‘All I wanted was someone to wave a magic wand and for me to not be injured’

Life at the elite end of sport may be filled with great rewards, but it’s a career that brings with it great stress. Thomas and Jessie Barr know all about such challenges. Cathal Dennehy caught up with them to get an insight into the mental aspect of high-performance sport.

Siblings Thomas Barr and Jessie Barr at the launch of the Irish Life Health 'Runuary' Campaign earlier this month. Picture: Sam Barnes

Life at the elite end of sport may be filled with great rewards, but it’s a career that brings with it great stress. Thomas and Jessie Barr know all about such challenges. The siblings from Dunmore East in Waterford are both Olympians and they now stand on opposite sides of the competitive divide. Thomas, 28, is training full-time for the Tokyo Olympics where he hopes to improve on his fourth-place finish in Rio, where he missed a medal by one-twentieth of a second. Jessie, 31, retired from athletics in 2018 after several years of injury and became a sports psychologist, working with a range of Ireland’s best at the Sport Ireland Institute. 

Cathal Dennehy caught up with them to get an insight into the mental aspect of high-performance sport.