Triathlon debut of joy and sadness

Ireland's New Olympians: ALONG WITH the obvious celebration story that comes with Emma Davis - Ireland's first Olympic representative in the triathlon - there is an element of poignancy.

It was late in June when Davis was officially included on the elite list of 52 triathletes invited to Beijing, and that was exactly two years after the Irish flag was flying at half-mast outside the Olympic Council of Ireland building in Howth.

Such a gesture normally marks the passing of a former Olympian, but on that occasion, it was to pay respect to an Olympic hopeful - Caroline Kearney, who was killed in a biking accident when training in the south of France.

Kearney had won her first Irish triathlon title six years previously, while still a junior, and that she'd taken to the sport at such a young age was no surprise considering her mother, Ann Kearney, had been Ireland's best female triathlete for some 18 years, going right back to when the sport first started here, in 1983.

Four years ago, Ann Kearney died of cancer, and her death inspired Caroline to give the sport her absolute commitment, aiming to realise both her and her mother's dream of competing in the Olympics. At 24, and two years away from Beijing, she was well on target in the difficult quest for Olympic qualification when she was killed.

The sport of triathlon continues to grow exponentially in Ireland, and the Caroline Kearney memorial - named in her honour - is just one of the many races that sells out well in advance.

So, it's a fitting tribute to both the sport and to Kearney that Ireland has succeeded in getting its first representation in the Olympics, and although born and raised in England, Davis is proud to carry that honour.

"It's been a lifelong goal of mine to qualify for the Olympics," she says, "and even though now I've done it, I don't really believe it. It's great for the sport in Ireland, and hopefully it will encourage even a few more to try it.

"I am aware I'm making history for Ireland and if even one more person comes into the sport here because of this it will have been a success."

Not that she's lacking Irish connections. Her father was born in Bangor, Co Down, and moved to Surrey, where Emma grew up.

Her mother lived in Ireland for several years, and when Davis got serious about the triathlon and began to compete internationally, it soon became her destiny to compete for Ireland.

"In 2006 I went over to race the Irish national championships. It was a very well-organised race and everyone was so friendly and it made me think what it would be like to race for Ireland.

"I was lucky enough to have the choice, it seemed right and I just felt more comfortable and at home racing for Ireland. Then last year I sat down with Jag Gunawardana, the president of Triathlon Ireland, and realised Beijing could actually happen. We just worked out the best qualification route. We knew it would be tough, a lot of hard work in training, and races, and a lot of luck along the way as well."

Luck, however, played only a small part; Davis soon produced a series of highly impressive results, including a ninth-place finish at the World Cup in South Africa in May that moved her onto the all-important Beijing ranking list.

It was a year-long quest that began after she'd graduated from Bath University with an honours degree in mathematics: "I hadn't taken any time off during university. So I reckoned I'd give myself the year and see how it goes. If it doesn't work out I'll just put it down as a gap year, in a way. Luckily, it's gone well.

"By March I was getting the results I needed, but I still didn't want to think about too much, because I could easily mess up.

"It was at the World Cup in South Africa where it all came together, and by chance, that was at a place called Richard's Bay . . ."

The significance of that needs some explaining: her coach, manager and boyfriend is Richard Stannard, formerly one of Britain's top triathletes. They are now a close team, Richard usually joining her on at least one of her three-times-a-day sessions.

"I started out in swimming," she explains, "but have worked very hard on my running over the past year. Now we're doing all three evenly. I would do some swimming, biking and running every day. It's 30 hours a week, around five hours a day, sometimes more."

The Olympic triathlon is staged over the sprint distance; 1.5km swim; 40km cycle and 10km run. It's not that it's short, but just a lot shorter than the Ironman distance - and as Davis confirms, the start can be everything.

"It can be very vicious, to be honest. The men's used to be, but they've developed a bit of respect for each other now, a sort of etiquette. But in women's triathlon, we haven't quite got there yet. Hopefully we will soon."

At only 22, Davis is clearly some way off her prime, yet her 15th-place finish in Vancouver in late June gives some indication of the level she's already at, and despite all the hype about the weather, she may have reserved her best performance to date for the Olympics. "I love the heat," she says, "so I'm actually looking forward to it being very warm in Beijing."

Scott Evans (Badminton)

NO MATTER what happens in Beijing or beyond, Scott Evans has already justified his decision to leave school at 16 and head for Denmark, where for the past four years he's been living the mostly unglamorous life of a full-time badminton professional.

There are probably still some people who think Evans should have stayed in Wesley College in Dublin and at least completed his Leaving Cert. But his qualification for Beijing - where he'll be Ireland's first male Olympian in badminton - is surely just recognition of his focus and commitment, which would exceed that of most 20-year-olds.

Having broken into the top 50 in the world last year, Evans was always on course to make Beijing, but he needed to maintain that consistency, and that perhaps is the greatest indication of his long-term potential - which will only begin to be maximised in the coming years.

"It's been a difficult-enough four years," he says, "so I'm pretty glad just to have qualified now and that everything's paid off. Getting to the Olympics is a goal I think most badminton players will have whenever they realise they could be pretty good at the sport. It's always been one of my goals and obviously I want to do quite well there as well. But you have to take one step at a time and getting there is the first."

His steady rise through the sport (he was Leinster under-19 champion at just 15) has been supported by his parents, both badminton players of some note, and more recently by his Danish coach, Jim Laugesen, the former world number one, with whom he linked up at the International Badminton Academy in Copenhagen.

"The first year was quite hard. It was a big step up. And where I lived with some other young players was quite isolated; there was nothing around. All I did was train, eat and sleep. You'd nearly get sick of it, and you don't want that because you've left school and badminton is your life now. But the psychology of it is a huge thing in badminton. If you've got a good head, you'll do well. Jim has helped me big-time with all that."

His best world ranking to date is 41st, but he's already looked beyond Beijing to improve on that: "I said to myself at the start of the year that if I was going to qualify for the Olympics I wanted to be as high as I could in the rankings. I didn't want to qualify and be 79 in the world. When you're out there, it all depends on the draw I get. I could be up against the world number one in the first round. But my goal would be to win at least two games. That would be perfect.

"But I've set long-term goals. For London 2012, I want to give it everything."

Siobhan Byrne (Fencing)

WHEN SIOBHAN BYRNE was seven or eight and growing up in Germany, her father, John, began passing on his love of sport. He got her to try most things from athletics to ballet, then heard about a fencing club in their town of Eislingen, near Stuttgart, where John had emigrated 30 years ago to work in construction.

Born in Mayo, and raised in Slane, Co Meath, John Byrne knew next to nothing about fencing but brought his daughter along anyway. Now, 15 years later, she's in Beijing as Ireland's first Olympic fencer since Michael O'Brien in 1992 and our first female fencer since Shirley Armstrong in 1960.

It's a remarkable story. At 23 Byrne represents the new breed of Irish Olympians, with one eye already on London 2012. Not that she's in Beijing to make up the numbers - and having just missed qualification four years ago she is intent on making the most of it.

"It's a very mental sport," she says. "It's a lot of tactics, and you really have to use your head. It means you really are fighting against yourself, and I find that very challenging. So a lot of the preparation is psychological.

"I know I'm going to face one of the top seeds, coming in as one of the lower seeds. But with fencing, there's always a chance. There's direct elimination from the start, so anything can happen. I'm probably seen as a first, easy bout, but I might just surprise them. It's intimidating, of course, but at the same time I'm very excited."

Byrne's fencing skills earned her a scholarship to Ohio State University, where she came under the wing of the former Russian Olympic medallist Vladimir Nazlymov:

"I grew up in Germany, and started fencing there, but because my dad is Irish, I have an Irish passport . . . So we contacted the Irish federation five years ago to see if I could get a licence . . . to fence internationally, and that's really where it all started."

She was spotted by Nazlymov at the 2003 World Championships in Cuba, and has just graduated from Ohio with a degree in Health Management.

Her second-place finish at the European qualifier in Istanbul in April, in the sabre, sealed her Olympic qualification. That, she hopes, is only a step on the road.

"The competition is intense, especially when you're coming from a country like Ireland. Ireland does not have a great lobby in the fencing world, unlike China, Russia, and the US . . . so it's just amazing that I'm there now.

"I have to credit Nazlymov for getting me this far. He was a great fencer himself, won 10 world titles and six Olympic medals. He was the best fencer in the world, so to train with him is amazing. He's got me to where I am.

"It's very tough though trying to make it in the sport, especially financially. I was a full-time student and relying in the support of the Sports Council. But that's only goes so far, so I had to work whenever possible as well, when most of my competition are training eight hours a day, six days a week. Especially the Chinese. I'm certainly not of one of those."