Medals & Mics Podcast: Ireland's Olympic heroes reveal their greatest challenges

Medals & Mics sheds a light on the realities of the Olympic Games Three of Ireland’s Olympians have teamed up ahead of Paris 2024 for a podcast series looking at the trials, tribulations and triumphs of going for gold

Sat, 18 May, 2024 - 06:00

Ellie O’Byrne

At the Beijing Olympics in 2008, neither champion hurdler Derval O’Rourke, nor sprint record-breaker David Gillick, managed to qualify for semi-finals from their respective heats.

Derval had finished sixth in her women’s 100m hurdle heat; David came fourth in his 400m sprint heat.

Back at the Olympics village, while nursing their bruised egos, both the Irish elite athletes had to laugh at a series of messages that were coming through from their parents.

The O’Rourkes and the Gillicks had bonded on many journeys as their talented daughter and son jetted around the world in search of sporting glory.

Now, they were treating their time in China as the holiday of a lifetime, texting photos of their excursions to their defeated offspring.

Derval O’Rourke still laughs at the memory.

“Myself and David were both really disappointed, and our parents were telling us what a great holiday they were having,” the Cork sporting legend says.

“We were in the Olympic Village and I was going, ‘are you kidding, can’t you see we’re devastated?’ They were absolutely thrilled, sending us pictures of a market they had been to.”

Rob Heffernan, Derval O'Rourke and David Gillick were recording a podcast at Take Nine Studio located at Swans Nest Business Park, Cork. Pic: Larry Cummins

Derval, who retired at 33, says the close bonds formed on Ireland’s Olympic squads are an enduring phenomenon.

Both David, and champion racewalker and fellow Corkonian Rob Heffernan, were in attendance at her wedding.

Now, in the lead-up to Paris 2024, the trio are launching a podcast that sees them delve into the trials, tribulations, and triumphs of competing for Olympic glory.

Medals & Mics is a 12-part series in which Derval, David and Rob revisit everything from early role models to training regimens, and the impact of retirement.

They cover an enormous amount of common ground, as well as a lot that, despite their closeness, they have never discussed before.

“I knew Rob and David unbelievably well,” Derval says.

“I didn’t have any brothers growing up, so they were weirdly like brothers a lot of the time. But even though we spent 20 years trying to do the same thing, we never would have sat down and actually talked about a lot of it until now.”

“I guess in this podcast we are getting to ask each other the questions that not a lot of people would ask us,” David agrees.

“As much as we know each other, and have been on the same teams and gone to the same championships, we’ve probably rarely sat down and actually spoke about our journeys,” he says.

”There are commonalities, but different perspectives too.”

Rob Heffernan, Derval O'Rourke, and David Gillick recording a podcast Medals & Mics at Take Nine Studio located at Swans Nest Business Park, Cork. Pic Larry Cummins

David, who retired at 30 following an injury, says that while episode one of the podcast sees the trio of champions go back to childhood to explore their early motivations for getting into athletics in the first place, the series — timed to run right up until a hotly anticipated opening ceremony for Paris 2024 on the banks of the Seine — will cover a lot of ground.

“The first was very much our journey and the hard slog and all the rest of it,” he says.

“In future episodes, we’ll be covering the more immediate things like getting there, and what life is like in the Olympic village, and the various highs and lows and the crossroads we’ve all had.”

The record-breaking sprinter has himself been no stranger to lows, and has been open about the depression he suffered following his retirement from competing.

He says that normalising the conversation around adjusting to retirement would be a big help to the current crop of young Irish Olympians, who are dreaming big as they prepare for Paris 2024.

“In certain circumstances, retirement won’t happen on your terms and that’s the hard part,” he says. “When the sport retires you, as opposed to you retiring from your sport.

“In my case, I rushed things. My athletics career ended and I was like, I need money, I need a job. I never actually sat back to take stock, or even to talk about it. So having a conversation about retirement and getting people to normalise that is very important. Can athletes be a little more holistic in their lifestyles, think about what makes them who they are, what other super powers they have? It’s not defeatist or morbid, it’s part of sporting life.”

David Gillick, Derval O'Rourke and Rob Heffernan were recording a podcast at Take Nine Studio located at Swans Nest Business Park, Cork. Pic Larry Cummins

All three Olympians now work in media, with Derval and Rob providing in-studio RTÉ commentary for athletics events and David set to conduct trackside interviews from Paris 2024.

Nowadays, both Derval and David express a certain amount of relief to be watching and providing commentary from the sidelines as the Irish hopefuls compete, though Derval says she will feel nervous for the most hotly tipped of the competing athletes.

“I get really genuinely nervous for any Irish athlete who has expectations around them,” she says.

“The likes of Ciara Mageean, Rashidat Adeleke and Sarah Lavin are going into this Olympics with expectations, and I get awful butterflies in my stomach for them. I think the three of us have a deep understanding of what they’ve put in to be at that level, and how much it not going well can affect you.”

Five-time Olympian Rob Heffernan also has significant skin in the game at Paris 2024. He coaches Swedish racewalker Perseus Karlström, who won the World Racewalking Cup in Turkey this spring.

Having coached numerous athletes and founded an athletics club in his native Cork, and now with the added experience of being a dad to promising young Premier League soccer player Cathal Heffernan who signed with Newcastle United last summer, Rob is keenly aware that the combined weight of his, Derval’s and David’s experience is something that younger sportspeople can benefit from in the lead-up to the Olympics.

“At the end of the day, it is just another race. There’s a massive amount of hype about it, but if you can stay in your own lane and stay focused you might get through,” he says.