Derval O’Rourke: Ireland’s Fittest Family was getting too hard, my kids weren’t going to be small forever
Derval O'Rourke, at the launch of her Saol app. Photograph: Patrick Browne
You could draw a line from the 12.96 seconds sprint Derval O’Rourke achieved at the European Under-23 Athletics Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland, in 2003––a mark which saw her achieve the exact 'A standard' qualification time for the 2004 Olympics––to today, where she sits at home in Cork, following the launch of her wellness app aimed at SMEs and individuals, Saol.
In many ways, the line is straight; O’Rourke not only changed the paradigm for women athletes but also the marketplace for women of all kinds, those dealing with childcare as well as those dealing with business. It would be a mistake, though, to think that O’Rourke was solely focused on promoting opportunities for women.
Though gender equality, and indeed equity across all athletes, has been at the forefront of her mind for many years now, a keen sense for discrimination of all kinds has been with her since childhood. (She trained at the same running club as Simon Zebo, but always claimed that his sister Jessica was the real star.)
As a teenager, O’Rourke became one of the top athletes in the country, and, soon, the world. On the track, she won a myriad of gold and silver medals––including a gold at the World Indoor Championships in Moscow in 2006––before eventually retiring in 2014.
At that time, and still today, she remains the only Irish athlete to win medals at the European Athletics Championships in 2006 and 2010 and just this month, her 13-year-strong national hurdles record of 12.65 was beaten by 29-year-old Irish athlete Sarah Lavin. O’Rourke sent her a present in the post to congratulate her. “The records are funny because, you know, the records can always be broken,” she smiles.
“But, I think that when you're in it, like I was, all you’re thinking about is getting on the podium or medals. Records were always a lovely add-on, but when I retired, I kind of never thought about them again. And Sarah is exactly thirteen years younger than me, we were born the same day, so our careers just missed each other. And when I retired, she was just coming through. So I’m kind of delighted it’s gone to a new, very deserving home. Also, her breaking it means we have another female who’s world-class in that event, and that’s something that’s really important to me. And to think, there’s some teenager in Ireland watching this thinking that they might one day break her record. You just want it to keep turning.”
In 2013, she married sailor Peter O’Leary, a fellow Cork Olympian she met on the plane home from the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Today, they have two children, Dafne and Archie, and live in Cork. Both remain competitive, yet humble––here, Derval tells a story from the night before, about forgetting her Bags For Life while picking up groceries, only to come home with a tumbling box of food, and for Peter to laugh––and with big-picture thought processes working together for a united goal.
“When I told people I was leaving Ireland’s Fittest Family (the RTÉ game show) everyone thought I was joking,” she laughs sweetly. “No one leaves shows at the height of their popularity, but my kids were small and growing so fast. I remember one summer specifically when we were filming, standing in a field in Wicklow in September, and it was my daughter’s birthday and I couldn’t be there. And, you know, it took a long time to come to that place––myself, Davy (Fitzgerald), Mairéad (Ronan), Dunners (Donncha O’Callaghan) and Anna (Geary) were like school kids all together, we just got on so well. In many ways, it was a dream job. But it was also quite inflexible because of how big an operation it was; like, we had over 100 people in production. So yeah, I spoke to Davy who was so kind to me. I told him that it was getting too hard and my kids weren’t going to be small forever, and that out of all the things going on in my life, this was the one where I was most replaceable. By the time I got back to Cork, I sort of knew I had to just back myself in what I was thinking, and at that stage, I was already thinking about different business opportunities, so I needed to back myself in that, too.”
O’Rourke is 42 now, and still tireless. She speaks with obvious passion and curiosity—one thought sparks another; one anecdote winds into a different one altogether. I’ve rarely done interviews in which the subject was so eager to hear what I think, too. Her latest project, Saol, is a joint collaboration between O’Rourke and business partner Greg O’Gorman, whose intrigue around wellness in the digital space has been growing for close to a decade.
“It’s funny, only this week did I realise that my first cookbook, Food For The Fast Lane, is nearly ten years old,” she says. “I remember when it came out, pitching it to publishers, and bear in mind here that, in 2013, the fitness industry was in a very different space. They kept asking me what sort of diet I was promoting––and didn’t understand what I meant when I said it wasn’t a diet. I even went as far as saying to them that I’d rather not do it than promote unhealthy eating habits. That it was about putting good fuel into your body and eating healthily doesn’t have to be miserable. Eventually, I got around them. And it ended up being a massive project, one which allowed the jump into Derval.ie.”
Derval.ie is O’Rourke’s online offering, providing tools for wellness – healthy recipes, exercise plans, meditation guides – for its 15,000+ subscribers to feel well at home.
Saol (“I really wanted something that wasn’t just my name––and I always wanted it to be in Irish because I loved being “the Irish girl,” when I raced all those years ago”), in many ways, is the next step up for O’Rourke and O’Gorman, whose app iteration has geared itself for SME use as well as individual activity.
“It’s been in the works for five years really, but everything geared up about 18 months ago when we began surveys and market research into what sort of wellness would-be subscribers get in their daily lives––less than 40% have access to wellness spaces in the workplace––and what they’re looking for in terms of help with this.
"Turns out, people are looking for easy workouts, simple recipes and the ability to do this from home. And, most of all, not to be intimidated. Like, the World Health Organisation recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity per week, which feels like such a massive number for someone who is already busy. But if you break it down, that can just be 20 minutes. And that’s what we’re trying to do with Saol.”
Saol was the result of a steep app acceleration throughout the pandemic and beyond, and the realisation of O’Rourke that her keen awareness of all things physical was not a lived experience for all. “So many people aren’t comfortable going to a gym class with loads of other people,” she says, understandingly. “Or calling what they do ‘training,’ or ‘sport,’ or whatever. So this is our offering––something we really hope moves people in any sort of way and ultimately provides value to anyone who uses it.”
Later this month, O’Rourke will speak alongside presenter Sonya Lennon at iestyle Live 2023 in City Hall, an event she regularly attended as a punter. “I’m really nervous about it, you know,” she laughs. “Because I went to it last year when Maeve Higgins was performing, and loved it, and all of a sudden I’m going to be up on stage! And listen, Sonya is a powerhouse, and I love my fashion and glam––it’s so nice to get the chance to do all that.
"But what’s driving me is what we’re speaking about. Now, I can’t tell you everything, but what I can say is that we’re certainly going to be getting into what it means to be a woman today, where we all are in life and what works for us––sort of contextualising that into a meaningful conversation. Also how society affects that, right? How embracing the chaos is sort of a superpower and how we’ve all got that in droves. So yeah, I’m really excited. Any excuse to get the hair done.”
- Derval is guest speaker at the Irish Examiner's sold out flagship event ieStyle Live in association with Clarins in Cork City Hall on October 26
- For more information about Saol, check out their website here: https://saol-app.com/
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