Fitzgerald ready to take the Paris Paralympics by storm

Olympic fever hit near record levels over the last few weeks with the Irish team bringing home a magnificent seven medals from Paris.

While the excitement levels have calmed down since its conclusion, all eyes will soon be on the French capital once again with the Paralympics taking place from August 28 to September 8.

Among the Irish contingent is Kilkenny’s Mary Fitzgerald, who will compete in the shot-put - and she’s up for the challenge ahead.

“It’s exciting,” she said. “Even though it’s my second Paralympics I think I have as much excitement if not more as it only happens once every four years. It’s the highest level of sport that I can compete in so I’m extremely honoured to be selected on the Irish squad.”

This will be the Gowran AC star’s second appearance at the global sporting event, but she knows the experience will be a lot different from Tokyo three years ago.

“The build-up to the games I’m more familiar with, but it’s very different to Tokyo in many ways as it was during Covid,” she recalled. “You had to abide by certain guidelines and social distancing. This time around I’m sharing the experience with my family and friends, which is super nice.

“It nearly feels like a home games in a way as Tokyo was a 12 hour flight from London, so it was a very long journey,” the Callan native added. “With the pandemic, family and friends couldn’t travel, so having them around this time will be brilliant.

“I’m older as well and more mature as an athlete in terms of my training and preparation so it’s an exciting time.”

Fitzgerald has been a very busy lady over the past few years as, along with her athletics commitments, she completed a four-year Degree course in Occupational Therapy in UCC and juggled her college work while also training to compete in the last Paralympics.

Now three years on, the Kilkenny star is working part-time but she has focussed fully on her training over the last few weeks.

“I was only 22 in Tokyo and at a much different stage in my life as I tried to balance going to college and my training as a Paralympic athlete,” she said.

“It was a busy time but I still enjoyed it as I met so many nice people who I was able to share my student Paralympic journey with.

“Fast-forward a few years and I’ve qualified for my second games. I work part-time for some of the year but I also have the opportunity to train full-time and I realise not every athlete can do that so it’s great to be able to do what you love full-time.

“I work part-time in the off-season in Enable Ireland and I finished up there at the start of the summer to concentrate on training full-time and I’ll go back after the games in the autumn. I’ve had great support from my employers, so it’s been good.”

Since the last Paralympics, Fitzgerald has competed at events all around Europe. In her achievements she shattered her personal best with a throw of 8:87m at the Paula Radcliffe Stadium in Loughborough, adding over half a metre to her previous personal best. These experiences, as well as competing in the Para Athletics World Championships in Paris last year, should serve her well.

“The more competitions - with good and bad results - the more you learn about yourself and how you compete as an athlete,” she said.

“I’ve built up a lot more competition experience since the last Paralympics and even attending the 2023 Para World Championship in Paris was great to build more confidence.

“I don’t know if it planned or if it was just coincidence that it was there a year before but it lined up lovely in planning out our preparations in what we would do or how long we would stay. All those little factors that would impact us so it was a fabulous opportunity to get a dry run in many ways,” the 24 year-old continued.

The Kilkenny Para athlete has achieved a lot in her life over the last few years and while she has dabbled in different field sports she admits to finding a home with shot-put and how much work she puts in advance of a major competition like Paris 2024.

“When I first got involved in Para Sport back around the time of the London Olympics in 2012 just after watching on TV, I started getting involved in all three of the field events,” she said. “I loved them all as each of them required different skills and techniques and stuff like that.

The Kilkenny athlete will be looking to build on her debut performance in Tokyo in 2021.  Picture: Sportsfile

“I’m really happy with the decision as so much goes into the sport from the strength element to speed but it’s also incredibly technical.

“Overall I train about six days a week so it’s busy but it’s what I’ve always wanted to do,” she continued. “I’ve always wanted to go full-time so I’m really enjoying it all.”

No different to the Olympics, the Paralympics attracts competitors from a host of different sports so it can be a daunting occasion but Mary is taking it in her stride.

“While you try and keep in a same routine or whatever, the Paralympics is still different to any other competition we are involved in,” she said.

“You have to be able to produce your best performance while the pressure is at it’s highest and when more people are watching but that’s what you get into sport for.

“There are more expectations too but it’s still the pinnacle of the sport so it’s great to be involved in it.”

There will be a bit of a waiting game for Fitzgerald as she’s one of the last Irish in action but she’s looking forward to it.

“I’ll be looking to improve on my Tokyo performance and that would be my goal. I finished sixth in Tokyo and I do think I can do better than that so that would be my aim at the moment.

“There’s not long to go now till it all kicks off so it’s really exciting.”