FOR a while there, Lucy Rock was glad just to be going to the Olympics — because it was in doubt.
But, now she is going, the Wicklow woman is determined to be a competitor rather than a spectator.
Rock — previously Mulhall –— has been a mainstay of the Sevens programme since its inception in 2015 but threatened to miss out on the women’s first Games because of a hamstring tear.
And she admitted: “It’s been a long couple of months and at times it hasn’t been good but I’m getting there.
“I’ve some of the best medical brains I’ve ever met in my life looking after me.
“I’m getting back into doing stuff with the girls again. I’m starting to feel like a rugby player again.
“It happened against Australia in LA at the very beginning of March. It hasn’t been a straightforward road, I’m afraid.
“And definitely not how I saw the next couple of months was going to be.
“It’s tested me mentally more than the rest of my career to date.
“There was times there where I wasn’t sure whether this was going to happen for me.
“Unfortunately I had a re-injury at another stage afterwards and that left us with a tight timeline.
“I work with a guy, Einar Einarsson, that’s come into the IRFU and he is one of the cleverest minds I’ve ever met, but he’s also an incredible witty man.
“He thinks outside of the box all of the time and I was constantly working hard.
“Even when I couldn’t work my legs, I was constantly working hard with my arms.
“And I work with Orla Armstrong. We get loads of different eyes on it, so it’s been good, there’s no blind spots because we’ve got such great people working there.”
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She admitted she broke down when it was confirmed she had made the cut.
Rock recalled: “It was face-to-face with David Nucifora and Allan Temple-Jones.
“I broke down in tears and so did the two guys and it was a really special moment.
“It’s all I’ve ever wanted, all any of us have ever wanted.
“When you’re really up against whether it’s going to happen or not, it was an amazing feeling. I’ll remember that for the rest of my life.”
The 30-year-old recalled how Sonia O’Sullivan helped fuel her Olympic dreams, the passage of time underlined when she saw the former runner present her daughter Sophie with her medal at the recent national championships.
Team Ireland hope to see new legends follow O’Sullivan’s path in Paris but Rock is determined not to get sidetracked to ensure she can perform to her peak.
She said: “As much as I think it’s going to be such a cool experience, I don’t want to turn up and be a tourist.
“It’s our Olympics. I won’t ever get another one. I want it to be my Olympic journey, not me following Rhasidat Adeleke around the village, even though she’s an absolute icon.
“I’m sure we will take double takes when Simone Biles or whoever is around but as soon as you fall into that trap, it’s not your Olympics. You’re just a spectator.
“You have to be the competitor in that environment and it needs to bring out your competitiveness.”