Mona McSharry: ‘I’d love to beat eighth at my next Olympics’

McSharry is the first to acknowledge that there can be no standing still, noting that it was a 17-year-old Lydia Jacoby who won gold in her race

Mona McSharry cuts a relaxed figure at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre on Tueday. Her eighth-place finish in the women’s 100m breaststroke was the best by an Irish swimmer in 25 years. Picture: Inpho/Morgan Treacy

This is how it’s been. Fifteen Irish swimmers had dipped their toes in the Olympic pool since 1996 and all had found the waters treacherous. Out of the 32 races contested up to Tokyo, none had been in a final. Truth be told, only one had come within an outstretched arm, let alone a fingertip, of doing it.

Andrew Bree couldn’t have done much more at the iconic ‘Water Cube’ aquatic centre in Beijing back in 2008. The County Down man destroyed the Irish record in the 200m breaststroke heats, tearing over two seconds off the previous mark.