Derval O'Rourke turns 40 today: Her thoughts on life, motherhood and her career

As she gets ready to turn 40 this month, Derval O'Rourke reflects on motherhood, a new career, and the changes the past ten years have brought 

Derval O'Rourke celebrates her 40th birthday. Photo Joleen Cronin

A lot can change in a decade: phones get thinner, the
climate gets warmer, a pandemic might hit. For three-time Olympian Derval O’Rourke, the past 10 years have not only brought a major career shift but also a completely new, all-encompassing, role that had barely crossed her mind at 30: motherhood.

“When I turned 30 I was only thinking about the London
Olympics. I wasn’t thinking about what I was going to do next career-wise. I wasn’t married. I didn’t have kids. The shift in my life in the past 10 years just seems
remarkable in a lot of ways,” she says over the phone from her home in Cork. I never thought about how many kids I’d have or if I’d even have kids. I always knew I wanted to but I honestly never thought about it until I had my first child. That’s been the major change, becoming a parent and always trying to figure out ways to make the part of me that just wants to totally be a parent and the independent side of my personality co-exist.