Proud of all the athletes

Following the performance of our boxers at the Olympic Games, particularly Katie Taylor winning gold, we are all proud of them for their achievements.

However, I bear equal pride for our other athletes, who worked as hard, but who sadly could not achieve a medal in London.

We have sprinters and hurdlers, Paul Hession and Derval O’Rourke; sailors, like Annalise Murphy; high jumpers, like Deirdre Ryan; even judo competitors, like Lisa Kearney. These people have been training, like Taylor, and while we can be immensely proud of her achievements, why can’t we show equal pride and respect for these athletes? I’m sure Hession, Ryan, and Kearney got out of bed every morning like the boxers, and put their bodies through muscle-burning pain to do one thing, with passion and pride in their hearts — represent this country.

I, for one, would like to thank them all for working so hard, for travelling to London and doing their best for Ireland.

Cian O’Connor won a bronze medal in the ultra-competitive individual show-jumping, and yet he returned to Dublin airport the following day without even a whimper, a cheer, or a word of congratulations.

I watched O’Connor’s event, and my heart near beat clean out of my chest when he jumped agonisingly close, within 0.02 of a second of a gold medal jump-off. Cian, thank you, also, for your hard work.

Ireland has a long history of jumping on the bandwagon, and I know people chanted Taylor’s name this week, having never known who she was before that.

Taylor was the finest female Irish sports star ever before getting on a plane to London, and yet most of the country didn’t appreciate her until now.

I am proud of Katie, and all the medallists, as we all should be, but just because they didn’t win, I am equally as proud of each and every member of Team Ireland at London 2012. Just because you don’t know their names, and they didn’t win Olympic medals, does not mean they aren’t heroes.

Justin Kelly

Edenderry

Co Offaly