Podcast Corner: An athletics podcast worth catching up on ahead of Paris Olympics
Rob Heffernan, Derval O'Rourke, and David Gillick recording Medals & Mics at Take Nine Studio, Cork. Picture: Larry Cummins
What a start to the sporting summer in Rome last week, with Ireland’s record medal haul at the European Athletics Championship. Everybody was raving about Greg Allen’s commentary - especially on the final straight of that 4x400m mixed relay - but back in the RTÉ studio, Derval O’Rourke and Rob Heffernan were part of a panel, alongside Sonia O’Sullivan, offering superb insight and analysis. David Gillick conducted some brilliant interviews with the Irish athletes at Stadio Olimpico over the course of the week too. Alongside O’Rourke and Heffernan, Gillick is part of , a new podcast from Cork’s Take Nine Studios which has just wrapped its first six-part series. The titles of each episode provide an indication of their journeys: The Dream, The Reality, The Aftermath, The Revelation, The Setbacks, The Retirement.
O’Rourke, a columnist with Irish Examiner Weekend, is always such a compelling, honest listen and here is no different. With all eyes now turning towards Paris and the Olympic Games next month, she recalls her own experience at the Summer Games in 2008 and 2012. “When we were in the heights of our careers and when we were winning medals, we were so obsessed with the medals that anybody who wasn’t trying to win a medal, I think for us, we struggled with that… If you’re going there just to be there, it’s a completely different experience.” Like with all the best podcasts, it’s just so rewarding to hear experts in their field not talking down to the audience but rather just conversing with their peers.
