Turning the Rio dream into reality

This week’s European Athletics Championships in Amsterdam is a final chance to book a place on the plane to the Rio Olympics, writes Derval O’Rourke.

Firstly a confession, I love the European Athletics Championships. There is no point in me pretending otherwise.

I competed in them as a junior, an under 23 and a senior athlete. Those races defined different parts of my career. The first time I competed at the European Senior championships was in 2002, I was very young and had no chance. I didn’t make it past the first round. I cried about it and tried to explain to anyone that would listen that I was better than that (I’m sure I was no fun to be around!). The next times I competed, I won medals and broke the Irish record. Those memorable nights were in Gothenburg and Barcelona. They were entirely magical for me and I’ll always feel very privileged to have experienced such career highs.