestly great. She’s a person that I really get along with. And I’m just really excited for her.”
When asked if she thinks that Kellie will bag the gold, she added: “Absolutely.”
Up against it
But fighter Harrington knows she’s up against it in what will be the last bout of her glittering Olympic career.
Her Chinese rival, a world bronze medallist last year, beat Taipei’s Shih Yi Wu 5-0 in the other semi-final, and beat Kellie in the 64kg final of the World Championships eight years ago.
Our three golds in Paris have only been matched by Tokyo three years ago and Atlanta in 1996 — however, swimmer Michelle Smith’s three will forever be tainted.
Meanwhile, there was heartbreak on Monday for athletics hero Ciara Mageean, who announced she was withdrawing from today’s 1,500m heats due to injury.
€89m to fund medalist athletes
EXCLUSIVE by JOHN KIERANS
IRELAND’S Olympic heroes were given gold medal cash to help get them over the line.
Sport Ireland spent a record €89million over the last four years on its High Performance Programme — with €25million paid out in the last 12 months in the race to Paris.
Swimming legend Daniel Wiffen, boxer Kellie Harrington, rowers Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy, gymnast Rhys McClenaghan, runners Rhasidat Adeleke and Ciara Mageean were each paid €40,000 a year to help them train full time.
Bronze medalist swimmer Mona McSharry got €30,000 plus a cut of the €60,000 given to the medley team.
The money was allocated by Sport Ireland under its international carding system. A total of 123 Irish team members qualified for the cash.
Some 33 athletes received the top €40,000 rate, described as Podium funding to anyone who has a serious chance of winning a medal.
The next group were classed as World Class funding and they received €25,000 a year, while the lowest level was categorised as International and received €18,000 each.
A total of €4.4million was paid out to all our Olympic idols under the Carding System this year — the highest ever.
Sport Ireland also paid money to 16 teams across 16 sports.
This included an allocation of €300,000 to the Irish Women’s hockey team so they can train and compete full-time.
Last year alone, they also allocated €1.5m to pay high performance coaches to work with the Irish Olympic teams across various sports.
A Government insider said: “This is no fluke that we in Ireland have had our best Olympics ever and won our highest number of medals.
“Sport Ireland is doing an amazing job ensuring that sports bodies are run properly and that all our stars get everything they need to succeed.”
Team Ireland said in a statement that Ciara had been dealing with painful chronic Achilles issues in her final weeks of preparation for the Games.
Ciara said: “I’m absolutely heartbroken not to be able to compete in my third Olympic Games. I gave it everything to make it possible to be on the start line, but time was against me. I want to thank everyone for all their support.”
Elsewhere, track queen Rhasidat Adeleke hailed the loud Irish crowd as she eased through her 400m heats in Paris on Monday, asking herself: “Am I at Morton Stadium right now?”
Thousands of Irish fans thronged the Stade de France where Adeleke, who was mobbed by adoring crowds in Santry last month when breaking the Irish 100m record, sailed into the semi-finals.
‘Ticked all the boxes’
She vowed: “My goal wasn’t just to come to the Olympics, my goal was to do something special. And that’s what my goal will remain.”
TV analyst Derval O’Rourke gushed: “She ticked all the boxes and made it look easy.”
Adeleke might yet be joined in the semis by 25-year-old Sharlene Mawdsley who narrowly missed out despite a personal best time of 50.71. She will be back to have another go in the repechage on Tuesday.
The Tipperary athlete vowed: “I just have to go and win that.” But most noise was reserved for Tallaght sprint sensation Adeleke, 21, who cruised home in first place at a time of 50.09 despite easing up considerably 50m towards the end.
‘It was so fun’
She said: “It felt so good, it was so fun. I’ve been here a week now and I’ve been itching to get going. I’m so excited to be here.”
As fans began wearing her trademark hair bobbin, she said: “I didn’t even realise! People will do what you’re doing and it’s important to set a good example.”
Six runners across the five other heats posted a faster time than the European silver medallist, but she was in the enviable position of being able to avoid wasting any unnecessary energy.
Adeleke said: “I feel like my first 200 was pretty calm. I didn’t go too aggressive. I went out at the right pace. I kind of shut down the last 100. I didn’t want to use too much energy, just wanted to do what I needed to qualify.
Clear ride into final for showjumping duo
By BARRY MORAN
DANIEL Coyle and Shane Sweetnam booked their spots in the final of the individual show-jumping event with superb clear rounds on Monday.
But their teammate Cian O’Connor, who won bronze at London 2012, missed out on qualification after his four faults in 75.17 seconds.
Cork man Sweetnam went clear in 73.35 seconds, while Coyle took 73.64 for his round.
The Derryman said he was relieved to progress.
He said: “It would be great if the scores all carried, but they don’t. Everybody starts on zero again. Anybody is in with a fighting chance, but thankfully, so am I.” The Ireland duo occupied second and third positions as the top 30 progressed.
Meanwhile, in diving, Ciara McGing shook off a debilitating 48-hour bout of illness to take part and admitted: “I’m so grateful.”
The 23-year-old made her Olympic debut at the Centre Aquatique.
Finishing 29th on 188.50 points, McGing’s best score came from her third dive, a reverse 2½ somersaults for 50.40 points.
Ciara admitted: “I am just really grateful that I got on the boards this morning.
“If this was yesterday, I wouldn’t be here this morning and so I’m just so very grateful to the doctors in Team Ireland that helped me get here.
“I’m just so grateful that my family were here and got to see me.
“I know that it wasn’t my best — but they still got to see me dive in the Olympics.”
“I don’t know exactly what percentage, but it didn’t feel like a really hard run. That felt really calm and relaxed. I was really excited to get out there.” Overcoming a false start which saw Nicole Caicedo of Ecuador given a red card, she said: “I was just like, ‘I hope that wasn’t me’. I was like, ‘That wasn’t me, right? That wasn’t me, that wasn’t me?’”
She continued: “Training has been going really well. We were in a little bubble, then we got into the Olympic Village and the whole Games experience came.
“The track felt really good, even when I was doing my pre-meet the last couple of days. I was really excited because the track is purple and my favourite colour is purple. I was just like, ‘Yeah, let’s go out there, it’s something new’.
“It’s my first Olympics, so it’s all a new experience and I’m taking it every step of the way.”
‘Such a superstar’
It wasn’t just the fans in Paris bowled over by the youngster’s greatness. Mawdsley admitted it was inspiring to watch Adeleke run so comfortably — despite her own disappointment at just missing out on qualification in her race immediately beforehand.
She said: “She is just such a superstar. I was cheering her on the whole way, even though I knew she had it in the bag.” On her race, she said: “It’s bittersweet. You run a PB, it’s the standard for next year’s worlds — and you don’t make the semi-final.
“But I have another round tomorrow to try and get into the semi.”
Sadly, it was a bad day for another Irish star, the “disappointed and confused” Sophie Becker, who came sixth with a time of 51.84, but will also go again in the repechage.
She insisted training had been going well and her run did not reflect that, adding: “It’s back to the drawing board with my coach.”
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