Most Olympic swimming medals are decided on a fingertip, narrowly won by those reaching out fastest and wanting it more, and narrowly lost by those trying to do exactly the same.
In the unforgivingly decisive moment that Mona McSharry reached out and won a magnificent Olympic bronze medal in the 100m breaststroke, and in the company of four of the finest event specialists of the time, no one could have wanted it more than the 23-year-old McSharry, from the small seaside hamlet of Grange in Co Sligo.
Her teary-eyed reaction to seeing her name pop up in third was clear evidence of what the moment of realisation meant to her, and in truth to many of those who have followed her already stellar career.
In the now century of Ireland’s participation in the Olympics going back to Paris in 1924, only one Irish swimmer had previously won a medal, Michelle Smith de Bruin winning four in 1996.
After the two furiously fast lengths it was Tatjana Smith from South Africa who touched home first, the Olympic record holder who won breaststroke gold and silver in Tokyo three years ago, coming through in the last 50m to strike another gold in 1:05.28.
Then came China’s reigning world champion Tang Qianting, still only 20, who had been in front at the turn, with McSharry then in second. Tang touched for silver in 1:05.54.
McSharry’s fingertip touching in 1:05.59, just .01 of a second ahead of Benedetta Pilatto from Italy and Lilly King, the world record holder from the US, both times in 1:05.60, thus sharing fourth place.
[ In Pictures: Mona McSharry secures famous bronze medal for Ireland in the poolOpens in new window ]
It could not have been any closer than that. Both mere fingertips away from bronze too.
“I started crying on the podium,” McSharry said. “It’s just unbelievable, I think it’s just the pinnacle of sport, to have all your hard work pay off in something like this, at this moment.
“Then I had to really calm myself down, and be like ‘you need to take in the moment here, we need to just like really enjoy this’. I don’t think I’ve ever cried for a medal before, so I think that just goes to show how big of a deal it is.
“It’s definitely down to a lot of hard work and, and just dedication to, you know, moments like this and trying to be the best I can be and keep pushing. It’s also when days like this [felt] a very long way away. And then you do have bonus moments like this, where you get to stand up on the podium and watch your flag raised at the Olympic Games.”
McSharry started in lane five, by virtue of qualifying second fastest in Sunday’s semi-finals, where she improved her Irish record to 1:05.51. Smith started beside her in four, the 27-year-old from Johannesburg unquestionably one of the best breaststroke specialists of all time, her Olympic record of 1:04:82 set in Tokyo.
She knew exactly how close it was, just not sure exactly where she touched: “I could see the Chinese girl beside me and so I knew she was ahead of me, so I was like, ‘right, I need to try and catch her because if she’s ahead then I don’t know what’s going on, on the other side, I can’t see that.’
“And I had a bad first 50m, my goggles filled up with water a little bit, so not a perfect race, but I think it just shows that you’re in it until the end, you just have to keep going, and I was like ‘I’m not giving up, I’m going, I’m going’.
“And 0.01 between me and the next two swimmers, so that’s kind of crazy. But that’s what racing’s about, close finishes. And, thankfully, I was, I was on the right side of that today.”
Three years ago in this same event in Tokyo, McSharry also became the first Irish swimmer since de Bruin to make an Olympic final, when she progressed to the 100m breaststroke final in Tokyo, where she finished eighth in 1:06.94.
In Monday’s morning session, Ellen Walshe and then Wiffen became only the third and fourth Irish finalists in Olympic history – Walshe back in the pool at 8.30pm Paris time for her final of the 400m individual medley.
In the final she finished eighth, the 22-year-old from Dublin touching in 4:40.70, with Canada’s Summer McIntosh living up to her favourite billing with a scorching winning time of 4:27.71.
Danielle Hill also touched home in fourth in her heat of the women’s 100m backstroke, good enough to see her make the semi-finals (of 16 swimmers), the 24-year-old from Antrim later finishing in eighth here, in 1:00.80, ranked 16th overall.
