OLYMPICS: IAN O'RIORDANtalks to Claire Bergin, who is the first Irish woman to compete in a summer and winter Olympics
SHE WON’T be the only person writing a little piece of Irish Olympic history in London later this month but Claire Bergin will become the first Irish woman to compete in both a summer and winter Olympics.
Having represented Ireland in the two-women bobsleigh in Vancouver in 2010, Bergin was yesterday confirmed as a member of the women’s 4x400 metres relay for London – and with that complete an unlikely Olympic double she admits was never part of her sporting ambitions.
“No, definitely not,” says Bergin, who at age 27 always did consider herself a track and field athlete first – and runs the crucial opening leg of the relay.
“Athletics was always my sport. Most people in Ireland don’t know much about the bobsleigh, and I didn’t know much about it either until the famous Cool Runnings film came along.
“At the same time being an Olympian was always a lifelong ambition. I just thought the summer Olympics would come first. But then with the women’s relay team it became a real ambition again over the last couple of years, and after making Vancouver, I’m delighted to be make the summer Olympics as well, and make that little bit of history too. It’s great.”
Only one Irish man shares the distinction – as javelin thrower Terry McHugh also represented Ireland in the Winter Olympics in the bobsleigh: for Bergin it has helped that both her events are not entirely solo. “In both cases I couldn’t have done it without the other girls, and both times it’s been in team events. I had Aoife Hoey with me in the bobsleigh, and she actually got me involved in that in the first place, along with her sister Siobhán.
“With the relay it’s been the same, with Joanne Cuddihy, Marian Heffernan and Michelle Carey being the three women that I’ve mainly been involved with.
“ I suppose there are some similarities between both events, in that they both come down to very small margins, with no room at all for error. And personally, I didn’t have a great run at the European Championships in Helsinki last weekend, and the girls all supported me after, and that means a lot.
“I’ve been very lucky as well that my employers, in financial services with Deloitte, gave me the year off, to prepare.”
Olympic relay qualification is decided on the aggregate of the country’s two best times since June 2011, and for the Irish women those were the 3:27.48 they ran at the World Championships in Daegu last summer, and the 3:30.61 from the 2011 European Cup a few weeks previous – for an aggregate of 6:58.09. That left them ranked 13th in the world, with the top 16 invited to London.
Bergin’s original event was always the 100m and 200m, and she only decided to turn to 400m in recent years: “I suppose seeing the opportunity in the relay, as well. But the training is very different, and I had to go away and do the stamina work, too. I think two years ago, it first became a real possibility, and especially after the way the relay went at the world championships last year. I’ve gone from running 56 seconds down to mid-53 seconds, and I feel I can improve on that a little before London.
“It being London as well means friends and family can come along, get that extra bit of support, that you mightn’t have at other Olympics. We’ve worked so hard to qualify. The last time we had a women’s relay team was Sydney, and we’d like to make a final in London. If we run our fastest time we can do it.”
The six Irish athletes, with Bergin, nominated for London are Joanne Cuddihy, Michelle Carey, Marian Heffernan, Jessie Barr, and Catriona Cuddihy, and Bergin will compete against these at this weekend’s National Championships in Santry.
