Katie George Dunlevy has said her gold medal ride at the Paralympic Games today was a message to anyone with a visual impairment that there was nothing stopping them pursuing their goals.
Dunlevy, and tandem pilot Eve McCrystal, yet again struck
gold for Ireland today; retaining the Paralympic TT title they won five years
ago in Rio. They add today’s medal to the three World Championships golds they
have won in recent years.
For Dunlevy, today’s victory was symbolic – as Paralympic Game success, and even participation, often is – of people’s ability to overcome the hurdles in their lives and pursue their dreams.
Dunlevy was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa aged 11 years; a rare, genetic disorders resulting in the degrading and loss of cells in the retina.
But she has pursued her international career nonetheless and
is now one of Ireland’s most decorated Paralympians; gold today coming after
silver in the pursuit last week and with the road race still to come.
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“Just for kids or adults at home with a visual
impairment, our success today shows that you can do anything you want to do. There
is nothing you can’t do,” Dunlevy said after the TT triumph at Tokyo 2020
today.
“This might inspire them and I know it gives pride to the
people at home and just an up lift for them after two years of the pandemic.”
Dunlevy also paid tribute to the Cycling Ireland staff, especially coach Neil Delahaye with whom the Irish tandem duo work so closely, saying the preparation for these Games, though a pandemic, had been first class.
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“We have to mention Neill Delahaye – it is his medal too.
He has worked tirelessly everyday of the week. He just works tirelessly to get
us in the form to beat them,” Dunlevy said.
“It means the world to me, working for five years towards
this. We wanted to come here and retain the title but really wanted to get the
best out of ourselves and have a good ride and hope that would give us a medal
and then a gold medal.
“We heard on first lap that we were up and we were just moving
the bike together. That was the ride of our lives to get that – we were just
moving as one. I felt before, warming up, had a feeling warming up that I was
going to fight for the win and we did it.”
McCrystal, herself the national TT champion at elite
level in Ireland, said she was delighted with the performance and the reward it
had brought. She said a lot of sacrifices had been made along the way, including
missing many family events with her children.
However, she could now ring them today and ask them how school had gone and also tell them she had won the gold medal for Ireland with Dunlevy.
She added that at the Worlds last year the course was
technical, explaining she preferred courses that were more about power. That
meant she was concerned today as it was another technical course, but they had
studied the route and made their plan; clearly executing it brilliantly.
The Irish pair covered the 32km course in 47:32, exactly one
minute up on Great Britain’s silver medal winners Lora Fachie and Corrine Hall.
The bronze today went to the Swedes, Louise Jannering and her pilot Anna
Svaerdstroem, in a time of 49:36 - over two minutes down on the winning Irish
time.
“It flowed really, really well. I can’t believe
it. I was nervous of it. I wasn’t worried about our power or our ability
to win,” McCrystal said.
“(My) worry was about those bloody corners because, with
a tandem, if you slow the bike down too much it is very, very hard to get
rhythm going again. So you have to keep the bike going, and for a course that
wasn’t a flowy course, I felt like it flowed. We moved as one unit."
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