Limerick Person of the Month: Paralympian Róisín Ní Ríain honoured following Tokyo games

A COUNTY Limerick teenager who reached five swimming finals at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo, has been named the Limerick Person of the Month.

At the age of 16, Róisín Ní Ríain from Drombanna was the youngest of this year’s 29 member Paralympics Ireland team.

Even though she didn’t win a medal, it was a remarkable Paralympics for the Limerick swimmer.

Róisín competed in six events in the swimming pool - the 100m backstroke, the 100m butterfly, the 100m breaststroke, the 50m and 400m freestyle, and the 200m individual medley (IM). She qualified for finals in each event except for the 50m freestyle. 

The teenager had a best performance of fifth in the 400m freestyle. She had two sixth places in the 100m backstroke and the 200m IM. She finished seventh in the 100m breaststroke final in a personal best time of 1:20.34, and had an eighth place in the 100m butterfly final.

“It was just an unbelievable experience - like nothing I’ve ever experienced before,” smiled Róisín when she was presented with her award at the Clayton hotel, in the company of her mother, Marian.

The stand-out moment for Róisín from the Games - which ran from August 24 to September 5  last - was “walking out for my first swim”. 

“It was surreal to think that I was walking out to compete in the Paralympics. The goal was to go there and make as many finals as possible but I was delighted and overawed with how I did,” she continued.

For Róisín’s parents, Marian and Seosamh and her three younger sisters Sorcha, Sadhbh and Meadhbh, it was a “surreal” moment to be watching their girl on the world stage from their home in Drombanna.

“It was hard to believe that was our little girl on the television and that she was so far away,” said Marian. “We were incredibly proud and we had lovely family get togethers watching at home in Drombanna. We would get up in the middle of the night to watch the heats and then when she made finals, we invited people over to watch it with us. It was on at around 10am or 11am. The heats were at about 2am or 3am so we’d set the alarm to get up.”

 Having started swimming at the age of four, Róisín’s success in reaching the Games and then performing so strongly in them was down to her determination, training and dedication.

“It was really when she started with Limerick Swimming Club that one of the coaches, the late John Dempsey, recognised that Róisín had significant potential and mentioned it to us,” Marian pointed out.

“That was the first time we realised that swimming was something that she could take a bit further than just a fun activity. Her visual impairment hadn’t actually impacted on her ability to swim at that time which was great. For us, we saw it as something which she could do even though she would have been restricted with other sports such as ball sports where she couldn’t see the ball and things like that.”

In more recent years, Róisín has been training at the National Centre Limerick which is based in the University of Limerick. It’s not unusual for her to be in the pool there at 6am. 

“We have nine, two-hour swim sessions over the week and then we do two or three strength and conditioning sessions in the gym,” she said of her fitness regime.

“I swim with a group - there are around 15 to 20 of us and we all swim together most of the time. We’ll swim before school some mornings and then after school most days as well. We try to get in as much variety as possible while keeping distance and intensity up at the same time. You are always racing against your times and obviously there is a bit of competitiveness in training as well. We have a good group there.”

Staff and students at Róisín’s school, Gaelcholáiste Luimnigh, she said, “have been really, really supportive of me throughout the whole thing”.

“My friends and teachers have been great,” said Róisín, who is in fifth year at the city school. Interestingly, her teacher Naomi Carroll was on the women’s hockey squad who competed in the Tokyo Olympics earlier in the summer.

Róisín paid tribute to her parents and her family for all their support and to her coaches and backroom team of John Szaranek, Michael McCarthy, Lorna Barry and Kathryn Fahy, the physiotherapist.

The Limerick Person of the Month award is sponsored by the Limerick Leader, media agency Southern and the Clayton Hotel.

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