Johnny Watterson
Which Irish story stood out?
Mona McSharry winning a bronze medal in the 100m breaststroke, the first for an Irish athlete in the swimming pool since Atlanta 1996. From a tiny place called Grange in Co Sligo, not far from Mullaghmore beach, she touched the wall one-hundredth of a second before USA’s Lilly King, who was the 2016 Olympic champion. It was never doubted McSharry had the ability but her medal was unforeseen – and just reward for perseverance and talent. The Olympic Games is all about believing that regardless of where you come from, the dream can become a reality. And it did.
Which non-Irish story held your attention?
Simone Biles came into Paris 2024 expecting to win gold medals. She arrived after bailing out mid-competition in Tokyo, citing mental health issues and an attack of the “twisties”, which is when gymnasts lose track of where they are as they are tumbling through the air. She is the archetypical superstar who took all the pressure piled on her, dealt with it and was able to perform. When she stepped on to the floor, she sparkled and oozed ability. Even the crowds in the Bercy Arena could feel the electricity surge of an unusual athlete.
What was the biggest disappointment of the Games?
Rory McIlroy missing out on a medal after going so well and carving through the field on his back nine on the final day. He birdied five holes in succession from the ninth and was one away from getting in among the medals, and could perhaps have won. Then came the 15th hole. His wedge fell short and plopped into the water. He was aiming for a couple of yards of green in front of the flag and missed as the wind died down and his ball didn’t carry as long as he had anticipated. There is no guarantee of such an opportunity ever arising again even for him.
Which venue stood out?
The Grand Palais is by the river Seine and just off the Champs Élysées. Built in 1897, it is undergoing massive refurbishment. For Paris 2024 the giant atrium was open for fencing and taekwondo. Inside the space seems endless, with enormous green cast iron spans reaching up to a domed glass roof. The organisers placed a light-coloured fabric across the glass to diffuse the light. It was the most stunning of sports venues. Even the noise inside was different, the entire effect a magical experience that those sports may never see again.
What will be you abiding memory?
Kellie Harrington’s second gold medal. Harrington boxed for two weeks doing what Olympic boxers must always do in a subjective sport like boxing: she left no room for the judges to err. In each of her four fights, including the final at Roland Garros, she dominated so comprehensively that even the poorest of judges – and some of the judging in the boxing was poor, especially for the Daina Moorehouse bout – could see that she was the leading character with her clean scoring and controlling ability. Then she sang Grace in the stadium to family and friends.
Malachy Clerkin
Which Irish story stood out for you at Paris 2024?
About halfway through Rhys McClenaghan’s gold medal routine, I realised I was literally holding my breath. Knowing what we knew from Tokyo about what could go wrong, the tension in those 45 seconds was like nothing else the whole fortnight. His megawatt smile when he finished felt like a huge release. After that, it didn’t actually matter what colour of medal he ended up with – even if you knew nothing about the ins and outs of the pommel horse, it was obvious that he had done exactly what he came to do. Well, it mattered a bit, obviously.
Which non-Irish story held your attention?
The men’s basketball tournament was a hell of a ride all the way through the second week. It’s no longer a case of the USA just turning up and getting their business done – the semi-final against Serbia was one of the best hours of sport you’re ever likely to see. Watching Nikola Jokic coax the Serbs to the verge of victory, only for Steph Curry and LeBron James to take it over and refuse to lose was high-level drama. It felt like Paris came to a standstill for the final. France stuck in there all the way to the last four minutes but Curry was untouchable in the dying minutes. There’s nothing in sport like watching the best player decide to go and win it himself. Stunning.
What was the biggest disappointment of the Games?
The IOC made such an unconscionable mess of the DSD issue with the boxers Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-Ting. They had a full year since the two boxers were banned by the IBA to get their arms around it but they were caught completely off-guard when it came up in the early days of the games and they floundered all the way to the end. The descent into the culture wars was probably inevitable but no less depressing. It is, of course, possible to be a full-throated LBGTQ ally and still believe it is vital that women’s sport is protected. But very few on either side are interested in that kind of nuance.
Which venue stood out for you?
Versailles was as astonishing for the showjumping as you’d imagine it might be. Converting Racing 92′s rugby ground to a swimming pool for the duration was a wild piece of imagination and engineering. The public arenas around La Concorde – for BMX, skateboarding, 3x3 basketball and breaking – were a carnival ground. But nothing beat the beach volleyball venue in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower. It has to be an inspiration for host cities from here on out. Use existing public spaces, make a virtue of your landmarks, bring the people to your town and put on a show. Fantastic.
What will your abiding memory of these Olympics be?
The 4x400m women and how heartbroken they were on Saturday night. When Sharlene Mawdsley ranged up behind Amber Anning in the home straight, it looked for a split second like the Tipperary woman was going to do it. An Olympic medal for Ireland in sprint relay would have been bananas. They knew it too. When I look back on Paris 2024, that’s what will stay with me. The emotion radiating out from Irish athletes who spent four years of prep for their one shot at immortality and completely emptied themselves when the moment came. There’s nothing like it. Olympians will always be my favourite sportspeople.
Denis Walsh
Which Irish story stood out for you?
Paul O’Donovan becoming the first Irish Olympian to win a medal at three Games. His partnership with Fintan McCarthy over the last five years has been the greatest story of international dominance in the history of Irish sport. After illness and injury had interrupted the first half of their season, O’Donovan and McCarthy utterly dominated the regatta. O’Donovan is the only one of the Olympic team to carry on to the World Championships in Canada later this month, competing in the lightweight single scull, a title he has won before. A supreme athlete.
Which non-Irish story held your attention?
The barbed rivalry between Josh Kerr and Jakob Ingebrigtsen has been going on for years and it took another compelling twist at these Olympics. At last season’s World Championships Ingebrigtsen toyed with Kerr in the semi-final and then lost to him in the final – after which the Norwegian claimed to be sick, or not “100 per cent”. Kerr took this as another insult. In an extraordinary twist in Paris Ingebrigtsen kicked for home too soon in the final of the 1,500m and was swallowed up in the closing 150m. Kerr was one of the athletes to pass him on the way to a silver medal, while Ingebrigtsen didn’t even finish on the podium. Athletics needs more of this.
What was the biggest disappointment at the Games?
In the most successful Games of all time for Ireland there were still disappointments, inevitably. How many medal chances do you need in order to win the seven medals that Ireland collected? Probably twice as many as that. A medal went astray in sailing and you could argue that a real medal chance was lost in men’s Sevens rugby, but the showjumpers are touted as medal contenders at every Olympics and a single bronze is all that has ever been delivered. They put themselves in strong positions to win team and individual medals in Paris and failed to come up with anything.
Which venue stood out for you?
Paris was a stunning host city. Typically, the Olympics is bolted on to the side of whatever city it occupies and you can see joins. Paris, though, absorbed the Games and entertained it in its front room. Of the 40 venues, only three were built especially for the Games. Many others were beautiful municipal sites repurposed as theatres for sport. Every Olympics is made for television and the city centre sites were especially sumptuous. No venue stood out more than the city itself. Spectacular.
What will your abiding memory of these Olympics be?
At these Olympics Ireland came of age. It was not just the biggest Irish team ever sent, but also the deepest and most ambitious and most hostile to defeat. For Irish athletes at the Olympics soft landings are no longer available. The 4x400 women’s relay team ran the race of their lives in the Olympic final and refused to take that as any consolation for not winning a medal. That attitude permeated the team. There is no going back.
Sonia O’Sullivan
Which Irish story stood out for you at Paris 2024?
That first medal for Ireland that came in the swimming pool. Mona McSharry had shown signs that she belonged at this level so it was great to see her pick up the bronze medal by the smallest of margins, the perfect example of the athlete that wants it most finding a way. The first medal is always the hardest, then the flood gates opened, and we started picking up a medal every day. It became infectious and the Irish fans were on board and the momentum kept building.
Which non-Irish story held your attention?
The rugby Sevens. I wasn’t so sure of it to begin with but as Ireland were involved I started to watch the games while we were away at a training camp in Spain. I became addicted, as it was never certain in a game who were the dominant team. But the French team clearly came to win the men’s gold, and they didn’t falter, with Antoine Dupont giving some outstanding displays.
What was the biggest disappointment of the Games?
The repechage stage of the athletics – which did not serve the athletes at all. The system where the fastest qualifying times were counted made far more sense. All you are doing is putting another race on the shoulders – or in the legs – of the athletes. Let’s hope World Athletics sees sense and reverts to the previous system.
Which venue stood out for you?
I only had the opportunity to go to the athletics stadium, but the atmosphere there was one of the best I have ever experienced, especially when French athletes were involved. I was there for the women’s steeplechase and the French athlete Alice Finot was carried around the stadium over that last two laps, and very nearly got the bronze medal. The atmosphere was electric and there was an obvious connection with the cheering fans and the athletes on the track and in the field for every event.
What will your abiding memory of these Olympics be?
The abiding memory will be my time in Paris to experience the Olympics from the stands. It was the first time I have been to the Olympics since London 2012 and showed the value of hosting the Olympics in a European city, where the access for a multitude of international fans is so much greater. No matter what people say, the Olympic spirit is still alive and it is the greatest connector of fans and athletes – especially from what I have seen in France, but also back in Ireland. Now is the time to ensure future successes for Irish athletes – to support our young athletes and guide them on the path to high performance and hopefully to success on the Olympic stage.
Mary Hannigan
Which Irish story stood out for you at Paris 2024?
Few of our success stories brought more joy than the first, Mona McSharry’s bronze in the 100m breaststroke. There were times, she said, when a day like that “felt a very long way away”, the sport leaving her so physically and mentally drained two years ago she admitted ending up hating it. It wasn’t giving back anything near to what she was putting in to it, certainly not in terms of pleasure. So her reaction when she looked up to see she had finished third in her final? And her smile on that podium? Magic.
Which non-Irish story held your attention?
The Simone Biles comeback. After the trauma of what happened in Tokyo, it was a wonder that she was able to return to the sport at all. Besides, she had seven Olympic medals before Paris, so she had nothing left to prove. But there she was again, filling the arena with electricity every time she entered it, going on to do, well, Simone Biles things while winning three more golds and a silver. She might only be 4ft 8 ins, but my, she’s a sporting giant.
What was the biggest disappointment of the Games?
Predictable as it was, the tone of much of the debate around the appearances of boxers Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting at these Games, toxic being the only word for it. The invective they were subjected to, in the real and online worlds, should really have been aimed at sport’s governing bodies and their continuing failure to deal with issues surrounding safety in women’s sport. Khelif and Yu-ting have done nothing wrong, and have boxed for years without a word being said – but now that the debate has become so poisonous, they’ve become useful punchbags, so to speak. Horrible stuff.
Which venue stood out for you?
The Eiffel Tower, Pont Alexandre III, Place de la Concorde, Grand Palais, Palace of Versailles . . . Paris is quite pretty, n’est-ce pas? And that image of cyclist Remco Evenepoel crossing the finish line under the Eiffel Tower to win the road race, his second gold of the Games, and then stopping and lifting his bike above his head, won’t fade any time soon. Majestic. But for the sheer frenzied cacophonous atmosphere it produced, especially during the outstanding madness that is kayak cross, Vaires-Sur-Marne Nautical Stadium came out top.
What will your abiding memory of these Olympics be?
Apart from the Australian woman’s kangaroo-hopping routine in “breaking” – the, eh, sport that made its Olympic debut – it’s hard to look past that run of seven Irish medals in the space of nine days. By the time Daniel Wiffen took to the pool for his 1,500m freestyle final, we had developed serious notions about ourselves, to the point where you half expected there to be a call for a day of national mourning when he only – only! – won bronze. It was the loveliest of times, and great fun too. Thoughts and prayers to those tasked later in the year with picking our sportsperson of 2024.
Ian O’Riordan
Which Irish story stood out for you at Paris 2024?
Unquestionably Daniel Wiffen and his heroic effort throughout 16 lengths to win the 800m freestyle swimming, and with that carve his name into Irish sporting history. It came on another wild and rollicking night of swimming inside the Paris La Défense Arena, the 23-year-old from Armagh continuing his uncanny ability to go where no Irish male swimmer had ever gone before – this time on to the top of the Olympic medal podium.
Which non-Irish story held your attention?
The men’s 1,500m last Tuesday night, when they were on their feet inside the Stade de France to witness one of the great rivalries of modern Olympic times unfold, and then left in awe of the young American in Paris named Cole Hocker. No one had seen it coming, least of all defending champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen from Norway, or Britain’s Josh Kerr. But the 23-year-from Indianapolis astonished every runner and spectator in the stadium, with his stunning kick down the homestretch, tearing up on the inside and getting past Kerr just before the line to win in 3:27.65. That took almost a second off Ingebrigtsen’s Olympic record set in Tokyo.
What was the biggest disappointment of the Games?
Ciara Mageean being forced to withdraw from her heat of the women’s 1,500m, the European champion suffering from an Achilles tendon injury which had repeatedly upset her final preparations in recent weeks. The 32-year-old was also injured a week before competing in Tokyo, a calf injury upsetting her preparations there and she was unable to progress from the heats. The resilient Down athlete bounced right back in 2022 when winning 1,500m silver at the European Championships, before winning a magnificent gold in Rome in June,only our second ever individual gold medal winner after Sonia O’Sullivan. But her Olympic experience remains an unfortunate case of what might have been.
Which venue stood out for you?
The BMX freestyle venue at Place de la Concorde, especially after travelling down from our reporters’ team hotel at Gare de Lyons thanks to Vélib’ Métropole, one of the original city bike schemes, practising some wheelies and bunny-hops along the Seine to help get in the mood. Place de la Concorde, all 19 acres of it, was transformed into four temporary venues for the most contemporary and modern-of-modern Olympic sports; BMX freestyle, 3x3 basketball, skateboarding, and breaking. All four venues were neatly wrapped around one of the two Luxor Obelisks, and adjacent to Jardins des Tuileries, where the Olympic torch was left burning.
What will your abiding memory of these Olympics be?
Between all the laughs and the tears, it will probably be Rhasidat Adeleke finishing fourth in the women’s 400 metres, and then finishing fourth again, just 24 hours later, as part of the Irish women’s 4x400m relay. Still only 21, she will be back on the Olympic stage, but there are no guarantees. Of course the chance may come again, but no one realised more than her that this was one for the taking.
