Iām not taking from her and I donāt mean to sound dismissive.
But celebrating being 8th in the world is a bit of a stretch in my view.
And she won Irelandās Fittest Family. Reaching an Olympic swimming final is an amazing achievement.
Making any Olympic final is a tremendous achievement. 8th in the world is phenomenal. Top 10 in the world.
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Really?
Itās far more worthy of praise than almost anything GAA players will or can achieve.
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It is for her. Itās not something a whole country should hang itās hat on though.
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I think the coverage was slightly over the top and coming 8th in the world is an amazing achievement.
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I did get a chuckle from the RTE article where they lead with an intro about what a phenomenal achievement it was for her to come 8th while only 20 and in her first Olympics.
The next paragraph they threw in the fact the race was won by an American teenager.
Iām not sure we did but I didnāt see the coverage other than the races themselves
Jerry Kiernan May he rest in peace was right. The GAA has lads blinded to what real talent and real athletes are.
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I have mentioned many times that no one gives a fuck about GAA outside of this country and the diaspora.
Not sure why you have to bring this into the argument.
A next door neighbour of mine at home finished 20th in the walk in London 2012 and I am still amazed by such an achievement. I donāt mean any disrespect towards Mona at all but the media in this country try to grasp to any type of perceived Irish success, hence the reference to other linked Irish people.
We still blabber on about Italia 90 when we didnāt win a match.
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We shouldnāt be as bad at swimming as we are but presumably thatās just because we donāt have enough 50m swimming pools? McSharry used to train in a 25m public pool until she moved to the US for college which makes it even more remarkable
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Lads eulogising Tony Kelly on other threads
Olympics is once every four years. No harm to praise somebody who is only second ever Irish woman to reach a final.
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Oh the hurling snobs.
I know what you are saying and I donāt really disagree with it.
Olympics is sort of a once off where all these minority sports get their time in sun and I donāt see harm really especially for somebody who gets to a final.
Id rate our greatest ever sports person as Sonia OāSullivan.
Also I donāt mean to disrespect someone for finishing 8th in the world.
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Is it a better achievement to be the best Rower or the 8th best swimmer?
She didnāt win a medal but as with Thomas Barr in 2016 it will probably end the games as the best achievement by an Irish athlete
Same here. It was an awful pity she didnāt win gold in Sydney and I felt desperately sorry for her in Atlanta. She was a class act though, excelled for many years.
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Hard to say. I think if you excel in any sport you take up to be the best out there then thatās incredible.
People slag off darts right or wrongly but what Phil Taylor did there over such a length of time was incredible.
Making an Olympic final beggars belief for anyone. The elitest of the elite, from a country with no drug taking pedigree, and a very small pool of clubs.
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Thereās a nawful lot more folk swim than row competitively. They are both remarkable achievements. An Olympic finalist is unbelievable effort.