Paralympics Ireland's top-five Tokyo target

IN Agility’s first feature focusing on Paralympics Ireland and its athletes, CEO Miriam Malone outlines the organisation’s aims and ambitions ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games…

Are you enjoying the role since your appointment last year?

Yes, I am enjoying my role so far. There have been some gre at events and achievements that have been particular high points. We hosted the World Para Swimming Allianz European Championships in 2018 which was a major undertaking for a country of our size. That event presented some huge challenges that we had to overcome with our small staff group but we did deliver an extremely successful championship. We also published our newest strategic plan this year. Whenever you produce a strategic plan you are aware of the importance of a document of that type as it charts the future path of the sport and we are very much looking forward to implementing that plan over the next six years.

It has also been fantastic to see our incredible Irish athletes deliver some amazing performances against world class fields. We had a particularly great month in August 2018 when Ellen Keane and Nicole Turner delivered medals in the European Swimming championships in Dublin. Just a week later, we saw our athletics team secure nine medals in their European Championships and we also had Katie George Dunlevy and Eve McCrystal winning world championship gold in the tandem cycling.

What have been your main areas of focus?

Producing our strategic plan; ‘Success Takes More’ has been a major focus over the last couple of years. The process involved an extensive consultation process with our various members and stakeholders. The results of that process then had to be collated and distilled down into key themes and trends which lead to the establishment of our aims and objectives for the plan. It has been accomplished and we can now turn our attention to implementing our plans.

What targets do you have for Tokyo 2020?

Our target for Tokyo 2020 is to be in the top five in the world in terms of medals per capita. This is an ambitious target but one that I think we can achieve.

Jason Smyth is one of the star names of the team - who else should we look out for next year?

Jason has been a great servant to Irish Paralympics and we are very much looking forward to seeing him perform again on the biggest stage in Tokyo. We do have a strong group that will be competing for Ireland in Tokyo. Our athletics team excelled at the European championships and we hope that they will be able to maintain that level of performance. We also have hopes that our swimmers will be at their best again in the pool. Katie George Dunlevy and Eve McCrystal are one of the best tandem cycling pairings in the world and Richie Grimes is showing great form. Elsewhere we will be hoping the likes of table tennis, triathlon and badminton will be sports that can look towards podium finishes.

How does hosting events help to improve athlete performance and raise awareness of para-sports in Ireland?

Hosting an event of the size and profile of the World Para Swimming Allianz European Championships was a major boost to the profile of Paralympic sport in Ireland. We welcomed more than 4,000 people to the Sport Ireland National Aquatic Centre throughout the week of competition. These were 4,000 people that have never had the opportunity to see para athletes of this calibre compete against each other. The Irish media also paid a lot of attention as our athletes competed against some of the best in the world throughout the week. The coverage was excellent across all platforms and people like Ellen Keane and Nicole Turner certainly saw their profiles boosted. However, the most important effect of hosting this competition is that young people with a disability have had a chance to see people like themselves perform at a high level in their own backyard. It has given those young people a visual example of what can be achieved when one sets their mind to it and I think that that is a particularly powerful message.•