Orla Comerford missed out on the final of the T13 100m on Tuesday morning, coming home in fourth in a time of 12.87.
Facing a very strong field, she knew a PB was required to progress. However, speaking after the race Comerford revealed the difficulties she had faced during her preparations.
"Today, the goal unfortunately wasn’t time and progressing through," said the 23-year-old.
"It was when I got on the plane to Tokyo, and it was, in our opinion, a very realistic and achievable goal to be making that final and being competitive in it.
"You know, the expectation for this Games has shifted a number of times this year with injury and we’ve had to adapt to those changes and unfortunately one of them came on the last day of training camp in Narita where I sustained a small tear in my quad so for me the last couple of weeks have been all about being in a position where I could go out and line up on the track.
"I knew there was no way that I could be realistically competitive and pushing for the times I would have expected from myself a month ago so, unfortunately, that was the reality today. The goal after that happened was to line up, to be there, to race, to cross the finish line and to be honest I wasn’t even sure that would happen."
"For me the goal was to be there and to make Brian proud" - @orla_comerford was relieved to be on the track at all for the T13 100m today after a quad injury sustained in training camp and the recent death of her coach Brian Corcoran. #Paralympics #Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/0uZtDJO3i6
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) August 31, 2021
Comerford paid tribute to her late coach Brian Corcoran and thanked family and friends for their unwavering support.
"Lining up was incredibly important for me with losing my coach Brian Corcoran two weeks ago. I saw him the day I left and I know that he was incredibly proud of me being here and being on the plane so for me it was about lining up and being there and I think he was with me every step of the way.
"To his family who have been so strong and so kind, I’m sure this has been an incredibly difficult time for them.
"It’s been a very difficult time for all of us. It was really hard being here by myself. I was lonely not being at home with the Raheny Shamrocks gang and his family and everything like that but I know that, at the end of the day, this is where he wanted me to be.
"He told me as much and so my goal was to be out there and, while I knew I couldn’t make him proud with the times and the performance, I hoped that he would be proud of my resilience and my drive to be out there on the starting line."
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