v1 78 SPORT GAELIC GAMES The Irish Mail on Sunday June 14, 2020 June 14, 2020 The Irish Mail on Sunday GAELIC GAMES SPORT 79 gaa too bonded to their past Association must revisit the historical links to white supremacist and slavery advocate, innocent parties: It is unfortunate GAA clubs like Magheracloone (main) and Castlebar Mitchels (above), as well as a number of others across the John Mitchel country, are burdened by their naming association with John Mitchel (inset) understand the full story behind given fresh impetus in the past him, especially now that we live in a week, none of the clubs have had multi-cultural society and the GAA time to discuss what their name special are reaching out to the new com- means. munities in our country, it behoves ‘If you sit down and begin this anyone to be aware of what Mitchel process of whether certain clubs report stood for – white supremacy,’ should be renamed, you have to be Dungan suggests. clear about what your purpose is in By Mark Gallagher Many club names stand as an illus- doing it,’ Rouse suggests. tration of how the association ‘What is the purpose of the name sprung from the Irish Nationalist of the club and what message do N January 1959, a number of movement in the 19th century. you want to send out? like-minded individuals came Think of all the clubs named Na ‘Michael Cusack published anti- together with the intention of Piarsaigh, or the 18 that are named semitic views, do we go back and forming a hurling club in after Robert Emmet. However, rename the Cusack Stand, take Dalkey, Co Dublin. what particularly made John down his statue in Croke Park, When a name was Mitchel so popular? rename Cusack Park in Ennis and needed, they delved into the ‘When the GAA was founded in Mullingar because of that or do we Ipast. Back in the 1890s a 1884, the Young Ireland rebellion accept it was of its time?’ team called Glasthule was still fresh in the minds of many This past week, Cork County Michels represented the people, it had only happened less Board chairman Tracey Kennedy area and so Dalkey than 40 years before,’ points out his- reaffirmed their commitment to Mitchels was born. torian Paul Rouse. The story went that ‘Thomas Davis and William Smith Dalkey Island was John O’Brien, two others involved, had ‘people at Mitchel’s final sight of clubs named after him. The thing the old sod as the Young about Mitchel is that he was a great those clubs Irelander was being propagandist.’ transported to Van Die- Brian Hanley reckons it also came may have no men’s Land in 1848. down to what was fashionable and Dalkey Mitchels won a Arthur Grif- cist,’ Dungan points out. the pitch, the question must be that those clubs who are named awful lot of people. But I think it ple at those clubs who have no idea place in Mayo last March. clubs mimicked each other. idea who john Dublin junior title during their f i t h , w h o ‘Even in his support for the Con- asked: should 10 GAA clubs be hon- after Mitchel aren’t named after would be timely to start a discus- who Mitchel was, even his contribu- However, perhaps they also need ‘There has always been a fashion brief existence before being sub- called Mitchel ‘a federate side, he thought that Jef- ouring a man who held such abhor- him because of his views on slavery sion on Mitchel and all he repre- tion to Irish history, so we should to grasp the nettle of clubs being when it comes to naming GAA clubs mitchel was’ sumed into Cuala a decade later. fearless speaker of ferson Davies was too soft and too rent and repugnant views on race and race,’ says historian Brian sented. start that discussion now.’ named after a white supremacist. – Mitchel was this huge personality It wasn’t just in south county Dub- truth.’ But there was another side moderate.’ and slavery? Hanley. ‘It is the clubs themselves who The GAA have made great strides ‘In the same way that I believe it in the 1840s, 1850s, celebrity almost, eliminating the Confederate flag lin that new clubs were honouring to John Mitchel, one that is too often As chants of ‘Black Lives Matter’ With a petition to remove the ‘They are named after him because should be having that discussion. It in attempting to eliminate racism behoved Cork supporters to be so when new clubs were founded in from their supporters, although Mitchel. glossed over in popular discourse. ring out around the world and GAA statue of Mitchel in his native he was a nationalist hero and is not simply enough to tell them to on the playing field with Ger McTav- aware of what the Confederate flag the 1880s, he was still a big figure in thankfully it has been a rare sight Thirteen years earlier, long-stand- ‘John Mitchel is two different peo- players such as Westmeath’s Boidu Newry having collected thousands idolised by the likes of Pearse and change their name, but show the ish, its inclusion and diversity stands for, if any of them decided to Irish society. on big match days involving the ing rancour between two teams in ple,’ suggests Myles Dungan, who Sayeh, Kerry’s Franz Sauerland and of signatures, it feels like the time is Griffith. He was a huge figure in volunteers and those involved at the officer, developing an educational bring it to a match supporting their ‘Other clubs just followed that Rebels for some years now. the Monaghan parish of Maghera- presents The History Show on RTÉ Antrim ladies footballer Lara now for the GAA and the clubs to 19th-century nationalist politics and club who this man was and what he awareness campaign with work- footballers or hurlers, I think it fashion. It is the same with clubs Perhaps, in the climate, it cloone was ended as they came Radio 1. ‘It is the same as Oliver Dahunsi have recently shared their examine Mitchel’s full legacy. it’s sometimes under-estimated just stood for. shops being rolled out across the behoves anyone who is involved in a named after Patrick Sarsfield or St is time for the GAA to have a dia- together as one club. At the meet- Cromwell. In Britain, Cromwell is experience of racism suffered on ‘I think it is important to point out how big he was. He influenced an ‘There are probably plenty of peo- country, the first of which took club named for John Mitchels to Patrick. And there was a time after logue about why so many of their ing, it was proposed that the new seen as a democratic hero, who has the Boer War when a number of clubs are named after an Irish cub be called John Mitchels in his statue outside Parliament in clubs in Ireland were named nationalist hero who was also memory of the famous Irish nation- Westminister but we have a slightly after heroes from that war, you unapologetic about his reprehensi- alist who had received shelter in the different perspective of Cromwell had the likes of Tuam Krugers ble views on race and slavery. area while on the run, according to over here. and hurling clubs in Tipperary ‘When these issues come up, it can local legend. Earlier this year, the ‘It’s the same thing with Mitchel. A life story of stubborn pride and extreme prejudice... and Galway named after General end up being part of a culture war,’ club were in Croke Park contesting In Ireland, he is remembered as De Wet. Interestingly, all of their Hanley says. an All-Ireland intermediate final. someone involved with Young Ire- JOHN Mitchel was cause. He joined the to New York in 1853. flogging or other needful advocating the legal ignoramus and a boor; not in 1875 after 27 years in names have since changed,’ ‘It shouldn’t be that. We should There are over 1,600 GAA clubs landers, and this patriot and nation- born on November 3, Repeal Association, got While in the US, Mitchel correction. We wish we emancipation of the Jews, an apostle at all; no grand exile and won a UK Hanley points out. have a discussion about John on this island and at least 10 of them alist hero, but in the US, they might 1815 near Dungiven in involved in the Young edited a number of had a good plantation something he believed reformer, not so much as Parliamentary seat in It’s not simply in the GAA where Mitchel, what he stood for and why are named in honour of John take a different view of him.’ Co Derry, the third son of Ireland movement and in newspapers and well-stocked with healthy was against the will of an abolitionist, except by Tipperary, although the clubs are being asked to consider people idolised him. Mitchel. From Castlebar, with their After escaping from Tasmania Presbyterian Minister February 1848 launched regularly championed the negroes in Alabama.’ God. accident – a man of very result was contested on the implications of what their ‘And then, we need to recognise 31 Mayo SFC titles, to Tralee, where with his family in 1853, Mitchel set- John Mitchel and Mary the United Irishman rights of slave-owners He also stated it was his When the American small account in every the grounds that Mitchel name means. There has been a that there may be people playing they met in the Young Ireland tled in the American south, where Haslett. He was raised in newspaper. while also slamming intention to make Civil War began in 1861, way’. was a convicted felon. long-standing campaign to get for these clubs who, 150 years ago, Society in January 1888 and founded he started a newspaper, The South- Newry, where he went to His writings in that papal power. American people ‘proud he supported the After the Confederates However, days after Washington’s NFL team’s name would have been regarded by a club that would produce the ern Citizen, to promote ‘the value Henderson’s School publication saw him Mitchel was openly and fond of [slavery] as a Confederate cause, losing lost the Civil War, Mitchel that victory, he died at changed from the Redskins, which Mitchel as “innately inferior” and is legendary John Joe Sheehy, many and virtue of slavery, both for before studying law at arrested and charged racist in his views, national institution, and two of his three sons to moved to New York in home in Newry at the age is a racist slur against Native Amer- it time to do something about that?’ GAA players have represented him negroes and white men.’ In his writ- Trinity College. under the Treason Felony describing ‘negroes’ as advocate its extension by the conflict. 1865 and with the fight of 59 and is buried at the icans. So far, in the face of intense The worldwide wave of anti-rac- with pride. ing, Mitchel called black people ‘an He married Jane Act. ‘an innately inferior re-opening the trade in Mitchel based himself for slavery over, switched Old Meeting House public , team owner Dan ism protests prompted by the kill- Mitchel was one of the most sig- innately inferior people’ and stated Verner in 1837 and the He was found guilty of people’ in his justification negroes’, claiming that in the Confederate capital his attention back to Irish Cemetery on High Street. Snyder has resisted all calls to ing of George Floyd in Minneapolis nificant figures in the Irish nation- that it wasn’t a crime, or wrong ‘to couple had two daughters treason and sentenced to for slavery, adding ‘we there was an inherent in Richmond, Virginia, nationalism – spending a A statue to his memory amend the name. has shown that it is time for every- alist movement during the mid-19th hold slaves, buy slaves or keep and three sons. Mitchel 14 years transportation deny that it is a crime, or morality to slavery that and became editor of the short time in prison was erected in Newry It might not surprise you to know one to have a real discussion about century. His writings, particularly slaves’. qualified as a solicitor in and hard labour. He left a wrong, or even a was ‘good in itself’. Richmond Enquirer. before being released (right) in John Mitchel that Snyder is one of the most ardent the past and how it resonates in the Jail Journal and The Last Conquest ‘He was an apologist for slavery 1840 but gave up his for Van Diemen’s Land peccadillo to hold slaves, Mitchel was also During this time, he with help from the Place and a number of supporters of Donald Trump among present. of Ireland (Perhaps) influenced and the Confederacy but he was far practice in 1845 to (now Tasmania) but to buy slaves, to keep publicly anti-Semitic, dismissed US president Fenians. GAA clubs were named NFL owners, donating more than $1 And, if black lives do matter in the many who came after him. He was more than that. In Irish terms, he further the nationalist escaped with his family slaves to their work by opposing movements Abraham Lincoln as ‘an He returned to Ireland after him. million to his campaign in 2016. GAA, perhaps it is time to revisit an inspiration to Pádraig Pearse and was the ultimate white suprema- Given that this issue has only been the status of John Mitchel. 62 SPORT watersports The Irish Mail on Sunday September 29, 2019

INTERViEW By Mark Gallagher

HEN Claire Walsh came to the surface following her first dive at the recent world championships, she blacked out. It was no big deal. In the sport of , Wmomentarily running out of is an occupational . It happens regularly. Walsh had expe- rienced it before in competition. The difference this time was that her parents, sister and brother-in- law were among the crowd on the Cóte d’Azur. As competition offi- cials shepherded Walsh away to do safety checks, fellow divers reassured her family that every- thing would be fine, this was just part and parcel of the sport and their daughter would soon be check- ing her phone, feeling mortified. ‘The sensation of blacking out does feel strange, because the last thing you remember is being in the water,’ Walsh explains. ‘But when it hap- pened in France, my first thought after coming to was “oh shoot, my parents are after seeing it happen- ing.” That was my first concern. They did get a crash course in freediving before going to France, but it can still look pretty scary to the uninitiated.’ Surface blackouts occur when DEEP divers exhale and faint before they have enough oxygen to recover. If an athlete passes out within five seconds of coming to the surface in competition, that effort is discarded. So, Walsh’s maiden plunge for Ire- land in the world championship, when she went to a depth of more than 30 metres, didn’t count. She did what everyone does in such a situation. Regrouped. ‘I had hoped to set a new Irish record going to the world champi- onships, but with my first dive, I ended up diving more conserva- tively than I wanted. Maybe, I Irish freediving record under-estimated the enormity of the whole competition and the nerves IMPACT that would be associated with it.’ Walsh was one of the 140 competi- holder Walsh on the pros tors, representing 47 different countries, that came to Villefranche- sur-Mer, outside Nice, earlier this and cons of competing month for the 2019 Freediving world championships. Organised by the International Association for the Development of Apena (AIDA), in the world’s second the championships have been going for 23 years and this was the largest yet for those divers who want to see how deep they can descend on a most dangerous sport single breath. Walsh’s ambition of flying the Irish flag germinated at the previ- ous championship, held in Roatan to a depth of 44 metres in the free thing in life, it happened by chance. played with a little more depth and experience to flying,’ Walsh Island off Honduras in 2017. ‘I was immersion dive, she hit 36 metres in An avid scuba diver, Walsh trav- found out that there were world proclaims when asked why every working as a safety diver at that the constant discipline. elled through Central and South championships. freediver goes back for more, ‘That and I thought it would be cool to Walsh wants to sustain that rich America four years ago, that took in ‘As a sport, freediving appeals to sense of weightlessness, the sense represent Ireland in competitive vein of form now. She flies out to a diving trip to the Galapagos. my competitive nature and it is a of freedom that you have, the sensa- freediving, although I had to enter Cyprus tomorrow to compete in the ‘I was beginning to find all the sport where you are just competing tion of just being in the water. I am under the French branch of AIDA Infinity Depth Games, which begin scuba equipment a bit encumber- with yourself, testing yourself to looking at ways of building it into as there is no Irish association yet.’ next week. ‘Given how well things ing. I remember I was back in Mex- see how far you can go. my life, training more divers, but it She has gone down as far as 60 went at the world championships, I ico, doing some snorkelling and saw ‘You have to really trust in is a time and money thing.’ metres in training. ‘About the height feel like I am on a roll, so I might as these two lads free dive below the yourself, eliminate any self-doubt Still, there’s no escaping the inher- of Liberty Hall,’ Walsh helpfully well keep it going,’ the 36-year-old surface to caves underneath. and it teaches you how to motivate ent risk in a sport that involves points out. Her aspiration is to go says with a smile. ‘Later that evening, over a beer, I yourself. It is all about being descending into water with no even deeper. ‘I want to go down as But how does someone from asked the two of them about it, what relaxed. When you are under water, source of oxygen. Freediving has far as 70 metres,’ she added. Leixlip discover that she has a they were doing. And they told me you can’t be stressed because eve- been described as the second most It is different, diving in competi- talent for going deep into water with about freediving and the course rything is amplified under there. dangerous sport in the world, right tion. Always more difficult, no apparatus? Like any- they did on this island off Hondu- The things you learn to apply spill after Base Jumping, and while there especially when it is against the ras, Roatan. over, no pun intended, to life outside have been no fatalities in organised very best in the world. And at the ‘I got a flight, a bus and finally a the water, too.’ competition, some of its most recent championships, they also had ‘it is the boat, ended up in Roatan. And And when the bug bites, it is hard famous figures have passed away. to contend with our weather and stayed there for six weeks, doing to return to what life was before. The great Russian freediver Nata- rough seas in the south of France closest to the course in freediving. Walsh did try. Returning to Ireland lia Molchanova, who still has the which saw all competition ‘I came home, full of enthusiasm from Honduras in 2017, she was dry world record for holding her breath suspended for a couple of days. flying that for this new sport I discovered but (as she describes a period without at nine minutes and two seconds, When Walsh did get back in the there wasn’t necessarily a commu- freediving) for a year, time spent died while giving a private diving water, she set two Irish records we will ever nity here. So, I went back to Roatan yearning to immerse herself in the lesson off Ibiza four years ago. within two days, much to the delight for 10 months, learned more about sport once more. Renowned French diver Audrey of her watching family. After going experience’ the sport, did an instructor’s course, ‘It is the closest thing we will ever Mestre died in 2002 while September 29, 2019 The Irish Mail on Sunday watersports SPORT 63

WHAT IS FREEDIVING? FREEDIVING is a form of back in 2016. diving that relies on holding Zechini holds the women’s one’s breath until resurfacing record with a dive of 73m. rather than the use of a Free Immersion is maximum breathing apparatus. depth following a vertical line. Although organised freediving The line may be used to pull has only existed as a sport down to depth and back to the since the mid-1990s, the surface. Molchanov holds the practice has been used by world record here too, with a pearl fishermen and spear-fishermen for thousands of years in places such as the Indian Ocean, Philippines and Japan. The sport is divided into a number of disci- plines. Constant weight (CWT) is the maximum depth following a guideline, with both bi-fins and monfin permitted. record set: Alexey Molchanov celebrates Russia’s Alexey Molchanov holds the world dive of 125 metres last year in record, hitting a depth of 130 the Bahamas. Japan’s Sayuri metres in Dean’s Blue Hole in Kinoshita holds the women’s the Bahamas last year. Italy’s record, also at Dean’s Blue Alessia Zechini holds the Hole last year, when she went women’s world record, down 97m. 107 metres, also recorded in Static apena (STA) is the Dean’s Blue Hole in 2017. term for the breathold endur- Constant weight without fins ance event. The men’s world is CWT without any swimming record belongs to France’s aids, such as fins, being Stephane Misfud who held his permitted. It is considered the breath for 11 minutes and 35 purest form of freediving. seconds in 2009. Natalia Mol- New Zealand’s William Tru- chanova holds the women’s bridge holds the world record, world record at nine minutes, hitting 102 metres in Dean’s two seconds in 2013.

Walsh insists that it’s the mental entirely to the sport for the past side which most novice freedivers year in preparation for the world find most challenging. If you are 35 championships, and survived metres down in the big blue with through a mixture of savings, spon- just a lungful of air, the last thing sorship from Timewise system and you need is a negative thought to Jabes interiors and a gofundme enter your mind. page, Walsh will have to return to ‘The training is really tough. It is work once she comes home from flying the nine weeks straight and really Cyprus. flag: Walsh fatiguing. It is a physically demand- But she is determined to develop is proud to ing sport, but the mental prepara- the sport in Ireland. This weekend, dive for Ireland tion is as important as anything you she is on the west coast, giving div- and (inset) in do in the water. I use visualisation, ing lessons in Mullaghmore, a IMPACT Cyprus in 2017 mindfulness, Buddhist mediation. favoured spot for those searching Together, it is tough going. for Armada wreckage. But the prob- ‘And when I started to do this, one lem in Ireland isn’t just that the of the most difficult things was North Atlantic’s cold silencing your mind. I used to call it isn’t conducive to freediving, but it the news ticker-tape because that is also that we don’t have the depth. is what all those thoughts running ‘You can’t train depth here, not in through reminded me, that ticker- Irish waters. You have to go to tape that runs at the bottom of places like the Blue Hole in Egypt, news channels. And once a nega- where you can swim out for a tive thought comes in, everything minute and a half and you are in a pauses and your body can shut depth of 95 metres with water down. And you don’t want to start temperature of 27 or 28 degrees and thinking 50 metres down if you the sea’s like glass, there is no have enough oxygen. current, and you have 35 metres of ‘The more you train at the sport, visibility.’ the more you realise that relaxa- The sea temperature in Cyprus is attempting a world record weight- The sense is that freedivers must tion is key. The idea of keeping your likely to be in the high 20s also when aided descent, her life chronicled in be on constant edge given the mind empty is not ideal either, Walsh competes in the Infinity a wonderful Sports Illustrated piece dangers that lurk in the sport? because it is natural that it will want Depth Games. It is a bit different to by Gary Smith. ‘Yes is the short answer, no is the to fill up and if that happens, some what she experiences when she Patrick Musimu, a former world- long answer,’ Walsh counters. ‘The negative thought can come in. I just goes for a dip in the Forty-Foot, the record holder from Belgium, top divers at the elite level are going tend to focus on some positive iconic swimming spot in Dublin drowned while training alone in a down to depths of 90 or 100 metres. mantra, or even lines of a song.’ Bay, where Walsh swims all year pool in his native Brussels back in The deepest dive in the sport’s his- There is an evacuation procedure Walsh is a singing coach by around. 2011. Even the tiny freediving com- tory is 130 metres [set by Russia’s that everyone is aware of. If anyone profession (she has also worked as a A friend has roped her into a 30- munity in this country has been Alexey Molchanov last year] which gets into difficulty, there is process puppeteer), so she already had a day challenge in the Forty Foot for touched by tragedy as Stephen is insane, when you think about it and protocol to follow.’ deep knowledge of breathing tech- the month of November. Forgetting Keenan, the Glasnevin native who and that’s why freediving has this AIDA, as the governing body, niques before she began to freedive, that she would just be coming from was a pioneer for the sport here, perception of being quite an takes safety seriously. An Austrian and it helped in holding her breath, the warmth of the Mediterranean, passed away in Egypt two years ago extreme sport. pilot called Hubert Nitsch has gone one of the two key components in Walsh agreed. while helping another diver explore ‘But when you are going to those deeper than anyone else in history, the sport. ‘Yeah, that’s going to be fun, going underwater caves in the Red Sea. depths, you have to be safety-con- hitting 212 metres in Greece back in ‘The breathing aspect came quite from the 27 degree water in Cyprus scious and I do see freediving as a 2014, using a weighted sled for easy to me, just by relaxing. And it to the freezing waters of the Forty safe sport. descent and an inflatable balloon to is something that you practise on Foot,’ she says with a chuckle. ‘i am able ‘Everyone involved in it under- assist his ascent, but his record is land first before going into the But it is typical of Walsh, con- stands there are dangers in the not recognised by AIDA as they water. At the moment, I am able to stantly challenging herself and to hold my sport, but it is no more dangerous deem that sort of no-limits dive as hold my breath for five minutes and testing her limits. That is what her than skiing or rugby or road cycling. too dangerous. 59 seconds.’ sport has taught her. And she may breath for As long as you play by and follow Plunging to the sort of depths that Walsh’s passion for her sport come home from Cyprus with yet the rules, take proper precautions, they do in this sport means there comes through in conversation. another Irish record, the thought of five minutes, it is a safe sport. has to be rules. And divers need to That chance meeting on the which might keep her warm if the ‘And when we are in competition, be clear-minded. Indeed, while the Mexican coast has led to a vocation. goosepimples start to appear as she 59 seconds’ there are safety divers present. sport is physically demanding, Although she devoted herself takes a dip in Sandycove. 62 SPORT WINTER SPORTS The Irish Mail on Sunday February 16, 2020 February 16, 2020 The Irish Mail on Sunday WINTER SPORTS SPORT 63 Traumatised after a knife attack, Brendan Doyle was on the verge of ending it all until a chance train station encounter saved his life

By Mark Skeleton Gallagher one vision: Brendan Doyle has his sights set on brief making the Winter SKELETON originated in HEN Brendan Doyle holds up Olympics in 2022 Switzerland at the end of the his right hand, the eye is 19th century. immediately drawn to his lit- Unlike bobsleigh and luge, tle finger which is turned the race always involves a down at an angle of 90 single participant and the race degrees. An operation, which begins with a running start involves taking a piece of ligament from from the gate at the top of the Whis hamstring, would ensure the finger course. Doyle explains. ‘And you have works again. Skeleton riders travel face- to feel it out when you are in a ‘As a 34-year-old athlete, I don’t really TICKET down and head-first. It has corner. want to donate a bit of ligament from my been a Winter Olympic sport ‘We steer by using our shoul- hamstring to my finger. I’m protecting since 1992. ders or using our knees to twist them at all costs, so I’ve put the surgery During elite racing, the rider the sled. Or we can use our on hold, which is not great because my experiences accelerations up head as a wind-sail. finger has been locked like this for more to 6G and speeds touching ‘We will just drift our heads a than 10 years. The arthritis will be bad 140kph. Competitors can use certain way and the sled will and it’s going to take a lot of work to get it their head or their shoulders to go that way. Sometimes. functioning again. But I will address it TO direct the sled. ‘A coach will tell me just look after Beijing.’ ‘We could hit 6G of where you want to go and the The finger is a reminder of the start of a going into a corner,’ Brendan sled will go that way.’ journey that Doyle hopes will eventually lead to the skeleton track at the 2022 Win- ter Olympics. In the summer of 2009, Doyle was a young Garda, barely a year competing again and more focused sport of experience. You have to out of Templemore and stationed in Crum- than ever.’ get used to being in the middle of lin. He was in a patrol car one evening Doyle has just completed his sea- the storm, going down at 100 mph. that received a call to investigate a domes- son. He spent the past six months, I am 34 now and you have a lot of tic dispute. touring the European circuit, fig- guys peaking in their late 30s, ‘They are a regular occurrence, some- uring out what tracks that suited early 40s. thing Gardaí face every single day. But him best ahead of the Olympic ‘I can never say never again they can be the most volatile calls because qualification season where he will because there has been plenty of they are so personal. You’re an outsider, need to finish inside the top 60 to points in my life where I thought stepping in to mediate and it can be very get to Beijing. The whole winter things were over. I was convinced daunting,’ Doyle explained in a Swords has been spent crisscrossing the my only option was to kill myself, coffee shop last Wednesday morning, just continent, alone in his car. Driving convinced I would never get back ahead of another afternoon in the gym. for more than 20 hours, listening to on the skeleton, convinced after Doyle and his colleague checked for pri- podcasts. Sometimes, he slept in missing out on the Olympics by a ors, to see if there were red flags. his car, so he had enough money to point, that I would never do this ‘When we arrived, the suspect I tried to go back to work, moved Starbucks where we’re sitting. ‘It of helping people, worked hard to pumping, I just wanted to get pay for training on a track. sport again. But here I am, more met me with a wooden bat in his stations in an attempt to change was a completely rational deci- get into the Guards but part of back on the skeleton.’ Last week, the Olympic Federa- focused than ever,’ said Doyle hand. He was angry. I tried ver- my environment. But I was only sion in my own mind. I suppose my depression was that I felt that He reached out to Greenwood, tion of Ireland presented the Beau- enthusiastically. bal reasoning to calm him down. running fromslide my problems and that’s hard for people to under- was slipping away. To make up whose fine finish at the Sochi mont native with a solidarity grant ‘And it’s the guys who keep com- ‘Unfortunately, it fell on those were problems I was stand that train of thought and for that, I got back into track and Winter Olympics put Ireland to ease the burden slightly as he ing back and don’t quit, who go deaf ears. He had still carrying around in it’s so foreign to me now, because field, went back running 60m and among the top seeded of the tries to qualify for Beijing. And it through years of pain and torture, armed himself with a my head. I had I am in such a great spot. But 100m with Raheny Shamrocks. small nations. was badly needed because this is disappointment and financial knife and it was attacks in the patrol where I was then, it was the only And from getting back into that ‘Sean was my point of contact an expensive sport. A set of run- stress, that get the rewards. I am a during the arrest, car, would hide in answer. sport, it put me in a position to and that’s why I spent so much ners can set a skeleton racer back little tapped but I love it.’ t h a t I w a s 60 the bathroom of ‘I got extremely lucky. I went meet the president of the Irish time in North America when I €700, and you need four sets to get And if Doyle does make the injured.’ Brendan Doyle will the station to to a [train] station, had set out Bobsleigh and Skeleton Associa- started back on the skeleton. He you through the season. Olympics in two years’ time, he Corrective sur- need to finish the avoid doing the how I was going to do it. I saw a tion [Sean Greenwood].’ has built up a huge range of con- ‘The helmet is €600. The race suit will spare a thought for the little gery followed. A season in the job. mother and a child and just heard Doyle had gone to skeleton tacts over there. is akin to a suit in cycling, wafer- girl in the train station who nerve in his ‘I was suffering the child say to her mother that school in the Austrian Alps in ‘I would stay in his house in thin, and that’s €1,000. Once it changed the course of his life. t h u m b w a s world’s top 60 to with insomnia for she was so excited about their 2003. ‘It’s very rudimentary. Whistler, he would give me track takes a touch off the wall, it is ‘It was complete and utter removed after it qualify for Beijing five years and when day out, they were going some- They walk you down the track, notes, help me find a coach for going to rip because you are hit- chance. I don’t have any spiritual was lacerated. How- 2022 you are not sleeping, where on a day trip. Something show you left and right. The first cheap. He has done great work, ting a wall at 100 mph. So, you need beliefs, but that was massively ever, it was on leaving you lose that ability to hit me when I heard the child say time on the sled, I was put on the building skeleton in Ireland and I to buy multiple suits. Shoes are situational,’ Doyle reflects. ‘I was hospital that his problems start afresh. My social that and I stepped back from the top of the run. Some guy pushed feel I am taking the torch now, €400 and they don’t last a season at the station at that time, that par- started. circle fell apart because I had no platform, went back to my car me off, saying “goodbye Ireland”. trying to build on his legacy.’ because we drag our toes to change ticular moment when she was tell- ‘It was a tough period. Began energy and had no interest in and cried. I called my friend and I hadn’t a clue what was happen- Doyle just missed out on the direction.’ ing her mother how excited she with night terrors. I had dreams going out. I went out with my told him what I had tried to do.’ ing, hit every wall, skidded. I was 2018 Winter Olympics in And then there’s the transport of was about their day trip. If there that would wake me up, thinking girlfriend for three and a half His friend Donal, while taken terrified but I just wanted to go Pyeongchang by a single point. the equipment. While Doyle bene- had been a red light or anything, I the suspect was standing over years, that ended. I stopped going aback by Doyle’s revelation, told back up again. It was an incredi- There had been some confusion fited from a vehicle from Harris’s wouldn’t be here. me with a knife. Or I’d wake, to the gym and anyone who him he needed to get back to the ble feeling and I loved it.’ initially as he was told he’d on the Naas Road to drive around ‘To this day, it blows my mind. grabbing my hand, thinking it knows me will tell you that I live gym. And that’s what he did. Skeleton school only lasted a earned a place, which simply Europe this winter, any long-haul Something kept me here and I’m was still bleeding. It was impos- in the gym and love my training. Initially a couple of hours a week, week, though, and Doyle went compounded his disappoint- flights are expensive. forever grateful. And the whole sible to get back to sleep. And if I lost who I was without knowing then building it up to almost back to regular life. Joined the ment. ‘I travel with four or five bags, situation is a silver lining now you knew that every time you it. That’s the thing with depres- every day. Guards. ‘Every single day, I was ‘One point is as close as it gets, and each of those bags are over 30 because I have learnt a lot about went to bed that you would be sion, it is a slow burner.’ ‘It gave me stepping stones and in Templemore or in work, I was right?’ Doyle sighs. ‘It was only kgs. It’s easily another €600 on top myself and that I can handle any- woken up this traumatically, Doyle had done everything to put me back in an environment thinking about being on that sled. my second season in the sport. I of your actual flight. Sometimes, thing thrown at me. eventually you stop going to deal with the post-traumatic where I was able to put in a plan, I bought myself a Kawasaki was out in Whistler when I got a airlines might be in a good mood ‘And missing out on the last bed.’ stress and depression. He set some goals and tackle Ninja to emulate the flow of call saying I was going. Then I and they might wink it off. And Olympics has made me hungrier Insomnia took a grip. Unable to went to counselling, tried a decision of whether or going through corners.’ got another call to say I wasn’t that’s a lottery win because the than ever. Maybe whoever sent sleep, Doyle would spend his medication. ‘One morning, not I wanted to stay in When Doyle renewed his ath- going. I went home to Ireland and stress is unbelievable.’ that kid that way that fateful nights, driving around Dublin. I just decided I was going the job that I loved. letic ambition, he rediscovered couldn’t watch the games. Didn’t But he believes it will be worth it day was also saying to me Circling the city on the M50. ‘And to take control. I was sick ‘The Gardaí was the urge to get back on the watch the opening ceremony. when he is standing at the top of to wait until Beijing 2022 when that wouldn’t do the trick, I of the anxiety, the panic my dream job. I skeleton. ‘When I was going ‘As time went on, and it was the track at the Beijing Winter because I will be would start driving to Cork and attacks, no sleep. I had got great job through that dark period, I didn’t closer to the skeleton event, I Olympics. ‘This is definitely a ready then.’ back, Galway and back. Then tried everything to no satisfac- think about the skeleton, didn’t started to log on and look at the come home and maybe have a avail, so I decided I was t i o n think about much. But when I got time-sheets of the competitors, broken hour’s sleep,’ he remem- going to take my own life. o u t back into the gym and started just to see who is going well. bers. I remember that it was as ‘And when race-day happened, A talented sprinter in his teens, blasé as going up there I thought I’d watch a few to see Doyle tried to apply his sporting and ordering a cof- ‘i feel i’m who was doing well. Of course, I background as a way of dealing fee,’ he says, ended up watching every with his issues. ‘The athlete in pointing to taking the moment. I love it, absolutely love me was telling me to get back on the coun- it. the horse. Sport teaches you that ter at torch, trying ‘But I was convinced that I was setbacks happen and you just t h e never going to compete again. have to keep pushing. to build on Being at home, sitting back and ‘Mental health is different. It watching the event, it was tough doesn’t respond if you keep push- his legacy’ going. And it could have went one ing. You will just hit a brick wall. way or the other. But here I am,