Julie Helen: Our Paralympians carry a beacon of light

The Olympics and Paralympics 2024 are over.

In the Olympics, Team Ireland had its most successful Games ever, winning seven medals - four golds in four different sports; swimmer Daniel Wiffen, gymnast Rhys McClenaghan, back-to-back Olympic champion boxer Kellie Harrington, and rowers Fintan McCarthy and Paul O’Donovan. We also won three bronze medals through swimmers Mona McSharry and again Daniel Wiffen, and rowers Philip Doyle and Daire Lynch.

We all held our breath in the clenching moments of the finals. We were with our athletes, cheering them on while they are at the top of their game.

Well done to all the athletes, not only for performances at the recent games but for all the dedication, blood, sweat and tears they put into representing our little country.

“Come on Ireland” still rings in my ears. I couldn’t help but feel the emotion the four times our national anthem was played for gold success. What a joy to watch!

After a short break came the Paralympics, which I was just as bate into, if not even more so. Again Team Ireland achieved wonderfully, with a total of six medals in their haul. There was a gold and two silvers for Katie George Dunleavy in para cycling, a silver and a bronze for Roisín Ní Riain in para swimming, and a bronze for Orla Comerford running on the track.

Interestingly, all our medal holders in the Paralympics this time out are visually impaired by pure coincidence. Katie had a guide to tell her of success, but both Roisin and Orla explained in interviews how they didn’t know immediately that they had got medals as they couldn’t see the results. Those few seconds of limbo must have been agonising. I was thinking afterwards, they could have given a few seconds blast of each national anthem signalling first second and third over the public address - each athlete would know their own anthem and so could find out fast if they got a podium finish.

I watched Ellen Keane’s last final where she came fourth - narrowly missing a medal to add to her hauls from Tokyo and Rio. Before that, she had been Ireland’s youngest competitor ever when she swam in Bejing at just 13 years of age. She swam in her last heat in the backstroke rather than her favourite of the breaststroke to bid farewell to her Paralympic career.

I have never met Ellen but she represents all of what I want the persona of having a physical disability to be, she deals with it and moves on, she doesn’t hide or shy away. 

The way she has shone in talent and determination over the last 20 years is a great testament to how she shows up in the world.

All our Paralympians carry a beacon of light to show what elite sport can do for individuals, but also what individuals can do to raise the expectations of what disabled athletes can achieve.

There is a wider purpose to para sport, to wake society up to increase understanding of disability, to increase access, and increase representation. That is quite a weight for our athletes to carry on top of being the best at their chosen discipline. So, as an ordinary Joe soap disabled person, I want to thank them for representing me.

The one time I had any kind of notion of being any way adjacent to para sport was when I tried out to be a partner in para rowing and got double pneumonia after being on the water with real athletes!

Para sport is serious stuff, thank you Team Ireland, and best wishes for the next cycle to all.

Happy retirement to Ellen Keane, you legend!