Four years ago Gymnast Kieran Behan became only the second ever Irish Gymnast to compete at an Olympic Games. His story of overcoming physical challenges that would have floored most of us was one of the most memorable of the irish team at those games and now he is hoping to do it all over again.
He will be joined at the final qualifying event for a place at the Rio games by 18 year old Ellis O’Reilly who is bidding to be our first ever woman gymnast to compete at this level.
“I’ve been doing gymnastics since I was six years old when my parents wanted me to take up a sport and this was the one that captured their and my imagination the most,” said O’Reilly when we caught up with her at Sport HQ yesterday.
“It’s been a great journey so far with World Championships in Beijing and Glasgow over the last two years building up my confidence and skills.”
“This year I’m combining the training with preparing for my A Level exams in Health and Social Care and Physical Education.”
“Im putting in a minimum of four hours a day of hard training, six days a week and I’m confident heading to Rio that I have a good shot at making it for the Games.”
The gymnasts will travel to Rio on the 10th of April. Behan will start his effort to make it to the final 98 for the games on 16th April while Ellis will get her bid underway the following day.
They will be followed by a surging number of young girls and boys taking part in the sport in facilities up and down the country.
Last year the National Championships held at the University of Limerick brought together 6,000 competitors and there was an air of excitement yesterday at the prospect that a national centre for Gymnastics will be an integral part of the National Indoor Arena opening at the National Sports Campus in November.
“Being able to inspire young people to take up the sport is a special part of what I can do,” said Behan who is an ambassador for BT Ireland and will be undertaking a number of engagements with them in between what will hopefully be two trips to Brazil.
O’Reilly was only 14 when the Olympics were held in her and Behan’s home city of London but she didn’t get tickets to see the games. This year hopefully she won’t need to worry about getting access to the arena as a spectator.
‘It took years of hard work and a real team effort in securing the two places for the Test Event at the Glasgow World Championships in October 2015, said Gymnastics Ireland Performance and technical Manager Sally Filmer.
“With the knowledge and experience gained from our participation and build-up to London 2012 behind us, Ellis and Kieran are now focussed on their final weeks of preparation in the run up to the competition in April.”
Gymnastics Ireland and Cricket Ireland will be the first two sports to feature in a new series launching next month on Sport for Business when we go under the headlines and discover what is happening in the development of sports in Ireland that are growing on the ground and hold out the promise for much more in the coming years…
