Nicole Turner was shaking with excitement as she tried to process her brilliant Paralympic Games silver medal-winning performance in the S6 50m butterfly final on Monday morning.
The 19-year-old from Portarlington got home in a time of 36.30 to seal a spot on the medal podium and achieve a long-held dream.
Turner came fifth in the same event five years ago in Rio, but this time she had enough to burst into the top two.
"It hasn't sunk in at all," she told RTÉ Sport afterwards.
"The aim after Rio was to get on the podium in Tokyo but I ever in a million years thought it would be silver; I always thought it would be a fight for bronze.
"I think I was shaking before the race even started to be honest! The past five years have been pretty challenging but I suppose the extra year [due to the Covid-19 pandemic] did me justice."
Turner had an army of supporters cheering her on in Co Laois and she took the chance to pay tribute to the team behind her success.
"It's not just for me. My coach Dave Malone has given up every hour of the day to come in, all sorts of times to train me. My S&C coach Niamh Buffini has taken me one-to-one for the last two years now. And then my mam and my dad. My mam drives me to and from training every day. Without her I wouldn't be standing here today.
"It feels like a dream come true. This is honestly the best day of my life. It's for everyone at home - it's not for me."
