He hasn’t made up his mind, but when the weather takes a turn for the wintry, he thinks the decision could be made for him. Or it could be the even more prosaic matter of funding that decides it. But whatever is the final determinant, Tom Barr knows that a decisive juncture in his long career isn’t far away.
He turned 32 on July 24, two days before the Olympics opening ceremony. Nine days after that milestone, he was walking off the track as part of the 4x400m mixed relay team, whose efforts to reach the final at the Stade de France had come up short. He talked in the aftermath of that like a man who was stepping away.
He suggested as much on social media, too. But then there is the World Championships in Tokyo to consider, little over a year away. Sitting alongside Sarah Lavin yesterday as the two promoted Virgin Media’s ongoing coverage of the Diamond League, Barr smiled broadly as Lavin encouraged him to keep going, to push on for one more landmark meet.
‘I’m not setting a date but I think in the next couple of weeks it’s going to become pretty obvious which way I’m going,’ he said. ‘I am definitely swinging towards the side of retiring at the moment but I went through training with my coaches,’ he says, detailing then a conversation with Hayley and Drew Harrison, his long-time mentors, as well as others in his training group, about what they might change for next season. ‘I came away from that thinking, “I might go again”,’ he said.
‘I just need to really think it through in the next couple of weeks. I know myself, the decision will be made for me in that first week or two of training, if I go back to sample it a little bit. ‘It’ll be in the next two months, for sure.
It also depends on how funding looks,’ he candidly admitted. ‘That’s a conversation I’ll have to have, because I am at that point where I can’t keep trying to get by, and get by. ‘If there isn’t a decent bit of funding coming, I will have to look at going into full-time work which could be the deciding factor, that could make the decision for me.
’ This is the side of the Olympic story that isn’t captured by the cameras, or in the mixed zones the life-changing decisions that confront athletes after the biggest experience of their lives. There is much focus in the modern age on attending to the needs of athletes in such a situation. But Lavin, who is in the form of her life and entitled to target Los Angeles in 2028, when she will be 34, says any personal disappointment she felt at not making the final of the 100m hurdles has been cushioned by the remarkable outpouring of public support she has felt since returning to her Limerick base.
She remains unambiguous in her dissatisfaction. ‘It’s really interesting because you come home and you’re underwhelmed by your performance, and that’s the truth, it’s simply because I know what I did a year ago,’ she said. ‘It’s 12.
62 (the PB she set at the World Championships in Budapest a year ago), and 0.1 (of a second) would have put me in that Olympic final.’ ‘Of course I think I’ve improved by 0.
1 this year. Did I put it out at the right moment, the right time? No. ‘Did all my markers suggest I would? Yeah.
‘And that’s the nature of this level of sport, precision is absolutely required.’ She has clearly been deeply moved by the reaction of the public, too, though. ‘Then you’re kind of overwhelmed in another way, because you have 500 messages on your phone, you’re going down to the shop, running into Dunnes to get your groceries and someone is doing a double-take, you’re out for lunch and people come up for photographs,’ she smiled.
‘It’s beautiful, getting hugs. ‘I just went to EP (Electric Picnic) for the day, I wasn’t as brave as Tom to camp, but even up there, I was like, “Oh my gosh!” The guards asked for a photograph, I got hugs from people I didn’t know. ‘They just said, “Do you mind if I give you a hug?” And I said “Of course, hugs are always welcome.
” ‘The warmth that we’ve been greeted with, it’s been so special and how much it’s touched people here, we had no idea.’ One of the most remarkable effects has been how long the after-glow has endured. ‘It hasn’t stopped,’ she confirmed.
‘I was training this morning in UL, and there was a handball competition going on. I was in the middle of a rep, I was literally bent over and someone said, “Sorry, do you mind if my daughter gets a photo?” ‘Then there was an influx of different families, and it was beautiful.’ Lavin has busy racing plans in the coming weeks, and has an outside chance of getting to the Diamond League final.
Even as she and Barr contemplate different career trajectories, the impact of Paris, and the effect that fortnight has had, will sustain them for years to come..
