Mayo's Olympian is living the dream

THIS morning Ciara McGing opened her eyes in Paris and took a deep breath. A lifetime of sporting effort, sacrifice and dedication had culminated with her waking up in the Olympic Village in the French capital and she needed a moment to take it all in.

“I nearly had to pinch myself. It's just amazing being here and is the absolute stuff of dreams,” the 23-year-old told The Mayo News.

McGing will represent Ireland in the Women's 10m Platform Dive on Monday, August 5, and it will be a proud moment for her army of cousins in Killawalla and Tourmakeady.

“There's 40 of them on the way to Paris I hear,” the talented diver explained with a smile before describing her first evening in the Olympic Village.

“I arrived yesterday was lining up for food when I looked around and Simone Biles (the most successful gymnast in history) was standing beside me. After that I played poker with some of our boxing team in the Team Ireland zone which looks out at the Eiffel Tower, so it wasn't a bad evening,” she added with a large helping of understatement.

McGing will proudly wear the Mayo crest on her Irish uniform at Paris 2024 and her heart will swell when she does so. “I was born in London but my family are from Mayo and Donegal and there will be no prouder person on the planet when I dive for Ireland on August 5. All I ever wanted to do was wear the green at the Olympics and it has been my greatest dream since I was a little girl. Now, it's happening and it's just the greatest feeling ever. All the effort was worth it and I'm loving every second.”

A feature-length interview with Ciara will be carried in Tuesday's Mayo News

MAYO will also be represented in Paris by Eric Favors in the shot-put. Eric's grandmother Margaret Kerr comes from Ballina and he grew up in Rockland just outside New York. In high school Eric was trained by Ireland’s Sydney Olympic hammer thrower Paddy McGrath. He broke the 20 metre mark (20:07), and Paddy Quirke’s 30-year-old Irish record, for the first time in 2022 and came very close to breaking 21m in the US in April this year. He has qualified for the last two World Championships, and missed making the final at this year’s Europeans by just 11cm. Eric has a degree in criminal law and a Masters in education and IT from the University of South Carolina, but currently works part-time in a school in Pennsylvania so that he can train with Dane Miller whose group contains some of the world’s top throwers.