23 year old Kate O’Connor made history in Paris this year as Team Ireland’s first heptathlete to compete at the Olympic Games, a sensational achievement that she hopes will have a long lasting impact.
As she says herself, it’s a challenging discipline, not least for the very reason that the athletes involved are “not just training for one event”, but rather have to “try and be world class at seven.”
Those illustrious seven events include the 100m hurdles, the high jump, shot put, 200m, long jump, javelin and 800m, which participants partake in over two days.
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It’s an event O’Connor is extremely passionate about, and one she’d like to see garner more resources and attention, in all capacities.
“I suppose from me personally, I really wanted to advocate for multi events and field events,” she says, speaking with Her Sport at Team Ireland’s Olympic homecoming in Dublin.
“I think that it’s maybe forgotten about slightly in Ireland, when it comes to track and field.
“So yeah I just really want to advocate for younger kids that maybe aren't great sprinters or distance runners, that there’s other things to do in track and field,” she adds.
Describing her own performance at the 2024 Games as the understatement of the year in “pretty solid”, O’Connor’s unassuming and humble nature is one that children could no doubt aspire to, and so it’s no surprise that they do.
“I would love to see more people competing at our national multi event championships,” she says.
“I know in Dundalk there's a lot of little girls doing heptathlon now, there's a lot from my club doing it, so I'm hoping that from that, that across the whole of Ireland that younger kids will also join it too,” she says.
Kate O’Connor 's Olympic performance
Detailing the heptathlon discipline as one that is “underdeveloped” in the country just yet, Kate O’Connor believes there is “huge scope” and opportunity there for investment.
If her display on the world stage is anything to go by, it’s easy to see why.
At the Olympics, O’Connor’s first event was the hurdles, for which she ran a time of 14.08. That result is one which she admitted afterwards may have been slightly impacted by the sheer volume of people there watching on in the Stade de France, a phenomenon the Dundalk woman quickly put in her stride for her remaining events.
A 1.77m in the high jump, 13.79m in the shot put, 24.77s in the 200m, 5.79m in the long jump, 50.36m javelin throw and a time of 2:13.25 in the 800m followed, including three seasons best, which placed her at 14th overall in the field of 24 athletes.
That showcase by far and away smashed the expectations placed on her as the 23rd in the world ranked heptathlete ranking prior to the competition, and ultimately stands as a feat the St Gerard’s AC woman can certainly be proud of.
“I was really proud to put that out in front of like 70,000 people. I was so nervous throughout the whole thing but I enjoyed every single second of it, it was class,” she says.
Delighted to be back now, O’Connor also took the time to thank family, friends and fans for their support, and lauded the “unbelievable atmosphere” at the homecoming event.
As for the legacy Paris 2024 might leave? Well, O’Connor herself says it best.
“I would love to think that it would inspire younger girls to get out and get involved in sport,” she says.
