Pat hopes Irish Olympic heroes will remind the world there is more to life than disunity, hate, violence, unrest and war Mona McSharry and Fintan McCarthy An emotional Kellie Harrington of Team Ireland with her gold medal Rhasidat Adeleke after the women's 400m final Niamh McPeake of Galway in action against Saoirse McCarthy of Cork during the All-Ireland senior camogie final For two weeks, I was like the rest of the country, with every waking hour devoted to watching the Olympics. There were times when the cynic in me took over. The inner chimp kept telling me there’s a few makey-uppey sports here – break dancing anyone? The inner chimp insisted that we should not gloss over some of the Irish performances.
Outside of Kellie Harrington, the boxers underperformed. The golfers, given their talent, were a disappointment. The show jumping team might have delivered more.
But the longer I watched, the more the cynical voice faded, the inner chimp fell silent. I became enthralled by the whole spectacle. Those two weeks were my nirvana, a happy space where sport is front and centre as the most beautiful distraction.
An emotional Kellie Harrington of Team Ireland with her gold medal And Christ do we need that escape now in a world where disunity, hate, violence, unrest and war are all too prevalent, much of it facilitated by social media giants operating outside of the usual measures of control. The Paris Games could not have come soon enough, and for two weeks sport unified and c.