Safety net gone after period of transition for Mona McSharry

Mona McSharry heads back to Paris with a new mission in mind - a first European long-course medal.

MAKING A SPLASH: ‘Now I have to make smarter decisions and pick competitions where there is prize money so I can hopefully break even on travelling,’ says Mona McSharry. Pic: Dan Sheridan/Inpho

Mona McSharry's Olympic bronze medal is mostly tucked away in a wardrobe in Tennessee, but it has made the journey back to Paris with the Sligo swimmer this week.

"I forget about it, to be honest," she admitted with a laugh. "I moved house recently and it was packed away in storage somewhere. I probably should have it sitting out where I can see it and remember what I achieved."

Two years and a week on from when it was put around her neck in the City of Light, McSharry finds herself back there with a new mission in mind - a first European long-course medal.

The setting is different. The European Aquatics Championships will take place in the Olympic Aquatic Centre in Saint-Denis rather than at La Défense Arena, home of Racing 92 and those glorious summer nights in the pool in 2024.

She will compete in the 50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke, beginning with Tuesday morning's heats in the 100m, and is one of several realistic Irish medal contenders.

Swim Ireland has brought its largest-ever European Championships team, with Olympic champion Daniel Wiffen continuing his comeback following appendicitis - and a silver medal in the 1500m at the Commonwealth Games - while Ellen Walshe, Danielle Hill and John Shortt are also among those hoping to challenge for medals.

"I know I have the ability to be on the podium," McSharry said. "But rather than thinking I deserve to be there, I'm just approaching it knowing I can compete with whoever makes the final.

"I'm taking it round by round, knowing I have the potential to get my hand on the wall first, and then just seeing what happens on the day."

Success would cap a period of transition for the 25-year-old. She officially became a pro athlete in May, after completing her Master's degree at the University of Tennessee.

It marked the end of six years as a scholarship swimmer and it meant that her financial safety net has disappeared. "That's the biggest challenge," McSharry said.

"While I was finishing school I still had that support, but now I'm paying for everything myself. Being on scholarship allowed me to be a bit more relaxed. Now I have to make smarter decisions and pick competitions where there is prize money so I can hopefully break even on travelling.

"I'm lucky because I'm a carded athlete and I get support that way. Whether I'll walk away from swimming with money, I'm not sure. But it's worth it and I'll figure everything else out."

She is thankful that her environment remains the same and she will stay in Tennessee until after the LA Games, when she plans to return to Ireland.

She still trains in Knoxville under the same coaching staff, has access to the same facilities and remains part of a small professional training group that includes several international swimmers. She laughs that she preferred cooking her own meals anyway, and she has long since established her own physiotherapy arrangements.

However, McSharry's decision to turn pro was far from inevitable. Following her second Olympics, McSharry stepped away from swimming for six months.

She travelled along the west coast of America before returning to complete her final NCAA season and, at one point, genuinely believed it might be the end.

"But I fell back into swimming so easily," she recalled. "I thought, 'Maybe let's see how Worlds go this summer.' Sadly I got sick so I didn't really get to show myself there. But I realised I still had the hunger to perform."

A year on from Paris, a conversation with the sports psychologist who had worked with her before the Olympics proved the pivotal moment in making her choice.

"I remember talking through my Olympic race again and then talking about possibly doing LA," she recalled. "I got really excited. That's when I realised maybe I wasn't ready to be done.

"I sat on it until May and then decided I really did want to give it another two years. I didn't want to force myself into it. Now I'm excited and I think it'll fly by."

One unexpected benefit of life as a full-time athlete is that, for the first time in years, there are no academic deadlines competing for space in her mind.

"It hasn't really hit me yet," she admitted. "It still feels like I'll have to go back to school in September, but I won't. It'll be nice not having part of my brain focused on assignments. I can just relax or take a nap.

"I probably keep myself too busy. I like gardening, knitting and all those sorts of things. The problem is actually sitting down and relaxing."