‘Please don’t call me medal hopeful’

If you didn’t know the back story, there would be questions for Aileen Morrison to answer.

Is she really that negative? Why does she continually put herself down? Are they all just easy words to paste over the hype so she can smoothly get on with the job at hand in London?

At 30, an age when triathletes usually peak, and ranked seventh in the world, just a place behind Olympic favourite Helen Jenkins of Britain, the Derry woman should be a medal hopeful.

But she hates those words. Hates hearing them and thinking about them and living with them as the pressure and the presumption they bring tend to crumble up her flighty spirit like a concertina.

However, there’s no avoiding that back story which makes you realise maybe it is all too much, too soon. Five years ago she was only “messing about” when she borrowed a bike and won the Irish National Championships, and she didn’t even dip a hand into the tub to check the heat of international competition until three years ago. That’s the position she has been put in and it’s got to her more than once.

“In terms of developing triathlon in Ireland, we wanted the attention but at the beginning I was hesitant because there were things written like ‘Morrison going for gold’,” she said.

“That’s just ridiculous and at the time I got really angry because I was sure people would be really let down when I don’t win a medal. I’m not saying that to be down on myself, but there are some very good people out there and chances are I won’t. It’s hard and I’ve had to learn to deal with that.”

And learn fast. Swimming was her background and as a kid she spent her summers in the sea on family holidays near Malin Head. Her sister Ruth made it to international level, but for Aileen it was just the first piece of a much bigger puzzle to drop into place. She didn’t know it then and didn’t know it when she spent seven summers on Donegal beaches working as a lifeguard. In fact it wasn’t until she won that Irish title that Chris Jones — who had worked with the British Triathlon Federation before moving here — approached her and sold Morrison her own potential.

The fact she was primarily a swimmer was key. That’s the case with 95% of top triathletes, as it allows you to get into the lead group for the gruelling cycle. But Morrison still had to be up before five in the morning on Mondays and Fridays to do pool work for the last three years and at the beginning she didn’t even understand the training instructions Jones was sending her. But it was just another obstacle she had to overcome.

One morning, when she found a child had gone to the toilet in the local pool and it had been closed, she was furious as a day was lost. And every day meant progression.

“It took a while for me to see what I could achieve but as time went on I developed more selfishness.

“I used to stop my bicycle and answer the phone every time it rang and wasn’t getting a four-hour ride done. I don’t answer my phone now. If you call me and ask me to ring you back, you know what, I won’t ring you back. Training comes first.”

With that attitude, it surprised her but few others that her international breakthrough came bounding along when she finished third in Europeans in Athlone in 2010. That year, she also had her first top-level podium finish when she was second in the Hamburg leg of the World Championship Series. Last year contained a victory in the European Cup in Turkey and runner-up spots in World Cup events in Japan and South Korea. This year, there were two more podium finishes.

“I’m delighted I’ve done so well but I keep telling people that I’m at the stage in my development where I’m having good races and bad races. So having all my hopes on one day, I can’t categorically say I’ll do well that day. That’s the difference between me and the best. Helen Jenkins never has a bad race.

“I’m still only in this sport at international level three years and other girls have been doing this since they were 12 or 13 and going to national training camps. [The disadvantage], it’s a little bit physical because I’m doing everything I can now but I know in two years, I’m going to be more developed.

“But it’s mental too. There are always gremlins. It would be easy to get a psychologist to de-garble my head but I’ve always gone about these things myself and one of the only ways I can build my confidence is to remember the times I’ve done well.”

If that’s to happen, this morning it will be the medium term she will be reflecting on. Since that second place in Madrid in May, there was a 14th place in Kitzbuhel and a 36th place in her pre-Olympic sprint competition in Hamburg. So where has it all left her?

“Getting to London was my aim and I was always just thinking of that. But I don’t want to merely go and be a participant now. I’m not going to tell you I’m a medal contender at the Olympics, but I know what I can do and don’t want to be here for a jolly.”

Now you know the back story and there are no questions for Aileen Morrison to answer. Regardless of the placings and so long as she reaches her own high standards, it will be a remarkable end to a short but shining journey.