Ireland's Olympic hopefuls are already well into their preparations for Rio 2016 but who are the athletes who are competing?
Throughout this series, we will take a look at Team Ireland ahead of the Olympics and get an insight into their motivations, their hopes and their inspirations.
First up is swimmer Fiona Doyle. Alongside her outstanding sporting achievements she’s been recognised by the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) as an Academic All-Canadian.
This prestigious and sought after award recognises students who have not only represented their university at the highest level but also achieve an academic of 80% or better.
We spoke to Fiona about her career and achievements.
Date of birth
04/10/91
Club
Portmarnock SC(IRL) University of Calgary SC (CAN)
Coach(es)
Peter O’Brien (IRL) Mike Blondal (CAN)
Main event
100m Breaststroke
Best results to date
Silver Medallist 100m Breaststroke World University Games 2013
Irish Record Holder
Long Course Senior 50m, 100m, 200m Breaststroke
Long Course Junior 50m Freestyle
Short Course Senior 100m, 200m Breaststroke
Inspirational quote - Pain is temporary, Pride lasts forever.
Background
My dad's side of the family swam but my granddad actually started a swimming club in Limerick when they first moved down. I come from a swimming background. I went with my twin, it kind of kicked off from there. I realised that I had a talent for it and I've been swimming since the age of five and competitively for the last thirteen years so it's been quite some time.
Competing
I've always been a competitive person. I guess swimming was one of those things I found I could push myself to the limit. I really enjoyed that. I really enjoyed that I could swim just as fast as the boys and race the boys in training. I felt like I wasn't getting that much out of any other sport that I was doing. It was a natural progression from then. I started competing at 10 and then I was 13, I made my first Irish team. I've been making Irish teams since then.
Training
We have nine training sessions a week in the pool and then we have three weights sessions on top of that. I came from a programme that was doing 28 hours a week, 20 hours in the pool and eight on dry land, it's come down a bit from that. It's become more specific and it's benefitted me a lot.
Goals
From the age of 12, the goal was the Olympics. A few weeks ago at Royal University Games, I went under the qualifying time for the Olympics. I have that done and dusted now. The next goal would be, once World Championships are over, would just be to put the head down and get everything organised for the Olympics next year.
Mentor
I've never really really followed that whole, looking up to sports people thing. My main drive is internally. I'm now swimming, it's not just for me, it's for my parents, it's for my family, it's for my coach and it's for all the other younger kids in Ireland.
For the longest time, I know at least when I was growing up, it was kind of almost a taboo to say I'm going to the Olympics or I'm going to World Championships or I'm going to make a final or I'm going to win a medal. It's starting to change now. I want them to know that when they're younger that they can look to somebody and think, if she can do it, why can't I?
In Ireland, swimming is at an advantage in that it's not nearly as expensive in any other place in the world. Swimming had a bad name in the past and I feel like, we've had no one really since Michelle Smith, no one that has really stood out. People got an idea in their head, maybe we shouldn't be aiming for that or maybe because we're such a small country that it's not a realistic goal for us so we shouldn't aim for that. Younger swimmers tend to have this idea when they go to meets, that they shouldn't be there and that they're only really there to participate. That's starting to change at the moment. Swimmers are starting to go to these meets and think, hey we're just as good as everyone else here.
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