ANNALISE MURPHY HAS says it’s unlikely she’ll sail for Ireland in Paris in 2024, in what would be her fourth Olympic Games.
The Dubliner – a silver medalist in Rio five years ago — mounted a hugely admirable fightback after a tough start to her week in Tokyo, but failed to qualify for the Laser Radial medal race earlier.
“I’m really proud of myself, I managed to make it to three Olympics,” Murphy told RTE’s Joe Stack. “That’s something I never even thought I’d achieve.
“Of course, in London having this dream first Olympics and just messing it up at the end. And then being able to come back in Rio and everything was against me in a light-wind regatta and really to pull it out of the bag.
“And I came here to this event thinking this was going to be my chance to get a gold medal and it wasn’t. But I’ve managed to win races in all three Olympics I’ve gone to, so that’s pretty good. I’m going back to college to do an MBA in September so I’m hoping that my brain hasn’t completely turned to mush and it only knows sailing knowledge and nothing else.
“And I always find it hard to have a work-life balance, I’ve just been obsessed with trying to train more and be the best I can possibly be, so I’m looking forward to being able to take it down a knotch and live a little bit of a more chilled out life.”
The future of Irish sailing is bright though, according to Murphy, and she’s keen to help the next generation make their mark in the sport.
“I can’t see myself going on for another Olympics,” she continued. “We’ve got Aoife (Hopkins) and Eve (McMahon), two great young girls coming up through the system, and I really want to help them out. And I think in three years’ time they’re going to be in a prime position to be good contenders for Paris 2024.
“I hope I can give them some of my knowledge and maybe they can surpass all of my achievements, that would be the dream.”
“It would have been nice to finish on a high but I’m really proud of what I’ve managed to achieve,” Murphy added.
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