Grace O’Flanagan: International goalkeeper, doctor, cancer-survivor, Olympian?

Irish hockey international, Grace O’Flanagan, along with Electric Ireland is encouraging people to sign up for this year’s Darkness Into Light, which takes place this Saturday, May 8. Pieta and Electric Ireland are inviting people across the country to join them in sharing ‘One Sunrise Together’ and sign up at www.darknessintolight.ie. Picture: INPHO/Dan Sheridan

Perched over Grace O’Flanagan’s left shoulder on the Zoom call is a Lonely Planet guidebook to Tokyo and a bonsai tree. The book remains pristine, unopened since she was presented it as a motivation to make the push for Tokyo 2020.

It was a dream she had to put on the backburner for 2019 with her medical work becoming the focus. Her comeback in 2020, meanwhile, was quickly put on hiatus as Covid kicked in. “I love to try and balance it all but the reality is I had jobs where the hours were too much,” she said yesterday as part of the build up to Saturday’s Darkness Into Light, of which she is an ambassador.