Brazil beckons for talented Cork swimmer Gemma Whelan

GEMMA Whelan, Dolphin Swimming Club, is in action this week at the inaugural World Deaf Youth Games in Sao Paulo, Brazil. 

Youth athletes, aged 14 to 18, from all across the globe have converged to compete in six sports, athletics, badminton, basketball, futsal, swimming and table tennis, and Whelan's performances in the pool ensured her qualification. 

A fifth-year student at Kinsale Community School, she has been swimming with Dolphin Swimming Club in Cork city since 2016 where she trains daily alongside her teammates.

ELITE

When she dives into the pool for her first race on Wednesday – the women’s 50m backstroke, she will join a prestigious band of just 19 Cork athletes who have represented Ireland at international deaf competitions since Deaf Sports Ireland’s foundation in 1968. 

She will compete in seven events across just three days of racing with the prospect of making finals later each evening after the morning heats. 

She will be joined by two other Irish swimmers on the team – Jessica Cunningham and Abbi Craig, as well as her head coach at Dolphin SC, Mick McCormack, who will lead the Irish Team as national coach for the tournament.

Her swimming journey began around eight years ago when her parents, Giuseppe and Nuala, got her some swimming lessons at their local pool in Kinsale. She loved being in the water and her parents searched out some competitive swimming clubs that could facilitate Gemma. who was born deaf. 

She attended an assessment day run by Dolphin Swimming Club and one of the coaches there, Claire McCormack, spotted the immediate potential.

Being profoundly deaf has been a challenge for her. She had a cochlear implant inserted when she was just three years old and a second one when she turned 10. 

Her implants allow her to hear somewhat, although she must try to keep them dry and charge them each night – a challenge when she spends between two to four hours a day in the water at swim training. 

Nonetheless, Gemma has learned to speak clearly while mastering lip-reading and sign language. To help communicate more effectively with Gemma, her coach has also started learning to sign and this has really helped to develop the coach-athlete relationship.

Gemma received a wonderful send-off at training on Wednesday last where she was presented with a commemorative World Deaf Youth Games & Dolphin SC gear bag by the club committee, while her teammates posed for a group photograph with their latest international debutant. 

Her team’s progress will be updated daily via the Dolphin SC and DSI social media pages and everyone in Cork and around the country will be following the gifted teen and the team closely in Brazil.