Fionnuala Makes A Little History

Easy does it…

hat Fionnuala McCormack is The Quiet Woman of Irish sports goes without saying…

One of the country’s most successful athletes, the Kilcoole runner has given as much energy, passion and determination into winning marathon races as she does avoiding the dreaded fame.

Who’s that girl…? Pic: Billy Porter

So much so that The Irish Times made a complete article out of that very fact last Friday, utilising a shot taken by fellow Wicklow runner Billy Porter that showed McCormack alongside fellow Wicklow Hospice patrons Katie Taylor and Daniel Day Lewis at a fundraising screening of Lincoln back in February 2013.

That director Steven Spielberg was also in attendance turned the glamour shot way up beyond 11.

Chances are though, most people would struggle to name McCormack in such an all-star line-up, and that’s how the 39-year-old mum-of-three who also happens to be a world champion runner clearly likes it.

Still, news this week that Fionnuala McCormack is to represent Ireland once again in the Olympic Games in Paris next summer means that this crazy little thing called fame just took one step closer.

Especially given that the qualification puts McCormack in the history books as the first Irish woman to represent Ireland five times at the Olympics.

Cobh runner Sonia O’Sullivan and Galway race walker Olive Loughnane have represented their country four times each.

It was back in Beijing 2008 that McCormack first represented Ireland at the Olympics, competing in the 3,000m steeplechase, competing again at London 2021, in both the 5,000m and the 10,000m events, before taking on the marathon distance for Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.

With three European Cross Country gold medals on her mantlepiece, McCormack will compete for a fourth this Sunday, marking her 18th appearance at the event.

Nay bother on her.

Now, go check out another little bit of history-making from Fionnuala along her sister Una right here.