AN EXCITING DAY SIX FOR TEAM IRELAND AT THE YOUTH OLYMPIC GAMES

Day six at the Youth Olympic Games was a busy one, with Mona McSharry finishing fifth in the women’s 50m freestyle final, gymnast Emma Slevin placed sixth in the All-Around while Lusk’s Miranda Tcheutchou is lying in 15th in the women’s 3kg hammer throw.

 

Swimming:

Mona McSharry finished fifth in the finals of the women’s 50m freestyle with a time of 25.54. A pleased McSharry commented;  “I’m feeling good, that still exceeded the expectations I had for the fifty, and to be honest after last night’s performance I couldn’t but be happy. Obviously, it didn’t happen tonight but I’m still really happy to get a PB in the 50 and to see where I could have come if I had done that time. The 50 is a hard race to master and everything just needs to be perfect.”

 

Mona continued; “I thought my start was really good. I definitely feel like I died a bit in the end compared to yesterday when I just powered through it. I feel really happy that in the three swims that I’ve done, I’ve made the finals in all of them.”

 

Gymnastics:

Gymnastics sensation Emma Slevin has surpassed her own pre-competition expectations to finish sixth in the All-Around with a score of 50.499. Slevin commented; “It went unreal, I can’t even believe it, it just feels like a dream. I hit over 50 twice now, and that’s a PB definitely.”

 

Slevin came to Buenos Aires with the focus on good performances, but with finals not guaranteed, “I wanted to do good but I never even thought I’d make finals, and to be coming sixth in the world now is unreal.”

 

In the All Around, athletes compete in four events, achieving scores for each routine. The person with the greatest overall score at the end is deemed the winner. Renmore Gymnastics Club member, Emma was one of the first to complete the final rotation, resulting in a long wait where she saw herself move down through the rankings, from number one, a position she held for some time,

 

“I didn’t really mind [waiting], because I knew all the stronger nations still had to go. So even being at the top for a few minutes is just unbelievable. I started on vault, and got a PB in that. Then bars was really good. I only got 0.1 less than qualifiers, so that was really, really good.  I stayed on the beam, so that’s a bonus! And floor, I injured myself in the warm up, just landed short on my ankle, but pulled through and did the routine so it was good”

 

Emma commented further; “It  [the injury] wasn’t bad, it was fine, I just need to walk it out and loosen it, and then I’ll be fine, I just knew I had one more routine and that’s it!” Slevin got up to finish her routine, “That floor routine was special, I really enjoyed it. I stayed focused, made sure I finished strong as always.”

 

Slevin was quick to thank the people who have been tirelessly to make it happen; “There’s been massive support, Thank you everyone for all the support, it’s amazing!”

 

Atheletics:

After stage one in the Hammer Throw 3kg, Miranda Tcheutchou is lying 15th based on her first score of 54.65. The next three throws were registered as fouls. Disappointed with her performance in the first stage the Canada based Lusk athlete said; “That was really bad for me. I thought I was going to do better. In practice I was in good shape, but it ended up not going so well. So, I hope I’ll just get better during the next competition. Next time I’m going to just go for it, that’s all I can do.”

 

Tcheutchou will be competing in the second stage next Monday, with her overall score being a combination of today’s score and Monday’s score, and while she acknowledges that as a possibility, she added, “at this point where I’m standing, I’ll have to throw something really extraordinary to be ranked well.”

 

Another busy day ahead in Day Seven of the Youth Olympic Games, Lauren Crowley Walsh and David Kitt are on the golf course this morning in the Mixed Team tournament with Tanya Watson making her Youth Olympic Games debut in the 10m platform (diving). Emma Slevin will compete in the women’s vault final Miriam Daly will also make her Youth Olympic games debut today in the women’s 400m hurdles.

 

Team Ireland in Buenos Aires comprises of a squad of 16 athletes from 9 sports. The team of 5 male athletes and 11 female athletes includes Nhat Nguyen (Badminton) and Mona McSharry (Swimming), recipients of Olympic Solidarity Scholarships which were awarded to assist with qualification and preparations for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

 

This is the third edition of the Youth Olympic Games which are hosted every four years. The Games, running from October 6 to October 18 will feature more than 4,000 talented junior athletes aged 15 to 18 from 200 countries in over 32 sports.

 

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