CIARA MAGEEAN DIDN’T watch any of the 1500m action following her withdrawal from the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. She still hasn’t.
In fact, she chose not to follow athletics for the remainder of the season. The sight of a track, Mageean says, broke her heart.
“I’m on the path to healing,” the Portaferry star says, almost four months on from her Olympic dream being cruelly dashed due to a persistent Achilles injury.
She’s picking up the pieces, and is determined to feature at LA 2028.
But baby steps.
Mageean is in the Crowne Plaza Hotel before the Athletics Ireland Awards. She bounces into the room, 10 weeks post-surgery, and is in typically talkative form. The 31-year-old is open and candid through the 40-minute roundtable interview, revisiting the summer of 2025 in granular detail, from the “dizzying highs” of European gold in Rome to the “emptiness” of Paris.
Mageean celebrates her 2024 European gold. Morgan Treacy / INPHO
Morgan Treacy / INPHO / INPHO
She answers the first question — on that — for the guts of 14 minutes without interruption, but for a small follow-up query.
Her emotions generally remain in check throughout, but her voice breaks when she recalls making the final decision to withdraw.
It had been a long road to this point: Mageean had been managing her ankle for eight-plus years, but running in pain had taken its toll. Everything came crashing down on the eve of what should have been her third Games. A calf injury impacted her Rio tilt, but with real medal ambitions, this was a gut punch.
“I knew if I toed the line, I wouldn’t have confidence that I would finish the race,” she says now.
Genetically, Mageean has bone spurs in the back of her heels. She had surgery on her left ankle in college and thankfully, she fell on the right side of the 80% success rate. (The same risk applies with her recent operation, but all is going to plan so far.) The right Achilles started giving her trouble thereafter, so much so that she could have done with surgery five years ago.
The “ticking time bomb” would explode at the most unfortunate time.
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Mageean felt extra pain on her last rep of her final training session in St Moritz before heading for Paris. As she routinely iced her ankle with a bag of peas afterwards, she knew something was sorer than usual. An MRI was organised, but the result remained the same as every other: “It’s banjaxed back there.”
Uncertain on any new damage, the pain called for two cortisone injections. Mageean hadn’t previously availed of them due to their degenerative effect on the tendon, but was prepared to take the risk a week out from the Olympics.
She was telling herself it was fine, though the pain didn’t subside and she was light-years off her usual times in training.
“Unfortunately, for me, it was no longer an issue of me overcoming pain. The function in my ankle was affected because I couldn’t toe off, I was trying to stride and put my foot down and it was just flat.
“I had to admit myself it was no longer an issue of going out and trying to do my best out there. I had to admit that I couldn’t even make myself around a 1500m track like this.”
After a failed last session the day before the heats, a doctor informed her that nothing more could be done. Her health was more important. Mageean’s initial, ‘I don’t care, this is the Olympics’ response soon dissipated as reality bit.
She then made the “the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make” with her boyfriend, training partner and mentor, Thomas Moran.
“This is my third Olympic Games and if I don’t toe the line, I am not a three-time Olympian,” Mageean told him.
“Thomas reminded me that I am not here just to show up. If I am coming to the Olympics, I am here to be competitive. I am a fourth-place finisher in the worlds last year, I am European gold medalist, I need to make the decision that is best for me.”
Emotions ran high. She phoned her family, and began the formal process.
“We had a hug and Thomas said, ‘You’re still European gold medallist from this year, don’t forget that. You got your gold medal finally in Rome and Italy was a very special place for Jerry [Kiernan, Mageean's late former coach]. Maybe it’s meant to be — LA was Jerry’s Olympics.
“So in that moment I decided that yes, that Olympic dream was over in Paris but that wasn’t the end of my Olympic dreams — I was going to focus on another four-year cycle.”
That was always the plan, but now it was set in stone. No such retirement considerations floated by others, including her father.
Magean on her way to winning European gold. Morgan Treacy / INPHO
Morgan Treacy / INPHO / INPHO
She disappeared to the comfort of her family and friends, who see “not only how much it has broken me physically but how much mentally it’s brought me to really low places”.
This was the lowest of the low. How badly it hurt.
“In those moments I felt like I was drowning, that it was just a void. But a few people were my rocks that I could clamber onto and just keep me afloat, and I’m very fortunate to have had them.”
“Sport is a microcosm of life. You experience all the emotions other people get throughout their lives all in one little season, or one sporting career. There’s been a few moments in my life where I’ve felt sheer grief and loss,” Mageean says, pointing to two deaths, that of her grandmother and Jerry Kiernan.
“It always feels kind of crass to compare sport to that but it quite often gives you the same emotions. It was a grief, the loss of a dream. It’s my life’s work and it’s everything that I’ve put all of my energy into, but also all of those people around me have put their lives on pause (for me) to pursue my dreams.
“It really is a grieving cycle. I’ll be honest, I didn’t know how I felt. I just felt numb. It wasn’t even sadness, it was just emptiness. Not really knowing what to say or even how to feel. That’s just it. It’s a grief, it’s a loss, and you have to process it.
“Sometimes you have to put it into perspective. I’ve done a lot of work since, been told the way it is: the hard facts are, you just need to get over it. You can either carry this thing around on your shoulders and it burden you and be a weight going forward, or you can say, ‘Life’s not fair sometimes,’ make a plan and move forward.”
Mageean chose the latter option, and began to see this wretched situation as an opportunity, or “a catalyst for change”.
She underwent surgery in September, and after much consideration, herself and Thomas moved to Belfast, leaving behind their life in Manchester where she was coached by Helen Clitheroe.
She feels self-sufficient to lead her own LA 2026 charge, surrounded by a team including Thomas and Mark Kirk.
Still in the initial stages of rehab, Mageean has no 2025 programme as of yet. Her goal is the World Championships in Tokyo in September, one-year post surgery and the first marker of the four-year Olympic cycle.
But baby steps.
Mageean must get back running before all else. A long road awaits.
“I’m really excited for this next chapter, I’m dubbing it Ciara 3.0.”
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Ciara Mageean: 'It's a grief, it's a loss, and you have to process it'
CIARA MAGEEAN DIDN’T watch any of the 1500m action following her withdrawal from the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. She still hasn’t.
In fact, she chose not to follow athletics for the remainder of the season. The sight of a track, Mageean says, broke her heart.
“I’m on the path to healing,” the Portaferry star says, almost four months on from her Olympic dream being cruelly dashed due to a persistent Achilles injury.
She’s picking up the pieces, and is determined to feature at LA 2028.
But baby steps.
Mageean is in the Crowne Plaza Hotel before the Athletics Ireland Awards. She bounces into the room, 10 weeks post-surgery, and is in typically talkative form. The 31-year-old is open and candid through the 40-minute roundtable interview, revisiting the summer of 2025 in granular detail, from the “dizzying highs” of European gold in Rome to the “emptiness” of Paris.
She answers the first question — on that — for the guts of 14 minutes without interruption, but for a small follow-up query.
Her emotions generally remain in check throughout, but her voice breaks when she recalls making the final decision to withdraw.
It had been a long road to this point: Mageean had been managing her ankle for eight-plus years, but running in pain had taken its toll. Everything came crashing down on the eve of what should have been her third Games. A calf injury impacted her Rio tilt, but with real medal ambitions, this was a gut punch.
“I knew if I toed the line, I wouldn’t have confidence that I would finish the race,” she says now.
Genetically, Mageean has bone spurs in the back of her heels. She had surgery on her left ankle in college and thankfully, she fell on the right side of the 80% success rate. (The same risk applies with her recent operation, but all is going to plan so far.) The right Achilles started giving her trouble thereafter, so much so that she could have done with surgery five years ago.
The “ticking time bomb” would explode at the most unfortunate time.
Mageean felt extra pain on her last rep of her final training session in St Moritz before heading for Paris. As she routinely iced her ankle with a bag of peas afterwards, she knew something was sorer than usual. An MRI was organised, but the result remained the same as every other: “It’s banjaxed back there.”
Uncertain on any new damage, the pain called for two cortisone injections. Mageean hadn’t previously availed of them due to their degenerative effect on the tendon, but was prepared to take the risk a week out from the Olympics.
She was telling herself it was fine, though the pain didn’t subside and she was light-years off her usual times in training.
“Unfortunately, for me, it was no longer an issue of me overcoming pain. The function in my ankle was affected because I couldn’t toe off, I was trying to stride and put my foot down and it was just flat.
“I had to admit myself it was no longer an issue of going out and trying to do my best out there. I had to admit that I couldn’t even make myself around a 1500m track like this.”
After a failed last session the day before the heats, a doctor informed her that nothing more could be done. Her health was more important. Mageean’s initial, ‘I don’t care, this is the Olympics’ response soon dissipated as reality bit.
She then made the “the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make” with her boyfriend, training partner and mentor, Thomas Moran.
“This is my third Olympic Games and if I don’t toe the line, I am not a three-time Olympian,” Mageean told him.
“Thomas reminded me that I am not here just to show up. If I am coming to the Olympics, I am here to be competitive. I am a fourth-place finisher in the worlds last year, I am European gold medalist, I need to make the decision that is best for me.”
Emotions ran high. She phoned her family, and began the formal process.
“We had a hug and Thomas said, ‘You’re still European gold medallist from this year, don’t forget that. You got your gold medal finally in Rome and Italy was a very special place for Jerry [Kiernan, Mageean's late former coach]. Maybe it’s meant to be — LA was Jerry’s Olympics.
“So in that moment I decided that yes, that Olympic dream was over in Paris but that wasn’t the end of my Olympic dreams — I was going to focus on another four-year cycle.”
That was always the plan, but now it was set in stone. No such retirement considerations floated by others, including her father.
She disappeared to the comfort of her family and friends, who see “not only how much it has broken me physically but how much mentally it’s brought me to really low places”.
This was the lowest of the low. How badly it hurt.
“In those moments I felt like I was drowning, that it was just a void. But a few people were my rocks that I could clamber onto and just keep me afloat, and I’m very fortunate to have had them.”
“Sport is a microcosm of life. You experience all the emotions other people get throughout their lives all in one little season, or one sporting career. There’s been a few moments in my life where I’ve felt sheer grief and loss,” Mageean says, pointing to two deaths, that of her grandmother and Jerry Kiernan.
“It always feels kind of crass to compare sport to that but it quite often gives you the same emotions. It was a grief, the loss of a dream. It’s my life’s work and it’s everything that I’ve put all of my energy into, but also all of those people around me have put their lives on pause (for me) to pursue my dreams.
“It really is a grieving cycle. I’ll be honest, I didn’t know how I felt. I just felt numb. It wasn’t even sadness, it was just emptiness. Not really knowing what to say or even how to feel. That’s just it. It’s a grief, it’s a loss, and you have to process it.
“Sometimes you have to put it into perspective. I’ve done a lot of work since, been told the way it is: the hard facts are, you just need to get over it. You can either carry this thing around on your shoulders and it burden you and be a weight going forward, or you can say, ‘Life’s not fair sometimes,’ make a plan and move forward.”
Mageean chose the latter option, and began to see this wretched situation as an opportunity, or “a catalyst for change”.
She underwent surgery in September, and after much consideration, herself and Thomas moved to Belfast, leaving behind their life in Manchester where she was coached by Helen Clitheroe.
She feels self-sufficient to lead her own LA 2026 charge, surrounded by a team including Thomas and Mark Kirk.
Still in the initial stages of rehab, Mageean has no 2025 programme as of yet. Her goal is the World Championships in Tokyo in September, one-year post surgery and the first marker of the four-year Olympic cycle.
But baby steps.
Mageean must get back running before all else. A long road awaits.
“I’m really excited for this next chapter, I’m dubbing it Ciara 3.0.”
Bring it on.
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Athletics Ciara 3.0 Ciara Mageean