THERE WAS MUCH made of the opening ceremony at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
On the day almost three weeks ago now, as athletes cruised down the River Seine waving their countries’ flags with pride, the torrential rain was said to have put a bit of a dampener on the occasion.
But there was no wet weather in Dublin this afternoon. Rather, a sea of green, white and orange as thousands descended on O’Connell Street to welcome home Team Ireland’s 137 sportsmen and women.
The glorious sunshine went hand-in-hand with the electric atmosphere, the buzz of excitement in the air, the fact that this was Ireland’s most successful performance at an Olympic Games in history not lost on anyone.
Seven medals – four gold and three bronze. Nineteenth in the overall medal table. A record-breaking finish.
Ray Larkin got the 7am train from Tullamore, Co Offaly to the country’s capital to see the homecoming. Clad in an Ireland jersey and cowboy hat and waving a tricolour, he could barely contain his excitement as he spoke to The Journal.
“These are legends. These are heroes,” he said.
“The effort that they have put in, they have all given us a massive lift. We had something to look forward to for a change. We went through Covid, and we never thought that we’d see these days. These are legends.
“You look at some of the athletes, they trained for four years for maybe two minutes to perform, and they kept going. Unbelievable.
We’re going to party for a few days now.
The atmosphere only built as a DJ hyped up the crowd with hits like Mr Brightside, Freed from Desire – a tune that is never far from a sports celebration – and David Bowie’s Heroes.
Dancers also took to the stage to entertain those who had made the journey before the athletes’ arrival.
Nicky from Dublin came to the event with her daughters Alex and Grace.
“I just felt it was important to come out and support them, they’ve done amazingly well, in all the sports. They were unbelievable,” she said.
Alice and Grace are both runners themselves. Unsurprisingly, they said that their favourite event at the games was the athletics – specifically the track and field events. Their favourite athlete? Rhasidat Adeleke.
Children held signs celebrating Harrington’s second gold medal and one girl was seen holding an “I heart Mona” banner to celebrate swimmer McSharry’s bronze medal.
Others sat in windowsills and looked out from above rooftops to catch a glimpse at the celebration.
There were young and old at the front of the barriers, but mostly young. Children of all ages, some on their parent’s shoulders, cheered and held up homemade signs, eager to see their sporting heroes.
This mood was captured by Taoiseach Simon Harris, who spoke briefly before the athletes were introduced.
“We’ve talked a lot about lighting flames, and really what these men and women have done is lit a flame in all of the young people right across Ireland,” he said.
There are so many little tiny kids, including my own, who now believe they too can be the very best in the world, that they can represent Ireland, that they can win medals.
“That’s what they’ve done, and what we will do now is invest in sport because we believe in these athletes and that’s going to be the legacy of these Paris games.”
If these Games have shown anything, it is that they can.
Not long after Harris spoke, they arrived – and the atmosphere went up another notch.
Those athletes that the country had cheered on from their television screens for the last two weeks made their way onto the stage, and O’Connell Street erupted.
It caught some of them by surprise. “When I heard there was a homecoming, I thought it would be a bit like a birthday party when you’re scared no one is gonna show up,” Sophie Becker confessed, before thanking the crowd for their support.
The biggest cheers were for swimming Bronze medalist Mona McSharry, and the Gold medalists: rower Fintan McCarthy, gymnast Rhys McClenaghan, boxer Kellie Harrington and swimmer Daniel Wiffen.
After chants of ‘Kellie, Kellie, Kellie’, the double Olympic champion also hailed the support of the crowd – and the country.
“We’re a small nation, but we’re a mighty nation,” she said.
“To have the support now of this nation for all of us, from the bottom of every one of our hearts, it really does mean the world. Whether we win, lose or draw, to have you all there to pick us up, to dust us off and to help us go again, that’s what matters, so thank you.”
Daniel Wiffen made a prediction when asked whether his twin brother Nathan – who is also a swimmer – might challenge him at the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.
“I’m sure in LA we’ll be both on the podium,” he said, adding that he hoped the country would be able to cheer the two of them on.
“We’ll make Ireland proud with hopefully a gold and a silver – he can have the silver.”
Donegal native Breege Condy came home from Australia last week to visit family, including sisters Mary Bennett and Kathleen Campbell. There was no way she was missing the Team Ireland homecoming.
Wrapped in her county flag, she told The Journal that she watched most of the Games in Australia, including the swimming. Team Oz won 18 medals in the water, including seven Golds.
“Australia is really good at swimming and you very rarely see other countries, but when I saw Wiffen, I went ‘oh my god!’.
“It was just the most incredible thing to be an Irish person living in Australia and seeing an Irish person tip the wall. It was 5am in the morning my time. Then I was awake!”
Mary barely missed a minute of the Games. “I’ve watched for the last two weeks – up from seven o’clock every morning, television on all day. It was absolutely brilliant,” she told The Journal.
“When you think of the effort that these guys have put in to get to here so we can watch them winning a medal and be experts on the couch. It’s just incredible.”
So, what about Los Angeles 2028? “We’ll all be going to LA for the next one. We’re going to book our tickets today,” Condy said.
“Roll on LA.”
We’ll all be watching.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say