Ireland have sent over a total of 36 athletes to the Olympic Winter Games since 1992, coming away with no medals. Our best result came from Clifton Wrottesley, who finished fourth in the Men’s Skeleton at the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City.
One man looking to do one better then Mr. Wrottesley is Brendan Doyle. The Olympic hopeful needs to participate in seven qualifying rounds to make it to Beijing and has so far only received a solitary grant from the Olympic Federation of Ireland. As you can imagine, with the lack of infrastructure in Ireland for skeleton racing, Brendan has go to be creative and with that comes a great financial cost. Speaking with Scoreline he said,
“One of the biggest stresses for myself, is I have been self funded for the past five years. My personal funds are gone, but I made a decision. It was live a life, have a home and be stable or do something which is much bigger then me”
“I have a past dealing with mental health I wanted to be an example of overcoming personal struggles.”
Brendan’s mental health struggles stemmed from injuries received in the Line of Duty. The mental toll of the attack weighed heavily on his mind until he started to chase the dream of representing Ireland at an Olympic level.
“I am a buachaill from Dublin. I shouldn’t be punching above my weight like I am”
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) September 21, 2021
Meet the Irish athlete who is battling against the odds to qualify in skeleton for the Winter Olympics #Beijing2022 🛷
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You can support Brendan on his journey by donating to his Go Fund Me Page by clicking here.
Listen to the full interview on Scoreline Extra below –
