First came the ecstasy, then the agony.
Róisín Ní Riain claiming a maiden medal at a Paralympic Games on Friday night was followed less than 30 minutes later by five-time Paralympian Ellen Keane having third place snatched from her grasp by just millimetres over the last few metres of water.
Keane, the SB8 100m breaststroke gold medal winner in Tokyo and who will retire at the end of these Games, was hoping to claim a third Paralympic medal before bowing out.
And it was so close to happening too. As she headed for home coming down the stretch and went to the well once again, the bucket came up empty this time. There was simply nothing left.
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In a career that started as a 13-year-old Paralympian in Beijing in 2008, Keane can be content that during those last few strokes at La Défense Arena in Paris there was just no more she could have given. She went to the very end.
“If I got out of the water and still had energy and still was able to walk I think I would be annoyed at myself but there is nothing more I could have done there,” she said afterwards.
“I gave it my all and really tried. I obviously would have loved to have made the podium in my last Games, but it just wasn’t to be.
“I just tried to push on (in the last few metres) and push through and try stretch out that stroke but the finish just wasn’t there in the legs.”
She was third at the turn and appeared to be holding the position coming down the second 50, but as Keane started to fade in lane three, outside in lane one Viktoriia Ishchiulova (competing as a Neutral Paralympic athlete) was gathering momentum and visibly started to reel in the Dubliner, agonisingly pipping Keane at the wall.
Ishchiulova claimed third in a time of 1:24.50 with Keane finishing in 1:24.69. Inches. Nothing bigger than the little things. The race was won by Spain’s Anastasiya Dmytriv, with the 16-year-old reigning world champion coming home in 1:19.75. Britain’s Brock Whiston was second in 1:21.04.
“I had no idea (where I was during the race) and I’m actually really glad because usually if I’m aware of what’s going on around me that’s when I can panic a little bit and get overwhelmed,” said Keane.
“So it wasn’t to do with knowing where I was or any of that, I only knew when I finished what happened. I would liked to have swam faster, even being in fourth and swimming faster would have been nice, but it wasn’t to be.”
When she got out of the water, the large contingent of Irish fans dotted around the La Défense Arena – aware of the significance of the moment – rose to acclaim Keane. Few have done more to raise awareness for Para athletes in Ireland than the 29-year-old Clontarf native.
As she waved up to her family and friends, a young boy with a small Irish flag raced towards the bottom of the stand and called her name.
“I don’t know who he was, he just asked for a selfie. I was like, ‘I can’t walk, but okay,’ and then I went over to him and he had the camera facing the other way,” she smiled.
But the smile couldn’t hide the tears welling up in her eyes. After 16 years, this was it. She will be back in the pool on Tuesday, but it will be a different Ellen Keane in the water then. She’ll be a swimmer on a farewell lap, the 13-year-old girl who 16 years later is ready to say goodbye.
“I’m in the 100 backstroke, I’m the second slowest entry in the 100 backstroke,” she said.
“For me it was just about having another event so that this wasn’t my last swim and that I could enjoy it and take the pressure off and be in the moment.”
In the mixed zone after, there was no sense of heartbreak from Keane at how this final chapter played out though. It still feels like the right time to go.
“The past three years, when you win the gold medal and you reach the top, it is hard to kind of find the motivation then,” she continued.
“In Ireland, swimming is very much a young person’s sport. There are only five or six us, able bodied and Paralympic, who are over the age of 26, and I am 29, so it can be quite lonely.
“I have had a great career. I love the Paralympic Games and everything that it is, so I just want to enjoy being here, and the fact that my family and friends are here is really special.”
At that moment, she struggles to hold back the tears. It is a skill she has had to acquire over recent months.
“I parked (the emotion about retiring) because it is only going to drain me. On the training camp in Portugal, it kind of showed up a bit more, but I am probably going to go cry now.”
Well she may. For a career that delivered medals but made an even greater difference well beyond the pool.
A third Paralympic medal would have been the fairy-tale ending.
But wasn’t it a hell of a story, all the same.
