As day three finished with qualification for Irish swimmer Mona McSharry to the 100m breaststroke final, her brother Mouric joined us to discuss her Olympic dream.
Mouric joined The Olympics Show, fresh from working in the bog, to give us an insight into what it's been like at home as Mona qualified fourth in her semi-final on Monday morning.
Mona McSharry
"We all slept apart from my mum, and she made sure we all got up for it," Mouric said.
"We'd be quiet enough but we were screaming when it got close. It was tight but she made it, and hopefully she can be a bit quicker for the final!
"She always would have been ahead in games, you could tell that she would be a bit different to usual.
"She's a bit different [in the pool at the Games] to normal, you can see that it means a lot to her - it is nice to see."
Mouric says the family have been giving her some space but that he thinks she's enjoying her Olympic experience.
"Not between the races, we give her space to rest up. We'd have talked to her beforehand with a few texts but we'll leave her alone for now.
"You can tell from just how she's speaking that she's loving it over there."
Dedication
Journalist Cathal Dennehy also spoke to The Olympics Show about McSharry's rise, and spoke of the immense dedication she has shown to her training as a child and into early adulthood.
"She is the 1% of childhood swimmers who have made it to this level," Dennehy said.
"She has the talent and the work ethic and possibly that stroke of luck. But she has the support.
"I remember talking to her four years ago after she won that World Junior title and just going over the year and her routine.
"She was just going into her Leaving Cert year and her alarm clock was going at 4am, she was out the door at 5am to Ballyshannon with one of her parents doing the half hour drive.
"She'd warm up for half an hour, into the pool for two hours, back for breakfast and off to school at 8:00am or 8:30am."
She missed out on a lot of things, but her dedication is beginning to look very much worth it.
"All of her friends would be going down the town after school when she would be going back to the pool, some dinner, homework and then in bed by 10pm latest. That was the routine.
"I remember asking her about weekends and she said 'I meet my friends or I take my dog for a walk on the beach but if I went out and did anything too crazy I'd be too tired for the rest of the week.
"These were the choices that she was making at 13, 14 or 15 - all the way up her teenage years. For most people that make them it doesn't fully pay off.
"I'm just so happy that everyone in Grange, her old coach in Grace Meade who nursed her up through those teenage years, and her family should be taking some amount of pride tonight.
"It is obviously her achievement but a whole lot of others' achievement as well."
Day four - Irish athletes in action
Mona
3am Ireland Men’s Rugby Sevens Team - v Kenya - pool stages
3.17am Mona McSharry - Women’s 100m Breaststroke Swimming final
3.30am Aidan Walsh - Men’s Welterweight Boxing Round of 16 v Albert Mengue
4.05am Annalise Murphy - Laser Radial Sailing Fleet Race 4 and 5
6.50am Robert Dickson and Sean Waddilove - Men’s 49er Sailing Fleet Race 1, 2 and 3
11.50am Darragh Greene - Men’s 200m Breaststroke Swimming Heat
12.17pm Ireland Relay Team - Men’s 4 x 200m Freestyle Swimming Heat
12.37pm Daniel Wiffen - Men’s 800m Freestyle Heat
Indeed are proud to support Team Ireland at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Indeed believes the world works better when people are given every opportunity to unleash their true talents. #TalentUnleashed
Download the brand new OTB Sports App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to Off The Ball's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
