Proud award for Katie-George and Dunlevy family at Áras an Uachtaráin

It has been a busy few weeks for Olympic and World para cyclist, Katie-George Dunlevy, with a return visit to Japan followed by a visit to Dublin where she was the recipient of a Presidential Distinguished Service Award for the Irish Abroad.

Katie-George, who lives in Crawley, London, has been at the top of her sport for the best part of 10 years now, winning gold at the Rio and Tokyo Olympics along with her tandem partner, Eve McChrystal. Her Donegal connection is well known as her father is a proud native of Mountcharles and the family are regular visitors to the area.

On Friday last the family accompanied Katie-George to Dublin where she was presented with her award by President of Ireland, Michael D Higgins. Katie-George and Eve were winners of the RTÉ Sport Team of the Year in 2021.

"It was really, really nice to be recognised and the award was lovely. I'm really proud of the award and it was lovely to be recognised by the  President.


Katie-George with An Taoiseach, Micheal Martin and parents Alana and John as
well as cousin Caitriona O'Doherty

"And with the family being there, it was lovely. They enjoyed it. It was also nice to get time away with the family, which we didn't have over the last few years," said Katie-George, who was also pleased that some cousins came along on the day also.

Prior to her presidential award, Katie-George was back in Japan in November on an invitation of the Masuda Cycle City, where she was based during the 2021 Olympics. Because of Covid and not being able to integrate with the locals at the time, the gold medallist was invited back to show off her gold to the locals.

"The city that hosted our training camp asked us over. So our manager and Gary O'Reilly and myself went and Linda Kelly also came. It was a great trip. It was nice to go back and show them the medals and say thank you," said Katie-George.

NEXT YEAR

Katie-George is already looking forward to 2023 and competing once again, with the main target building enough points to qualify for the Paris Paralympics in 2024.

"We've got our racing schedule; we've got World Cup in May and World Championships in August. Qualification starts next year towards Paris the following year. It will be a busy year. The World Championships in August are in Glasgow, not a big trip," said Katie-George, who added that there will be an exciting competition in Glasgow with the able-bodied championships and BMX also taking place.