Paddle to the medal: Cancer survivor Patrick O’Leary has real podium potential in Rio

PATRICK O’LEARY is making history as the first Irishman to take part in canoeing at the Paralympics this month.

The Moycullen, Galway resident and Cork native, has made ‘A’ finals at World and European Championships on six occasions, with canoeing making it's debut as a Paralympic sport in Rio.

The canoeing course at Lagoa Stadium will bring back some fond recent memories for Irish sports fans, as it was the venue for the fabulous Olympic Silver medal winning race for Skibbereen brothers Paul and Gary O’Donovan.

It’s been a busy few years for the NUI Galway Organic Chemistry lecturer, who has been excelling at the top of his sport, while also committing to his full-time day job.

“Preparations have gone pretty well for me,” 43-year old Patrick told The Irish Post. 

“I’ve been based in Ireland, I haven’t gone away and done any training camps away, because I’m working full-time in NUI Galway.”

O’Leary - who lost his leg following a battle with bone cancer - has been in Brazil for a fortnight prior to the games, solely focussing on Paralympic preparations, but the hard work was put in on the rivers of Galway and Kildare.

“A lot of it has been based on the Corrib and up in Celbridge Paddlers, where my coach Neil (Fleming) is based,” Patrick said.

“It’s been really good. The other aspect of it is trying to get organised, because I’m going to be away for a month, and being away from family and the job – there’s all that to fit into it as well.”

“That element finishes now with me flying to Brazil, and I can completely focus on the training for the next two weeks – the final sharpening up to be as fast as I possibly can on the day.”

Patrick’s wife Jude and his two sons will be among his biggest supporters in Rio as they fly out to watch his involvement.

Patrick previously represented Ireland at canoe-polo, and only took up Para-canoeing, after he had one of his legs amputated five years ago.

Since then he has excelled at the sport, finishing fourth at the 2015 European Championships, as well as reaching ‘A’ finals at World and European Championships six times, along with a fourth place finish at the World Cup last year.

He also picked up bronze in a test event on the Rio course in 2015, and while canoeing may be in Paralympics for the first time, there’s a strong familiarity among the competitors.

“It is new territory in terms of the games I suppose. We have been part of the build-up to this for the past four years, and there have been World and European Championships during that time. I know all of the competitors and all of the competitors know me.

“We have been through the qualification process together, so we kind of know what is coming out of this alright, but it is really exciting and it will be really great to be a part of it.

“I know them all, I would be friends with them all really at this point. We come across each other so often. My event is on September 14 – the heats; and then both the semi-finals and the final are on the following day.

“It’s in the lagoon in Rio – the same place that the O’Donovan brothers had their great success, so it is in my opinion, and I’m a bit biased; the most spectacular venue in the whole of Rio.

“You have the Christ the Redeemer statue overlooking your right shoulder as you line up on the start line, which is pretty spectacular. It will be a wonderful spectacle, as well as a wonderful event."

As a Cork native, Patrick has been keeping an eye on the progress of the O’Donovan brothers of late, with Paul having built on Olympic silver with a gold medal in the World Rowing Championships in Rotterdam.

“You have to have great respect for them. To see them, particularly when getting off the water – how absolutely shattered they were, and how they put absolutely everything into it, that’s all you want to do in a race.

“As I say, if you are good enough, at the end of the day, you will be in the right place."

With some strong performances on the international stage in recent years, hopes are high that Patrick will be in the mix in terms of medal positions, but there’s still a long way to go before that can be considered.

“There is,” he said. “The thing is, what I said to myself – and I have always said it is that when I got to the games – my hope would be that I go in the best possible shape and I think that’s where I am. I am in the best possible physical and mental shape that I can be in.

“It’s a race in lanes; you go as fast as you can, and if someone is ahead of me at the end of the day I will shake his hand, and if they aren’t I would be delighted. You just have to race your own race and go as fast as you possibly can.”

Patrick’s coach Neil Fleming has imparted plenty of knowledge to Patrick from his experiences over the years.

“Neil has been an international paddler, both in the sprint and marathon for a long number of years and has won at major events.

“He is ideally based to do both the technical end of it, but also the physical, exercise and fitness. Having Neil involved is like having an all-in-one, where a lot of people would have two or three people involved for various aspects, but I kind of get everything I need from Neil, which is great.”