Ellen Keane in Covid isolation 12 days out from World Championships

Paralympic gold medallist, Ellen Keane (Swimming) pictured today following her announcement as a Sports Ambassador for Dublin City Council alongside Olympic gold medallist Kellie Harrington (Boxing). The partnership sees Dublin City Council (DCC) teaming up with the two local sports stars to promote the benefits of sport and physical activity in Dublin, while highlighting the importance of a wide and varied sporting infrastructure for a healthy and happy city. You can find out more about DCC’s sport and recreation programmes, services and facilities here: https://www.dublincity.ie/residential/sports-and-leisure https://www.dcswphub.ie ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan

For two years she had dodged it, but in the end Covid-19 came calling. There’s no good time to be sentenced to a week of isolation with a respiratory disease, but for Paralympic champion Ellen Keane, this sure is an inconvenient one.

It’s now just 12 days until the Para Swimming World Championships get under way in Madeira, Portugal, and Keane is heading into her seventh day of confinement, hoping her antigen tests start coming up negative so she can get back in the pool.

Training had been ticking along well of late, with Keane’s showbiz foray in Dancing with the Stars behind her and her sole focus on putting in the hard yards to prepare for another golden swim in her specialist event: the SB8 breaststroke.

It was last Tuesday when things started to go awry. Her team manager had given her a rake of antigen tests and face masks to bring on their upcoming training camp in Fuerteventura, but after starting to feel slightly unwell, Keane took one of the tests, aware that a training partner was due to stay with her that night. 

She was due to fly out with the team today, but remains stuck in isolation, waiting for two negative tests before she can go.

As for the toll it’s taken on her? “I'm actually okay,” she says. “I keep having to clear my throat but generally I've been fine. I do struggle a little bit with the fatigue. It's not ideal. It's really disappointing in terms of the World Championships and the timing of it all.” 

Whenever she’s cleared to get back training, Keane will follow a return-to-sport protocol that will see her closely monitor her heart rate both at rest and during sessions.

“It's going to be low-intensity training for the first few days, and then hopefully start doing a little bit of speedwork and then racing. We'll see what we can do on our training camp. Thankfully breaststroke isn't a 50 free race and an all-out sprint, so at least I do a stroke where you breathe every stroke, which is a little benefit.” 

Keane admitted life has been “an absolute whirlwind” since she won gold in Tokyo last year. “It nearly feels like it was a dream. My parents weren’t able to be there in Tokyo and they’re finally going to get to go (to the World Championships) and it’s even more disappointing that I am a bit sick. I don’t know how it’s going to affect the result.” 

She’s 27 now and has been competing at Paralympic level for 14 years, making her debut at the Beijing Games at just 13. But Keane has no plans to leave the pool behind before the Paris Games in 2024.

“I remember in the lead-up to Tokyo I was questioning whether I’d retire, or whether I’d stay, and then as soon as I finished my final race I said, ‘nah, I need to go to Paris, I need to do this one more time.’ 

“As an older athlete I can fully appreciate what it takes, and the privileged position I am in, knowing my body is still in good shape and able to keep going. Some athletes, maybe their body gives up on them, they can’t keep going through no fault of their own. So I want to do it for them, and I also want to do it for myself – to have no regrets when I do step away from the sport.” 

*Ellen Keane was unveiled as a Dublin City Council Sports Ambassador in a new three-year deal that will promote the benefits of sport and physical activity in Dublin.