MONA McSHARRY was planning to celebrate her Olympic bronze with a chocolate muffin and an early night.
The Sligo swimmer claimed Ireland’s first medal of the Paris Games when she came third in the 100m breaststroke.
McSharry broke down in tears of joy on the podium during the medal ceremony, as she reflected on a journey which almost saw her quit the sport 18 months ago.
But, although her home town of Grange is toasting her achievement, with the 200m breaststroke heats on Wednesday morning, McSharry was keeping a lid on celebrations.
McSharry said: “We’re not done yet. I’m trying to calm down as much as possible, get some good grub, maybe a chocolate muffin will be my sweet delight, they’re really good.
“And then just try and get to bed.”
The 23-year-old embraced her family after collecting her medal with the University of Tennessee student overcome with emotion.
She said: “I started crying on the podium and I haven’t really fully stopped yet. It’s just unbelievable.
“I think it’s just the pinnacle of sport to have all your hard work pay off in something like this at this moment.
“Those moments where I thought I was done really put into perspective, what I really do this for and this is a huge bonus.
“But there’s so many other things that come as part of this like training, being able to see myself progress and get better.
“And then you do have bonus moments like this, where you get to stand up on the podium and watch your flag raised at the Olympic Games.”
There was just one-hundredth of a second separating her from Lilly King in fifth.
But McSharry quickly realised through the technology used at the pool that she had nabbed a medal in a race won by Tatjana Smith of South Africa with China’s Qianting Tang in second.
She said: “I actually saw the three red dots on the block, and that’s my new favourite thing as you can see quickly where you place.
“I’ve seen the three dots and I was just over the moon and then turned to see my time but honestly, in final races like this, the time doesn’t matter, it’s hand-on wall.
“You’re just racing what else is in the pool and thankfully, I was on the right side of that.
“Then I had to really calm myself down and be like ‘you need to take in the moment here, we need to just like really enjoy this’
“I don’t think I’ve ever cried for a medal before so I think that just goes to show how big of a deal it is.”