“UNBELIEVABLE,” PHIL HEALY beams as she reflects her first Olympic Games.
The Cork star made history at Tokyo 2020, becoming the female Irish athlete to compete in three athletics events at the same Games.
The 26-year-old inspired the 4x400m relay team to the final, shattering the national record en route to the biggest stage in the world, on which they finished eighth, and also ran in the 200m and 400m.
Healy can’t help but smile as she relives the entire experience, taking huge confidence from her — and the entire Irish track and field team’s — efforts.
“Olympic finals in track events are just so rare in Ireland,” she nods at one point.
“The Olympics, obviously, is the pinnacle of every athlete’s career. And that’s where you want to compete. And for me competing in three events, making history there, competing in an Olympic final, that was certainly beyond my expectations.”
The ultimate dream of medals in athletics, though, could be quite far away, as has been remarked time and time again over the past few weeks.
“I think people forget the amount of nations that compete in athletics in comparison to other sports,” Healy says, “and that you’re actually up against world-class fields, Olympics is the best of the best.
“Things can be improved. I look at coaches which is obviously a massive element, and our coaches that are there are volunteers. Speaking from my own individual perspective, Shane McCormack, my coach, he’s a volunteer coach.
“He’s very lucky he has the support from both his family and his work, he has a full-time job, he took a sabbatical to go to Tokyo. So it’s all coming from his own expense. I think if we want the results in athletics, the investment needs to be there in the coaches to produce the medals, and make Olympic finals.”
When a carding system like that in other sports is suggested, Healy notes how difficult putting structures in place could be given the various different disciplines in athletics.
“It’s there in other countries,” she adds. “It is definitely required to be a stepping stone. We have this generation of coaches now but if you go on 10 years time, those coaches may not be willing to give their time on a volunteer basis.
“Coaching is a full-time job with the planning, the dedication and everything that goes in but they’re balancing family life and balancing their own full-time jobs on the outside.
“Athletics, it does make it harder because of the so many disciplines in it. It’s definitely a gap that needs to be filled to take it to the next level.”
Healy and her team-mates did just that in the 4x400m relay, and while the Balineen Bullet really impressed her individual events, they may have suffered as a result.
Optimistic about the future, that trade off is something she will look at going forward.
“To have a relay team at the Olympic Games is unbelievable,” she concluded, always considering the timetable at championships.
“It was a great platform to show we have the ability to compete on the world stage against world-class athletes, and to make that final was unbelievable. It was definitely a platform, and to me, the best hope of making an Olympic final and sharing that with a full squad. As we go on in the year, maybe I will take just one event.
“I know some people were saying I should have focused on one event, but to qualify for an Olympic Games is unbelievable, to qualify in three events took so much work and dedication and planning, so I was going to go out and do that — and made history as the first Irish woman to do that.”
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‘Girls Play Too 2: More Inspiring Stories of Irish Sportswomen’ is exclusively available in Lidl stores nationwide for only €12.99 until the 5th of September – just in time to inspire children as they prepare to go back to school.
On hand to announce the retailer’s exclusive sales period were author of the book and RTÉ Sports broadcaster, Jacqui Hurley, Irish Olympic athlete, Phil Healy along with Dublin LGFA and Melbourne Demons AFLW star, Sinéad Goldrick joined by her two nieces Hannah Clare (6) and Grace Goldrick McCann (12).
