Delighted Damien shares golden moment

A DELIGHTED Damien O’Donovan, a volunteer member of the Bantry Lifeboat crew, led the parade of victorious Irish athletes at the National Aquatic Centre with a gold medal success he immediately attributed to his coach.

David (21) shared the spotlight with Laura Jane Dunne (Dublin), who added a gold to her success on the opening day. Ireland’s swimmers also enjoyed silver medal success through Tony McManus (Palmerstown ) and Brid Lynch (Templeogue ) while

Karina Houlihan (Glengoole, Thurles) swam into seventh place in her final.

It was another day of considerable achievement by members of Team Ireland, and nobody captured the essence of this special event more than the demonstrative Damien. He punched the air in delight when presented with his medal and ran immediately after the presentation ceremony to share his triumph with his family.

He then literally jumped into the arms of his coach, Clive Seawright, and said: “He’s my coach, he teaches me how to win.”

Damien is the second eldest of seven children of Mary and Ted and, as well as his family, he was supported by a large army of relatives, friends and associates who cheered so lustily at the presentation they drowned out the sound of the PA system.

“It’s brilliant, it’s just amazing,” said his mother Mary. “He was so motivated because yesterday we kept telling him winning does not make a difference we’re just so proud of you for what you’ve done and all the rest of it, but he just gave this glazed expression like, he couldn’t care less about anything less, he just goes for gold.”

His coach, Clive Seawright, testified to his competitive streak. “He’s had his Olympic coaches up here but at home in Dunmanway Swimming Pool I’ve been coaching. I’ve been coaching him for two years on and off, not all the time, mostly during the Summers.”

Clive, originally from Dungannon, Co. Tyrone, has lived in West Cork for 25 years and he added: “He’s an absolute pleasure to teach, an absolute pleasure, because he puts his heart and soul into every single thing. On days when he doesn’t do well he’s devastated.”

There was no danger of disappointment yesterday as his mother explained: “He beat his fastest time. One minute, 46 seconds was his fastest 100m up to yesterday and he did one minute, 42. He turned round and he said to me ‘Mam, gold tomorrow’ and he did a one minute, 35 secs 100m today. Phenomenal, the guy’s phenomenal.”

Emma, one of Damien’s two sisters, spoke admiringly of his drive for gold: “It was brilliant, he’s really determined. I like to swim but I don’t go as often as I need to if I want to compete like him. It is the same for my other brothers, they don’t go that often. I don’t train as hard as Damien at all.”

Damien works in the National Training and Development Institute, Bantry and with the Bantry in-shore search and rescue team. His older brother, Mark, is 23 and the other members of the family are Laura, Ted, Barry, Emma and Jon Allen, who is the youngest at six.

Said his mum: “He won two gold medals at the National Games and about a week afterwards we were going somewhere in the car and he just turned around quietly and he said to me ‘Mum, my dream came true’.

“Wasn’t that a profound statement and this was a profound dream of his and he has worked so hard for this ... do any of us have our dream come true, I don’t think my dream would ever come true anyway, but his dream came true for him and he just worked so hard for this.”

Mary spoke of the significance of the Special Olympics to their friends in West Cork. “The people who have supported him are just incredible, the Team Ireland coaches who have given up thousands of hours of their free time to coach these athletes. They are more than coaches to them, they are minders, they look after them, they live with them. I am just embarrassed and humbled by what these people have done.

“They have given up so much of their lives for them. I just think it’s just a huge joyous day for everybody who’s been involved with Damien. It’s not just Damien, everybody around him has really worked hard for this day.”

Mary’s excitement was self-evident but she remained composed. “I’m just so grateful to everybody ... the people of West Cork were so generous and the out-pouring of goodwill there towards these athletes has just been phenomenal, it’s just been an absolute inspiration.

“There are actually four athletes here from West Cork. The club that Damien belongs to is the West Cork Special Olympic club and it is based in Bantry. There are two people playing Table Tennis, Micheal O’Grady and Emily Maher, and there’s another guy, Joseph Burgoyne; Joseph is involved in the motor activities.