Athletics chief: Rob 'a great inspiration'

Rob Heffernan will enjoy a double homecoming in Ireland today, after reaching the summit of his career at the World Athletics Championships.

His gold-laden flight from Moscow will touch down at Dublin Airport at 5:10pm this evening, before he will be whisked off to his native Cork city for an open-top bus parade later tonight.

It’s been a hectic 48 hours for the newly-crowned 50k walk world champion, with a special stadium interview to the fans after his gold-medal presentation at the Luzhniki last night.

Heffernan has also been in constant demand from TV stations since his victory on Wednesday morning.

Athletics Ireland chiefs believe the Corkman’s triumph will leave a long-standing legacy for the sport of race-walking.

AAI high performance chairman Ray Flynn, who has been involved in race-walking for over 20 years, feels both the discipline and athletics in general will finally get its due – and that it will be a help to Ireland’s people at a time of major difficulty.

Flynn said: “It’s great to have in the country, the win has come at a brilliant time. The country is probably on its knees, and needed a lift. It got it.

“I know the media are a bit obsessed with local sports but this a worldwide sport.

“He’s done it on a world level, and it’s a great inspiration for the young generation.

“Sometimes I thought I would never see days like this week, with the victory and the medal ceremony.

“Rob is so inspirational, and especially for the athletes at home. They can take a lot from what Rob has done.

“He did it from a home base, albeit he was also hanging on the coat tails of the Spanish and Polish systems down through the years.

“He basically has done it himself. He created his own system around him and has shown it can be done.”

Team manager Patsy McGonagle feels Heffernan’s victory was not only down to his ability and almost flawless technique, but also his determination not to give up.

“It’s a great story in every respect – a story about an athlete that stuck with athletics with his ambition and focus for so long.

“He wasn’t for giving up. He kept coming back into the arena despite fourth-places at Europeans and Olympics.

“Under-23 level, Olympic Games, World Championships, European Championships – all those disappointments, and then moving onto London. That could have put any man over the top.

“He bounced back, he got it refocused. It’s one of the best Irish sports stories of all-time in my opinion.”

McGonagle has seen Heffernan come incredibly close to medalling at previous championships, and feels narrowly missing out on a medal at the Olympics last year in London gave Heffernan a fresh belief that something even bigger than that was achievable.

“Everybody will remember him for that fourth place at the Olympics. As he himself says, that was a tremendous performance – but it wasn’t a medal.

“But now he has a medal, and he joins those two other legends of Irish sport, Coghlan and O’Sullivan, and that’s what’s great about it.

The Irish public will have its chance to show its personal appreciation of Heffernan’s work ethic and achievement tonight.