Hundreds of people assembled in Grange car park on Wednesday 14th of August to welcome home Olympian Chris O'Donnell. The twenty six year old North Sligo runner arrived in style into the car park led by a Garda escort in a red open top sports car driven by local parish priest Fr. Christy McHugh.
The double Olympian and European mixed relay gold medalist got an enthusiastic and warm welcome from the assembled crowd. This quiet and modest but confident athlete told MC Austin O'Callaghan from Ocean FM that it was great to get a big welcome in Dublin when the team arrived from Paris, but to get such an enthusiastic welcome in your home town like tonight was really heart-warming and very much appreciated.
O'Donnell told the audience that although this was his second Olympics, Paris was the real deal. To be able to perform in front of your family, friends full stadiums and huge Irish support it was so rewarding, Tokyo had none of this empty stadiums and so many restrictions did not lend to a good atmosphere, it lacked the buzz that the crowds created in Paris which felt like a real Olympics. Roddy Gaynor who was O'Donnell's coach for many years until he went to Loughborough college in England spoke of when he was coaching Chris, of his total dedication to training, diet, exercise etc. He was a young man who never took short cuts and was always focused on continuous improvement and would make whatever sacrifice he had to make that happen. He said he was so proud of his former protégé achievements and to watch him win gold in the mixed relay in Rome two months ago was a big highlight. He said Chris deserves all the praise and accolades that he gets as he leaves no stone unturned in his quest for achieving his goals.
North Sligo AC club chairperson Niall Canning spoke of his delight and of those in the club of the success of Chris, he said he was a real inspiration to fellow club members and his hope was that others here tonight would be inspired to compete in future Olympics.
O'Donnell was literally mobbed by lots of young want to a be Olympians who wanted to get their hands on his European gold medal. He posed for photos and selfies and signed autographs for so many enthusiastic, hopefully future champions. There was a lovely warm friendly upbeat buzz about the whole event which will be remembered by members for a long time.
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