Meg the pride of Douglas after Olympic display

CORK was filled with pride yesterday as gymnast Meg Ryan flew the flag for Ireland in Tokyo.

Meg Ryan of Douglas has concluded her Olympic qualification competition in Tokyo, finishing in 25th place after subdivision 2 with a score of 47.199, with three subdivisions still to go before final All Around ranking is confirmed.

Speaking to The Echo, Meg’s father Aidan Ryan said she was pleased with her performance.

“She’s happy with the overall and that’s the main thing. That’s all I wanted is that she comes home happy, and she certainly seems to be happy,” he said.

While the family were disappointed that they could not be there to cheer her on in person, Mr Ryan noted the support from the community in Meg’s native Douglas.

“I don’t think any of us anyway, including Meg, realised how big of a deal it was to get to the Olympics until she got there,” he said. 

“The messages, and the people up where I’m living in Douglas have all the Irish flags out the windows and the Cork flags and Munster flags and it’s just fantastic.

“It seems to bring a sense of excitement that you wouldn’t get with anything else.”

Knowing all she has sacrificed, Mr Ryan said he is “delighted” to see it all pay off for the 19-year-old Olympian.

“The dedication is just enormous,” he said.

Meg, a member of Douglas Gymnastics Club, posted her highest apparatus score of 13.300 on vault and scored 10.466 on the balance beam, 12.000 on the floor, and 11.533 on the uneven bars.

Cork rowers Sanita Puspure, Aoife Casey, Margaret Cremen, Paul O’Donovan, Fintan McCarthy, and Emily Hegarty are all through to either semi-finals or a final at the Olympics.

Time ran out, however, for Cork’s Ronan Byrne, alongside Belfast’s Philip Doyle, and they did not get into their groove and finished sixth in their semi-final.