Mona McSharry's grandfather, Patrick, expressed his immense pride after the 23-year-old clinched Ireland's first medal at the Paris Olympics , securing bronze in the women's 100 metres breaststroke final on Monday.
McSharry claimed the final podium spot following a tight finish, narrowly beating Benedetta Pilato and Lilly King of the United States by a mere hundredth of a second.
This victory makes her Ireland's first Olympic swimming medallist since Michelle Smith in Atlanta in 1996. South Africa's Tatjana Smith bagged gold, while silver was awarded to China's Qianting Tang, who beat McSharry by just 0.05 seconds.
The McSharry family congregated at her grandparents' home in Grange, Co Sligo , to watch the final, with grandfather Patrick speaking to RTE post-race. He said: "We're so proud of her and all the hard work she put in over the years , many a hard morning in the frost and snow she went swimming, so all here in Grange is so proud.
ALL THE LATEST OLYMPICS NEWS AND UPDATES
"If I could give her a message right now I would give her a big hug and tell her how proud I am."
Despite making her first Olympic final in Tokyo, the jubilant swimmer had previously admitted that she considered quitting swimming in 2022 due to feeling she wasn't progressing as well as she'd hoped.
She explained: "Those moments where I thought I was done really put it into perspective , what I really do this for and this is a huge bonus. But there's so many other things that become a part of this, like training and watching my friends compete and being able to see myself progress and get better ."
"Then you do have bonus moments like this , where you get to stand up on the podium and watch your flag raised at the Olympic Games. It's just the pinnacle of sport to have all your hard work pay off in something like this at this moment."
She went on: "I think there's been a huge progression - it's definitely down to a lot of hard work and just dedication to moments like this and trying to be the best I can be, and keep pushing to be better.
For all the latest news straight to your inbox, sign up for our FREE newsletters here .
"I've been telling myself that I'm going for a medal all year and honestly this was in the plan way back when I sat down with my coach Grace Meade in maybe 2015. We said the 2020 Games was the feeler Olympics and that 2024 would be the ones where we get stuff done ."
For the latest local news and features on Irish America, visit our homepage here .
Most Popular
Comments / 0