S PO RT
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true/1629984346353.jpg--.jpg?1629984348000 Associations European Athletics Championships.
The following year, she was contacted by the Great Britain para-rowing team
and became one of the first athletes to represent them, where she succeeded in winning Gold in 2004 and 2005. However, multiple rib injuries kept
her out of the boat for a number of
years which only served to affect her confidence and motivation. Then, in
2010, after realising she was eligible
to play for Ireland, because her father is from County Donegal, she ended up training for the Olympics but
unfortunately missed out on selection. However, things took a turn for the
better when the Irish para-cycling coach gave her a trial in August 2011, and she never looked back. She took to tandem
cycling very quickly however the London Olympics proved to early for a medal,
but Dunlevy reflects that it was really an event to gain exposure and experience. In 2014, Katie teamed up with Eve
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McCrystal and, in their first road race,
the pair instantly hit it off and won their first World Championship Silver medal.
The following year the pair won Bronze in the 3k pursuit at the UCI Para-
Cycling Track World Championships in the Netherlands.
At Rio in 2016, Dunlevy won a gold medal at the time trial B event and silver in the road race at the 2016
Summer Paralympics with pilot Eve McCrystal. However, the time trial
remains her proudest moment and she recalls: “I was so happy and
elated but I was in so much pain as
well having given everything…we fell to the floor completely exhausted
and, when I realised we’d won Gold, I just screamed”
Katie became double World Champion at the UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships in September 2017 and the following year she retained both titles becoming double World
Champion again with McCrystal. In
the same year, she won Bronze in the
3k pursuit at the UCI Para-Cycling
Track World Championships. In 2019 she won Gold in the time trial at
the UCI Para-Cycling Road World Championships to become world
champion for the third time and won Silver in the road race.
In January 2020 Dunlevy and
McCrystal won Silver at the UCI ParaCycling track World Championships in both the time trial and road race,
and then last year the pair won a silver medal at the delayed 2020 Summer
Paralympics in Tokyo in the individual pursuit event.
A few days later, they retained their
title from Rio in the time trial, winning Gold whilst also winning Gold in
the road race to become the most
successful Irish female Paralympian. In 2021, Katie was named the Active
Sussex Sports Personality of the Year having been selected for ‘displaying
and outstanding level of achievement competing at the highest level’.
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