Paralympic Diary Day 7 & Preview of Day 8

IWA’s Shauna Bocquet took to the track at the Stade de France in what was to be her final race of these Games. The brave Galway women showed true ambition by competing in the Women’s 100m race.

Her time of 17.00 came agonisingly close to qualifying for the final. She missed out by just 0.10 seconds. She said, “The 100m is not my favourite. It’s very short, so by the time you start – it’s over. I definitely prefer the longer distances, but I enjoyed that.” 

“It was okay, it didn’t go how I planned it to go, but I’m happy. I went into it ready to go and looking forward to it because it’s my last event here in Paris, so all in for it. I’ve loved my time here in Paris. I loved the race and the whole experience around the village and around everything. I have a few days now to just relax and take in the whole experience even more.” 

The rest of the days action came from Para Cycling with the road time trials event in which Team Ireland had athletes competing in five events. Ireland’s first gold medal came from the determined and talented Katie George Dunlevy and pilot by Linda Kelly who stormed home ahead of the other riders in a challenging 28.3 kilometre course.

When asked could she put into words how she was feeling Katie George laughed and said, “Pain is the word!” 

“It was a really, really challenging course. Really technical. I thought we were going to come off a few times but that’s racing for you. You’re on the limit. We knew the course suited us, the uphill sections suited us so we had to really go over on our power on those hill parts because that was where we’d get time on the other bikes and I think we delivered a really good ride.” 

“Even on the second lap we were able to push out big power on those hills. When we heard we were down on the first lap I thought ‘keep going, just keep going’.” 

“I’ve been in many races where it’s not over ‘til you cross that line so you’ve just got to keep going and just hope the other bikes maybe fade. You’ve just got to keep strong, keep racing, keep believing, just keep racing to that finish line.” 

Todays action comes from the pool as Róisín Ní Riain dons the Irish swim cap once again this morning for the 100m Breaststroke SB13 Heat, with the final this evening.

It’s safe to say as the Games roll on that I have to mention the amazing team behind the athletes. The coaches, physiotherapists, medical staff and others doing a bit of everything are putting in a stellar performance themselves, ensuring that each athlete is able to focus on being ready for competition each. Thank you for everything you do.

Across IWA and IWA-Sport there are hundreds of people doing similar work, volunteering in clubs, community centres or fundraising. The self less dedicated has had and continues to have a lasting positive effect on the lives of people with disabilities across communities in Ireland. Thank you.

If you are interested in volunteering opportunities or if you are a person with a physical disability who has been inspired by the Paralympic Games and would like to find out more about Para Sport. Get in touch today, we would love to hear from you.