THE IRISH TIMES/IRISH SPORTS COUNCIL SPORTSWOMAN AWARD JULY/Derval O'Rourke: MARY HANNIGANsays the Cork athlete's silver medal win in Barcelona again proved her ability to perform at her best when the stakes are highest
IF IT took Derval O’Rourke 12.65 seconds to win silver at the European Championships in Barcelona, the Cork woman’s feat ensured the deliberations on who should be our July Sportswoman of the Month were a significantly speedier affair – indeed, 0.65 of a second was just about the duration of the judges’ debate.
Not only does O’Rourke’s accomplishment secure her our July award it also makes her a serious contender for the overall Sportswoman of the Year award, one she first received in 2006 when she won World Indoor gold in Moscow and silver at the European Championships in Gothenburg.
Once again, then, the 29-year-old showed her class on the big occasion, her performance in the 100 metres hurdles final in Barcelona earning her a fourth championship medal, three of them won in Irish records.
“I don’t know why but I just love championships,” she said, trying to explain her happy knack of producing medal-winning runs.
“I seem to target one day a year and to be able to put in a performance at this level is brilliant. When I look back on my career whenever it ends, the only thing that will count is medals because they go into the history books and can’t be taken away.”
O’Rourke is now also in the history books alongside her heroine Sonia O’Sullivan, the Cork women the only Irish athletes to win medals in more than one European Championships.
Her silver in Barcelona was just Ireland’s 11th medal in the history of the event, O’Sullivan (five) Ronnie Delany, Frank Murphy, Eamonn Coghlan and Mark Carroll her predecessors.
While her silver lifted the spirits after a disappointing championships for the Irish team she was torn between contentment – “I ran a personal best and can’t ask for any more, that was absolutely 100 per cent all I had” – and frustration that she had only been piped to gold by Turkey’s Nevin Yanit, who ran 12.63 seconds. She had, though, knocked 0.02 seconds off her old Irish record.
Inevitably, O’Rourke had barely left the podium in Barcelona when she was asked, with London 2012 in mind, if she thought she could better that time.
She had already, as it proved, discussed that very topic with Seán Cahill over breakfast – the morning after her final. O’Rourke, evidently, is not one to rest on her laurels.
She has no doubts she can go faster and with Cahill and his wife, Terri, her coaches, and her strength and conditioning coach Mark McCabe, she is intent on doing just that ahead of next year’s World Championships and, of course, the 2012 Olympics.
“I’d love to finish my career with the full set of medals,” she said of her ambition, “that would be unbelievable.”
So, her extraordinary championship record and ability to produce world-class performances on the days that really matter put O’Rourke in our list of 2010 monthly winners.
The decision? A breeze.
The List So Far
January:Aoife Hoey and Claire Bergin (Bobsleigh). After finishing in the top 10 at the World Junior Championships last season, the athletes made it their goal to become the first Irish competitors to qualify for the women's Olympic bobsleigh. They succeeded, making it to Vancouver.
February:Jessica Kurten (Equestrian). The Antrim rider had an exceptional start to the year, the highlights two World Cup qualifying series victories.
March: Katie Walsh (Horse racing). Walsh had a never-to-be-forgotten time at Cheltenham, winning the National Hunt Chase and the Vincent O'Brien County Hurdle, her first winners at the festival.
April:Dora Gorman (Soccer). The Galway teenager, who is also a hockey player and Gaelic footballer of note, captained the Irish under-17 team to victory over reigning champions Germany in the semi-finals of the European Championships before losing on penalties to Spain in the final.
May:Valerie Mulcahy (Gaelic football). Mulcahy was at her prolific best in the National League final, scoring 1-6 out of Cork's 2-10 against Galway to help her county to their third league title in a row.
June:Danielle McVeigh (Golf). Having won the Scottish Amateur Strokeplay Championship, to add to her British and Welsh titles, the 22-year-old from Co Down made an impressive Curtis Cup debut in Massachusetts, picking up two and a half points out of five, the highlight her victory over US Amateur champion Jennifer Song.
