PATSY MCGONAGLE pulled open two drawers at his home in Ballinaglack, Ballybofey a few weeks ago and examined his accreditation cards from his time as Irish Athletics Team Manager.
McGonagle is in his 17th year in the role he has held since 1999.
Next week, McGonagle heads to Rio for the 2016 Olympic Games. It will be his fifth time at the Olympics and his fourth as the manager of the Athletics Team, having led the team to Sydney 2000, Beijing 2008 and London 2012.
In all, McGonagle had 56 accreditation cards in those drawers; a lifetime of memories.
“Once every one was over you thought it might be your last,” he told Donegal Sport Hub.
[adrotate group=”38″]“I promised my wife that Sydney would be my last – and here we are 16 years later.
“The cycle is coming to an end. We’ll go in as positive as we can to Rio.”
McGonagle’s first remains his standout. In Sydney, Sonia O’Sullivan won silver in the 5,000m, beaten to gold by Romania’s Gabriela Szabo.
McGonagle said: “You couldn’t really replicate that first one. It was always going to be the most memorable.
“There was the Sonia factor and then the team didn’t perform…but Sonia pulled it out of the bag. The whole world and the whole country used to stop in those days to watch an Irish athlete perform.”
On his own role, McGonagle said: “You’ve got to be reactive, decisive and in control of it.
“I dread the journeys, but once I hit the ground I can take it up very well.”
McGonagle will be joined in Rio by Mark English, Brendan Boyce, Tori Pena, Chloe Magee and Sinead Jennings, giving Team Ireland a strong Donegal feel to it.
[adrotate group=”43″]Four years ago in London, Rob Heffernan finished fourth in the men’s 50k walk, but was upgraded to bronze earlier this year after Russian Sergey Kirdyapkin was retrospectively suspended for a doping violation.
Now, McGonagle believes the Cork man can medal again. He said: “We’d have to be going with a view that Rob Heffernan is going to medal. His training has been going well and he’s in the frame of mind to perform well.”
[adrotate group=”70″]Listen to the full interview below …
https://soundcloud.com/donegalsporthub-club-notes/patsy-mcgonagle-ahead-of-departure-for-olympic-games-2016
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