Oliver Callan spoke to former Paralympians Michael McKillop and Peter Ryan who join the RTÉ Sport commentary teams for the 2024 Games. Follow the action on RTÉ2 and on RTÉ Player from August 28th.
Runner Michael McKillop is gearing up to join the commentary team at RTÉ Sport for the 2024 Paralympic Games. Recently retired from Paralympic competition, the Cushendall native spoke to Oliver Callan about his memories of past Paralympic Games and the importance of getting behind Team Ireland in 2024. Oliver also spoke to former Paralympic cyclist Peter Ryan, who will also be commentating for RTÉ Sport.
A veteran of four Paralympic Games and winner of four gold medals in the 800m T37 and 1500m T37 events, Michael McKillop has banked some incredible sporting memories. But one moment from the 2012 Games outshines the rest, when he came face to face with the woman who has been his champion from birth: his Mum:
"She had the lucky special moment to hand over a Paralympic gold medal to me and she was the first mother to ever present her child with an Olympic or Paralympic medal."
Michael’s Mum Catherine was working as an ambassador for the sponsor of the 2012 Games in London when her son won double gold in the 800m T37 and 1500m T37 events. Michael didn’t know full details of his Mum’s involvement at that moment, so it was an emotional encounter as well as a historic one. It was also a vindication of the hard graft of so many parents, he says:
"For me, that goes down as the greatest moment of my career. It was a moment of showing to the world that parents are vital to anyone with a disability. They are the rock. I think my Mum had won, because her son had accomplished so much."
Michael was born with cerebral palsy and sport played a role in his physical therapy from the outset. Both of his parents had been competitive athletes and Michael says they encouraged him to excel:
"My life with a disability started at birth and my diagnosis was at 2 years and 10 months. And I think they learned a lot from having a disabled child. No parent wants to have a child with a disability, but they used it, and alongside my mother, they used it as a positive and tried to encourage me into every single thing they possibly could."
Hurling was Michael’s first love, but then following in his Dad’s footsteps, he turned to running and his Dad Paddy became his coach. David says the sport has been good to him:
"I’m very blessed and lucky enough to have fallen into a sport that has allowed me to travel the world and give me those medals and give me those moments to stand on the podium an hear Amhrán na bhFiann and walking away and seeing the smiles and the atmosphere that I created from winning that medal."
David is a passionate advocate for the Paralympic Games and he believes they are a great opportunity to show para-athletes at their best and raise the profile of the event:
"The way I look at it, Paralympics Ireland and the athletes at the Paralympics, They’ve got to step up to the plate. They’ve got to show the nation that they’re good how they’re going to compete at an elite level."
Michael is confident that Ireland’s Paralympians will give it their all, but he’s also calling on the public to back them:
"The most important thing is for the nation to get behind these athletes."
In the years since Michael’s first outing at the Paralympic Games in Beijing, he says awareness of the Games has been steadily growing:
"In 2008 it was a very small amount of people that would have recognised the Paralympic movement. In Tokyo, you started to see the nation get behind the Paralympians and I think it’s now when it’s closer to home, it’s in Paris, you’re going to see a lot more Irish people with a lot of tricolours in the stadiums and getting the opportunity to travel to a major games."
We need capitalise on Team Ireland’s great performance at the Olympic Games and use it to benefit the Paralympic events, David says:
"I think it’s 100% now the time to really get behind and use the Olympics as the bounce we really need to see another group of athletes going and doing the best they can and win medals."
Former Paralympic cyclist Peter Ryan agrees. He’d like to see Paralympic sports being followed all year round; and the coverage of the games is a great place to start:
"It’s throwing a light on sports that we’re not looking at all year round. And there’s that extra piece of, like say the disability story – the backdrop - what it means to parents. It’s going to cover a multitude. We’re asking people to just get in behind it and see what happens!"
From August 28th, you can watch over 100 hours of coverage of the 2024 Paralympic Games on RTÉ2 television and on RTÉ Player, with further coverage on radio and other platforms. For more information on the games go here.