"I didn't grow up playing camogie to get boxed in."
Who could forget Ciara Mageean's joyous post-race interview with David Gillick after she clinched European Championships gold in the 1500m in Rome just a couple of months ago.
Beyond being eminently quotable, it was a moment that drew viewers right into the heart of a moment of accomplishment for an athlete who's had more than her share of ups and downs.
Unfortunately, the start of this week was one of the low-points.
On Monday, Mageean announced that she would be unable to take part in this year's Olympics, a "painful chronic Achilles issues" making it impossible for her to compete in the 1500m heats at the Stade de France on Tuesday morning.
While the PA announcer did call out her name ahead of the third and final heat, her absence was felt as the leading light of the Irish trio in the women's 1500, who would have been coming into these Games propelled by European success and an array of craft and know-how.
So it was left to Sophie O'Sullivan and Sarah Healy to fly the flag over the distance in the first event of the day in the stadium on Tuesday morning.
O'Sullivan, daughter of the legendary Sonia, was first to take to the track just after 10am local time and with only the top six qualifying directly for the semi-finals, seventh place and a personal best time of 4:00.23 was a marker for the future - especially considering she set the eighth fastest time of anyone from all three heats and her momentum had been impacted mid-race by a bout of jostling from Japan's Nozomi Tanaka.
Sophie O'Sullivan was happy to get a new personal best but "a little annoyed" to miss out on automatic qualification for the 1500m semi-finals by one place
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) August 6, 2024
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She will go into Wednesday's repechage, as will Healy who was equally unfortunate not to blaze a trail directly into the semis.
Heading towards the final straight in the second heat, the Monkstown native was holding onto that pivotal sixth spot but with New Zealand's Maia Ramsden bearing down on her, the pressure was on.
Unfortunately for the 23-year-old, just as she fell over the line, she had been pipped by the Kiwi runner in the last few metres.
🇮🇪 @JessieBarr247 reviews Tuesday on the track for @TeamIreland at the Stade de France w/@RafDLeitrim as Sophie O'Sullivan and Sarah Healy ran in the 1500m heats and Sharlene Mawdsley and Sophie Becker aimed for the 400m semis from the repechage #Paris2024 #olympics #rtesport pic.twitter.com/dCnuf7KbMy
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) August 6, 2024
The repechage will offer another opportunity for both her and O'Sullivan to try and progress into the semis.
But at 23 and 22 respectively, two starlets of the underage ranks showed there are green shoots there in terms of the longer-term successors to Mageean over 1500m.
As sports psychologist and London 2012 Olympian Jessie Barr said from the vantage point of the broadcast booth up in the stands after watching those heats as well as the so-near-yet-so-far experience for Sharlene Mawdsley and Sophie Becker in the 400m repechage, O'Sullivan and Healy showed up well.
"We had two bittersweet moments for our women in the 1500 metres," she said.
"(Sophie O'Sullivan) is set up nicely for the repechage tomorrow. Same fate for Sarah Healy, seventh by millimetres. She was just passed in that last 20 metres, just lost the legs but again will be in that repechage tomorrow 12.45pm local time."
O'Sullivan will again run in the first heat on Wednesday, with Healy in the second. The margins will be tighter in the repechage with the top three from each heat advancing but given both have competitive PBs of 4:00.23 and 3:57.46 respectively, they will fancy their chances of trying to put themselves in the mix to reach the semi-finals.
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