THERE WAS NEVER any doubt which country Conor Lyne would represent. It wasn’t even a question worth asking.
He lives in Logan, Utah, not too far from the famous Beaver Mountain resort but as far as he’s concerned, Ireland is home.
“I wouldn’t consider anywhere else home to me,” the 20-year-old skiier emphasises ahead of his Winter Olympics debut later this month.
“When I got into the FIS league I wanted to represent Ireland and that was actually the only country I could represent. I’m a citizen of Ireland and have a passport for Ireland, not the US or anywhere else.
“I’ve a lot of pride in my country.”
That much doesn’t need any elaboration. A lot has been made of the fact that Ireland’s five-person squad is, uniquely, made up entirely of diaspora athletes drawn from the United Kingdom, the US and Canada.
All have direct links to Ireland but Lyne’s roots run deepest. His father John is from Brandon on the tip of the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry; his mother Anna is from a family of nine in Hospital, County Limerick. His cousin Michael Mullaly has the sporting gene as well, playing rugby for Munster’s U19s.
It’s a “huge support group,” he jokes, so he tries to keep on their good side by visiting for a month or two every summer.
Those trips are all he really knows of Ireland. Lyne was born in the UK before the family moved on to America when he was four.
“Utah is a big skiing area,” he explains. “I started at about the age of five and just graduated as the years went on.”
Lyne in action at the 2013 World Championships (Kerstin Joensson/AP/Press Association Images)
What started as a recreational pursuit became more and more serious, and he moved up from children’s races to international competition at the age of 15.
In school, I was skiing maybe four or five days a week. It’s not enough. You have to be on the snow all the time, 100% focused.
Recognising that need for complete and total dedication, he put his studies in mechanical engineering at the University of Utah on hold two years ago and started skiing full-time.
He pitches his Sochi ambitions at a level that’s both modest and realistic. He’s already worn the Irish colours at the World Championships in 2011, and again last year where he finished 52nd in the giant slalom — the better of his two events, he admits — and had a DNF in the slalom event.
“I don’t really know the level compared to the World Championships or the different athletes but I’d love to break even further into the top 50, top 40, top 30…”
More than that, he knows the importance of seizing and savouring this opportunity. After all, his time in Sochi will be over in a flash.
That’s the thing about skiing. You work so hard all throughout the year and it all comes down to that minute or minute and a half.It’s not like football where you have 90 minutes and if you make a mistake you can recover. If you make one mistake in skiing, you’re done.
