Jenny McCauley represented Ireland in the women’s mountain bike cross-country event at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, finishing 23rd in the 31.5 kilometre race over five laps of a technically demanding course at the Parnitha venue.

Her achievement carried a particular resonance – her father Denis Brennan had qualified to represent Ireland in cycling at the 1972 Munich Olympics but was struck by a car during a race in Cork while preparing for the Games, losing part of his right leg and nearly losing his life. He received the last rites on the roadway. He never made it to Munich.

Thirty-two years later, his daughter stood on the Olympic start line for the first time. “When you are getting the last rites on the roadway, the Olympics is the last thing on your mind,” Brennan reflected at Athens.

From Bray, Co. Wicklow, and a member of Bray Wheelers throughout her career, McCauley came to mountain biking only a couple of years before the Games and qualified for Athens with remarkable speed, targeting a top-20 finish.