Mona McSharry won a stunning Olympic bronze medal in the final of the women’s 100m breaststroke.
The Sligo woman is Ireland’s first medallist of Paris 2024 and Ireland’s first swimming medallist since Michelle Smith in 1996.
“I’m very excited! I don’t think it’s fully sunk in yet that I’ve actually won a medal!” McSharry beamed.
“I think it’s just amazing because its years of hard work that have paid off and it just feels amazing!”
McSharry stormed to third in a time of 1:05.59 for Ireland’s first Olympic breaststroke medal. South Africa’s Tatjana Smith won gold in 1:05.28, with China’s Qianting Tang taking silver in 1:05.54.
“A little bit of relief, a little bit of "wow – okay this is actually happening!” McSharry smiled recalling realising she had won bronze. “Then just really excited to be in that position.”
“I could see the Chinese girl beside me” explained McSharry of the race. “So I knew that she was ahead of me so I was like 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.
“I had a bad first 50. My goggles filled up with water a little bit so not a perfect race but it just shows you’re in it until the end and you just have to keep going.”
“I was like ‘I’m not giving up, I’m going, I’m going’ and I think it was 0.01 between me and the next swimmers so that’s kind of crazy, but that’s what racing is about, close finishes!”
