Irish paracyclist Gary O’Reilly has said he was genuinely not expecting a medal in the H5 TT on his Tokyo Paralympics debut early this morning, but was delighted he had managed to take the bronze.
The Co Laois man, who suffered life-changing spinal
injuries in a workplace accident in 2014, had no interest in sport before
suffering his injuries.
However, part of his new life post-injury has been handcycling and developing to international level; something that has now brought him a reward he never thought was possible.
O’Reilly clocked a time of 39:36.46 today to secure bronze in the H5 race against the clock. Gold was won by Mitch Valize of the Netherlands, in a time of 38:12.94. France’s Loic Vergnaud took silver in 39:15.16.
After completing his time trial ride at the Fuji International Speedway, in intense heat and humidity, O’Reilly reflected on his performance and did not try to hide his surprise.
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“I’m completely shocked to be honest – didn’t expect to
get the medal. I’m just absolutely
delighted,” he said.
“I am so
happy to have done it for everyone at home – I did for them. All my family, my
wife to be Hazel, are up watching it, I’m sure they’re as happy as I am.
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“I think I was 20 seconds down on podium on first lap but I had Neill (Delahaye, coach) in my ear telling me to stick to the plan. I realised we just needed to stay with the plan, I came back up on time then with the second lap - started putting time into then. Thankfully it worked."
O'Reilly continued: “There are really difficult conditions here, push through our (heart and power) zones and then recover on the downhill. The climate might have caught people out, it is very humid and hot. It was all about a real pacing strategy race today – so that you don’t burn up too quickly.”
He said the medal
was a fantastic reward for all the sacrifices that had gone into making the
national team and then preparing for the Games.
“As my friends all know, I don’t get to spend as much
time with them – like when they’re
going out for a pint,” he said.
“You don’t get to go out so you spend a lot of time in the room at home alone on a turbo trainer for four or five hours on a turbo trainer. It is all worth it on a day like today,” he said.
And while he was
celebrating his bronze after today’s TT, the Portlaoise rider was also staying focused
on the road race to come tomorrow, hoping to recover as much as he could.
“I’ll try
and stick with it and do my best and see what happens at the end of the
race. Thanks so much for the support at home, family and friends have all
been amazing,” he said.
“I just
had to turn off my phone because it was bouncing. I’ll get back to everyone
soon enough and I just want to thank my sponsors Midland Steel for all their support.”
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