Kate O'Connor is back in Ireland following her historic silver medal at the World Athletics Championship in Tokyo.
O’Connor was greeted by family and friends as she arrived in Dublin Airport.
The 24-year-old had initially planned to stay in Japan for another few weeks, but decided to cut her trip short to return home and recover from a knee injury she sustained while competing in the long jump.
Speaking on RTÉ's News at One, she said returning home was a precaution to make sure she is fit to compete next year.
"I've got the next six weeks off and we just thought it was the best move for next year, just to get home, get it scanned and just make sure that everything's okay rather than running around the place on God knows what.
"So, I think it's okay, I'm walking and I'm fine, but it's just more of a medical kind of thing, just to make sure everything's okay," she said.
The Dundalk athlete said it was great to get a big welcome home after her success in Tokyo.
"When you're so far away, you're kind of in your own little bubble. It's nice to come back and see how much it means to everybody else at home as well," she said.
Despite picking up a knee injury in the long jump event, Ms O'Connor said she wanted to give everything to make sure she medalled.
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"The days leading up to the competition, I could kind of see like a little bit of hype online and stuff, and I suppose I've never really dealt with too much pressure going into a major competition, but I was definitely feeling a little bit going in.
"Friday, I just enjoyed every second of the competition. I had already won three international medals this year, so I've already had an amazing year and so my plan was just go in and just enjoy every second, which I did," Ms O'Connor said.
She added: "And then day two, I was sitting in second place before the long jump, and then I dropped into fourth afterwards.
"So again, I was feeling a little bit of pressure, but I knew I was coming into two very strong events for me.
"I was carrying that knee injury at that point, but there was no doubt in my mind that I wasn't going to give my absolute 100%.
"Because these medals don't come around all that often, and I suppose you never know when you're going to get the opportunity again to win one and I was just never going to let that opportunity pass."
Ms O'Connor is the first Irish women to win a medal at a major championship in a multi-discipline event.
She is the sixth World medallist for Ireland, following Eamonn Coghlan (gold, 1500m, 1983), Sonia O'Sullivan (gold, 5000m, 1995 and silver, 1500m, 1993), Gillian O'Sullivan (silver, 20km walk, 2003), Olive Loughnane (silver, 20km walk, 2009) and Rob Heffernan (gold, 50km walk, 2013).
