Katie- George Dunlevy told David Hennessy about her fourth Paralympic Games, having nothing to prove and what those medals mean to her.
This is Katie- George Dunlevy’s fourth Paralympic Games.
After making her bow at the London Games in 212, Katie- George has taken a total of five medals at the last two combined Games in Rio and Tokyo.
She has suffered setbacks this year most notably breaking her collarbone back in May. She also revealed to us she came down with a virus shortly after her arrival in Paris.
However, she feels good with the collarbone injury not being an issue when she is competing.
She is focused on only one thing and that is adding to her medal collection.
How are you feeling in terms of going into these games?
“I’m feeling good.
“I’m looking forward to racing now.
“It feels like I’ve been training a long time for Paris.
“But at the same time, I’ve had a lot of challenges this year.
“I’ve had a really, really busy year.
“I’ve been away a lot, I’ve hardly been at home actually. It’s been a really busy intense year but I’m looking forward to racing now.
“The last race I had was the crash that broke my collarbone end of May, so I’m looking forward to racing now.
“We’ve done all the hard work and just kind of ready to race.
“I’m looking forward to it.”
How have preparations been going? How has it been in Paris?
“I’ve actually been here a week in the village.
“Actually I arrived last Wednesday and on the Friday morning, I woke up unwell.
“I was in bed for three days. I had a virus which is not great.
“I actually haven’t been unwell for a few years so of all times to get it.
“I’m better now.
“I was on track training today.
“I’m just trying to get recovered for my first race on Friday.”
Katie- George Dunlevy competed in athletics, rowing and swimming before she found cycling. The goal was always to make it to the Paralympics.
The Paralympics has always had a special place in your heart, hasn’t it?
“Yeah, it’s the biggest competition of my life really.
“So yeah, it means a lot. It’s really special to be here.
“I’m lucky to have medals as well.
“It’s huge and the world’s eyes are on you.
“Your country are watching what you’re doing.
“It’s such a special thing to be part of because everyone there is elite athletes, especially in paracycling. They train full-time and it is their life and their dedication.
“So the competition is fierce and it’s really extremely tough.
“You have to be in the shape of your life and you have to have the race of your life to do well.”
In 2016 Katie- George and her pilot Eve McCrystal took gold in the time trial B and silver in the road race.
In the delayed 2020 Games they would retain their time trial B gold and add a gold in the road race as well as a silver in the individual pursuit. These medals made her Ireland’s most successful Paralympian.
Those medals are really special, aren’t they?
“Without a shadow of a doubt.
“Actually achieving a medal at the Paralympics is huge and it means so much.
“It just makes all the sacrifices, the highs and lows worthwhile, especially the setbacks that you have.
“I think it just makes getting a medal even sweeter because you just know yourself what you’ve gone through to get those medals.
“It’s actually really hard to explain the feeling and the moment when you win, when you get a medal and when you step onto the podium.
“There’s no other feeling like it.
“It’s incredible.
“I’m just so lucky that I’ve actually been able to do that and achieve that and will have that for the rest of my life.”
It’s always been about the Paralympics even when you were previously rowing.
Had someone told you then when you were having setbacks in that discipline that you would be sitting here with five Paralympic medals, you wouldn’t have believed them..
“Not at all.
“I tried to aim to compete at the Paralympics but had a lot of knock backs.
“When I finished with the rowing, cycling came just at the right time for me.
“One door closes, another one opens and haven’t looked back.
“I just grabbed the opportunity.
“When I was a child, sport was helping me through.
“I was encouraged by my teachers then but to think that I would be a full-time Paralympian but also a Paralympic medallist, I wouldn’t have believed it.
“My dad was saying the other day, ‘This is your fourth Paralympics, would you have ever thought that?’
“I was like, ‘No, no way. Not at all’.
“What a journey I’ve had.”
How are you feeling because you also had that collarbone injury not long ago, didn’t you?
“I’m still rehabbing my shoulder.
“It’s still sore, it was three months ago that I broke it.
“I shattered my collarbone and I had to have an operation so it’s got pins and plates in there holding my collarbone together.
“It was an awful, traumatic experience to be honest with you and it came at the wrong time but at least I did have three months.
“It wasn’t like a month before which would have been terrible.
“But it really completely changed my month of June.
“I would have been training with my pilot and I would have been competing at the National Championships and really ramping up my training after the races that I had in May.
“But actually, I was lying in a hospital bed waiting for an operation and then lying at home recovering.
“Then I had to start slowly on the bike.
“But I just took one day at a time and I just did all I could to try and get myself back as soon as I could.
“Six weeks later then, I was back on the bike for the first time in Mallorca in a training camp.
“I was able to manage all the training sessions and just progress my rehab.
“And really, I just haven’t looked back.
“I’ve just been looking ahead really and focusing on what I can control and that was just to adhere to all the advice that was given to me and look after myself really but train hard at the same time. That’s all I could do.”
Are you going to have to cycle through the pain though?
“I have some mild pain there but the pain is so much less than it was.
“Do you know what? On the bike, it doesn’t aggravate it too much really.
“It’s just general day to day stuff which aggravates it.
“When it comes to the races, I won’t even be thinking about that.
“I’ll just be pushing.
“I’ll have so much pain in every other part of my body, the shoulder will be completely forgotten about.
“When you’re training hard, all the sessions we’ve been doing: My shoulder’s the least of my worries.
“Everywhere else is absolutely screaming at me.
“It’s such an intense sport that the shoulder is no bother.
“I’m lucky that I do cycling and I was able to get back on the bike quickly.
“If I did any other sport where I had to use my arms or my head, it would have been bad.
“I was lucky I didn’t do my leg. I was lucky I didn’t do my hip.
“It could have been so much worse.
“Yeah, I did my shoulder. It’s been awful. It was traumatic but it could have been so much worse.
“I’m here and I’m racing so I’m delighted.
“I could have been at home watching the Paralympics.
“I’m very lucky.”
You have a new pilot in Linda Kelly although you will still be working with Eve McCrystal..
“Yeah, I’m with Eve on the track. They’re my first two events and then I’m with Linda on the road, they’re my last two events.
“I’m racing with Eve in the 1k and the 3k which are Friday and Sunday and then the following week, on the Wednesday and Friday, I’m with Linda on the road. I’m with them both.
“It makes it interesting.”
Yourself and Linda is a new combination that has already been successful. However yourself and Eve has been such a special partnership for years, hasn’t it?
“Yeah, absolutely.
“I think we’re similar. We’re very focused.
“We’re very performance focused and driven individuals.
“I think when you’re on a tandem, it’s such a special thing.
“You’re fighting for that other person as well as yourself.
“And we’ve had that from the get go and we’ve just worked extremely hard so It’s been a great partnership.
“I’ve loved all the experiences, we’ve had great times but it’s been hard times as well.
“But getting the medals with Eve in Tokyo and Rio, it’s been amazing to actually achieve what we were aiming for.
“You never know on race day what’s going to happen.
“You’re nervous. There’s a lot of expectation there and there are a lot of things that can go wrong with the bike.
“For us to be able to deliver and do it together was really special.
“We’re still having that on the track together but on the road, I’m with Linda and she’s very new but she’s going to be great. I know she is. She’s flying.
“She’s a great racer, hopefully we’ll do well on the road as well as the track but all we can do is our best and what will be will be.”
Do you feel different going into this games as opposed to previous ones? I mean having been there and done it and even medalled? Are there less nerves say?
“I’m just as nervous, it’s no different in a way.
“I will just be as nervous and I want to do as well as I did.
“If I get a good race out of myself and I’ve done all I can, and same with Eve and Linda- We couldn’t have done anymore, we will be happy.
“We’ll walk away going home knowing we’ve done all we can do.
“If that gets us a medal, it will be amazing but the competition is absolutely fierce.
“I’m looking forward to it at the same time.
“I have nothing to prove and I have the medals behind me.
“I’m lucky in the way that I have those medals and I have nothing to prove.
“My family are coming and they’re delighted to just watch me race because they have never really watched me race apart from in London. A few of them were there (but) my nieces and nephews were only babies then. It’s great that they’re watching. I’d love to get a medal while they’re watching but I’m not going to put that pressure on myself.
“I’m just going to focus on preparing and going through the process and then just giving our all in the races.
“If that gets us a medal, brilliant but like I said, I have nothing to prove.
“I’ve got all the medals behind me.”
How have things changed since London 2012? Do you think Paralympic sport, and the perception of it, has come on leaps and bounds?
“Yeah, I think it has.
“London did such an amazing job but I think Paris is now going to build on that again.
“The more people see it, the more people will get behind it and see that you have athletes here who are elite athletes training full-time but they have as well as all those highs and lows of training have got life obstacles.
“They have to be trying to break through (those obstacles) while they’re training and competing.
“And it’s their life.
“I think it’s just so inspiring, the stories and I think people should get behind the Paralympics.
“I think the Olympics is amazing but the Paralympics is just another step above that because you just have all these athletes and people who that have the struggles and the obstacles and things that they’re trying to cope with as well as training full-time and being the best at their sport.
“It is amazing.”
Katie- George was born and brought up in Crawley. Her father comes from Mountcharles, Co. Donegal.
Ireland has been good to you, hasn’t it?
“Absolutely, yeah. I’ll be straight on that phone if I get a medal.
“I’ll be coming to Donegal (with any medal I win).
“Of course, Ireland has been fantastic to me.
“My dad’s from Donegal.
“I wasn’t born there but a lot of my family are Irish.
“A lot of them are coming over to watch me and they are all so proud.
“It would be amazing to show them a medal.
“I know they will all be watching back at home.
“All my summer holidays were spent in Donegal and I’ve got fond memories there.
“It’s a very special place for me and my sisters and my mum and my dad.
“It would be great to head back there, hopefully with a medal.
“I’m going to fight next week hard as I can.
“I’m going to give my all and I’m going to have my family there, that’s going to give me the extra edge as well.”
This will be your fourth games, will we see you at a fifth?
“I don’t know really to be honest with you.
“I can’t really think about that at the moment.
“I haven’t really thought about it because, as I said, this year has just been so challenging.
“It’s been mentally and physically challenging this year for me.
“There’s lots been going on.
“There’s been huge demands of me.
“Whether I can carry on that for another four years is massive because it’s huge sacrifice and dedication in my life.
“I really put my life on hold for my sport.
“It is my job and it is my income in a way even though most of it goes on bikes.
“I don’t get much sponsorship or anything like that which is tough, so it’s just whether I can dedicate myself to the sport for another four years because I don’t want to do it half- heartedly either.
“I want to aim to get medals.
“I don’t want to make up the numbers.
“I even might take time to think about that even if it’s a year.
“I’ll see if I still love it and want to do it any longer.
“That will be a decision I make after Paris, for sure.
“We’ll see what this takes out of me, this next few weeks.”
Katie- George Dunlevy starts her Paralympics 2024 today (Friday 30 August) taking part in the Womens B 1000 Time Trial. Qualifying is 1.12pm, final is 3.34pm.
