THIS YEAR’S Olympic Games in London should have been the crowning glory for Wexford swimming superstar, Grainne Murphy, but instead her dreams were shattered through no fault of her own, but now she may concentrate on Rio in four years’ time.
Earlier this year the Ballinaboola sensation suffered a bout of glandular fever which knocked her training schedule on its head. The full effects of that did not materialise until the amiable young swimmer entered the water for her first event in London 2012.
That event, the 400m freestyle, saw her come home in eight position but the really concerning thing was that her time was 10 seconds slower than her own qualifying time.
Alarm bells immediately rang for Murphy and her backroom team because no-one could have predicted how much the hiccup in her training routine was going to affect her. Perhaps, the time difference indicated just how finely tuned all the athletes are who enter the Olympics.
Significantly, Murphy pulled out of the 400m individual medley to concentrate on the freestyle events, however, she subsequently pulled out of the 200m freestyle event. She then planned to contest what should have been her main event last Thursday – the 800m freestyle.
Sadly, the full effect of her illness ultimately proved too much and she was ultimately forced to pull out of the Olympics altogether. She had been due to race in four events in London 2012 and her inclusion in Team Ireland led to great excitement in New Ross and across Co. Wexford where is very well known and respected.
As an ambassador for the town and county she has been impeccable and as one local person commented during the week: “It’s horrible that it ended for her this way. The only thing is she’s young and will hopefully be back there again.”
Speaking about her ordeal to the national media the swimmer said she did everything she could to get back on track after being sick.
“We all sat down and had a clear plan on how I could try to get the best out of it and unfortunately it didn’t work out the way anyone had hoped,” she said.
Murphy then commented that her focus of attention now is on next year’s World Championships: “I had to be realistic [the 800m is twice the length of a 400m]. Now I want to go home, recover, and get the best out of myself at next year’s World Championships.”
“I need to get back in good health and get back in training for that,” she added.
Murphy’s trainer, Ronald Claes, also spoke to the media and said the focus of attention now is on the prodigious swimmer getting herself fully recovered before entering back into her normal, rigorous training regime.
“She works really hard,” he said.
“Her day will come.”
Prior to making the decision to pull out of the competition Murphy had consulted with Irish athletics legend, Sonia O’Sullivan – who is the official Team Ireland Manager. She also revealed she consulted with another Wexford sporting legend and Irish boxing coach, Billy Walsh, as well as members of her family.
“It was very hard,” she said, referring to the decision to opt out of the games.
“Everybody had their own views but were all on the same page,” she said.
“It didn’t make my decision any easier but it made me come to terms with what I should do and what was best for me.”
In typical determined fashion she also said her experience of London 2012 will prove beneficial to her in the future.
While her out-of-pool demeanour garnered her great respect a lot was expected of her in the competitions too as she won three silver European senior medals in 2010 including the 1,500m long course silver – when she was just 17 years-of-age.
Unfortunately, glandular fever is something to which highly tuned athletes can be particularly susceptible.
While the eyes of Wexford were on her during her first, and ultimately only event, of London 2012 it was heartbreaking to see her trail home in eight position – which was not indicative of her overall ability.
At just 19 years-of-age she still has a bright future ahead of her and will still only be 23 when the next Olympics come around. Unfortunately, it means starting from scratch in terms of qualifying is concerned but taking the top step of an Olympic podium is certainly within her capabilities. Hopefully when the next Games take place Co. Wexford will again have plenty of reason to celebrate and few would bet against Grainne Murphy’s name being among the swimmers taking to the water only next time around, hopefully, good fortune will prevail and her undoubted talent will the duly rewarded.