Of all the athletes to front another Irish Olympic campaign Jason Smyth has no right and every right to be chief among them. After all his success, all the medals he’s won, he owes Olympic sport absolutely nothing more, only what he wants and still sees fit and able to achieve.
By his own admission, last summer was his finest hour, Smyth winning an incredibly close final of the T13 100 metres at the Tokyo Paralympics - postponed for a year, don’t forget - at the age of 34. From Beijing 2008, to London 2012, to Rio 2016, to Tokyo 2020(21), the World’s fastest Paralympian remains undefeated in 17 years.
It could have been different - Smyth forced to bring out his absolute best to beat Algeria’s Skander Djamil Athmani, the fastest qualifier, winning by .01 of a second, 10.53 to 10.54. That his winning tally now includes six Paralympics gold medals, another six European gold medals, plus his eight at the World Championships (including one indoors, from 2005), is by any standards unique in Irish sport.
Only now Paris 2024 beckons, when he’ll be 37, in what might be his fifth consecutive Games, a first for any Irish Paralympian, and Smyth’s urge to be back there is still driven by the same thing: to be his best and to inspire others around him
“With Tokyo it was a question of getting there, reassessing then, and I felt like I would definitely like to go another cycle,” Smyth says of his decision to keep pressing on. “The standard has gone up and the risk is higher that I am not able to maintain that success but, ultimately, that’s the opportunity for me to find ways to improve, to get things right and solidify the success I have had over all these years.
“That’s probably been one of my biggest drivers. It’s about trying to achieve things that nobody else will achieve in my sport. That is not about just being successful, it is about being successful over a long period of time and being able to potentially go to Paris would be five Games and 20 years and for me that’s the challenge. And I feel, if I’m honest, as motivated, if not more motivated, than I have been throughout a lot of my career.”
Speaking at the announcement of Permanent TSB as title sponsor for Team Ireland at both the 2014 Paris Olympics and Paralympics, the Derry sprinter also acknowledges the shorter cycle to the next Games influenced his decision. Age may just be a number, but in sprinting it’s an extra challenge .
“As an older athlete it obviously gets harder and harder, to look further into the future because things can change, but yes, the decision was made easier that it’s a three-year cycle, and we are one year into it. Throughout my career to this stage, I don’t think what has been achieved will be achieved again. That’s what we hope to continue to do, inspire the next generation coming through. And I prefer to rise up to the challenge rather than back away from it.
“We don’t know where we are going to be at in Paris, or where everybody else will be, but that doesn’t really matter because, at the end of the day, what everyone else is going to do or be at is irrelevant because I can’t influence it.
“The only thing I can impact is me and that’s where I will keep my focus and get it right and I know if I get me right then I am in a position to win gold medals. The reality going into Tokyo is that I wasn’t the quickest on paper, so I honestly believe I will run quicker over the next couple of years as well so that is exciting.”
Satisfying
Indeed the mere mention of Tokyo raises a smile: “Absolutely, the most satisfying of all the Games I have been to, just with the year I had going in, and then going in with this Algerian guy that had run faster than me. Everyone just expected me to win and didn’t know much about anybody else.
“So in those situations, standing at the starting line with everyone expecting you to win. You weren’t fastest on paper, preparation wasn’t what you wanted, to be able to pull it all together in that manner was incredible. That is a moment for me that I had never been through despite all my success. In that moment is where I learned something else about me and learned that I can step up to perform in and under that pressure.”
In other ways, on and off the track, Smyth does have limits, the visual impairment diagnosed in childhood, only perhaps more than anybody else in this country he’s helped break down the distance between Olympics and Paralympics perceptions, not just in terms of what it takes to succeed.
“That’s something I have tried to do through my success in the sport, be the voice that can show athletes with disability that it is possible to break out of the cycle you are in. It is possible to achieve success and believe in yourself and go and achieve incredible things.
“I have been improving and improving the last few years. I ran 10-fives last year under far from ideal preparation which suggests I could have run quicker and I think I will run quicker. One of the keys to that is staying injury-free and healthy. But it’s not as simple as an age thing.
“ It’s about your preparation, the condition you are in. Ultimately, the real judge is when you are running down the track, and what the time says.”
