MONA McSHARRY has insisted she cannot afford to get worked up about being beaten by a Chinese swimmer.
McSharry breezed through her 200m breaststroke heat this morning – despite only getting to bed at 4:30am on Tuesday.
McSharry was late to bed after taking bronze in the 100m breaststroke on Monday evening with Tatjana Smith and Tang Qianting finishing ahead of her.
In the build-up to the Games, it emerged that 23 Chinese swimmers – of which she was not one – had tested positive in 2022 although WADA had accepted the explanation that it was down to a contaminated hotel kitchen.
When asked having been beaten by a Chinese swimmer Tang if she had any opinions on them being in Paris, McSharry said: “I obviously don’t agree with doping but I haven’t really done a lot of research on what happened with that because it’s very much out of my control.
“So I just kind of leave it parked where it is.
“There’s not a lot I can do other than probably get worked up about it so I just don’t think about it, honestly.”
And McSharry did her best not to expend any energy on Tuesday but came to the La Défense Arena to cheer Daniel Wiffen on to gold.
She was back in the pool this morning to get through to tonight’s 200m semi-finals as the sixth fastest of 16 qualifiers in her third quickest time at that distance.
She said: “I’m very happy with that, after the last 48 hours, it’s been a good refocus.
“I felt strong this morning so it should be good.
“On Monday, I went to bed around 4:30 or 5 but I slept in until 10:30 so I got a good six hours’ of sleep.
“It just took a while for my mind to calm down but it was good.
“Honestly, the mind was more tired than the body.
“It’s just been a lot and yesterday was just a chill day for me.
“I was trying my best not to expend too much energy mentally and this morning I was definitely a bit quiet but I think I’m always like that going into a 200.
“It was a good race so hopefully I can bring more energy tonight.”
McSharry has not yet watched back her 100m final.
She explained: “I watched back a couple of clips of my post interview and I started crying .
“And I was like ‘Oh right, I’m going to have to leave that until after we’re done’ but I’ll review everything after I’m done racing.
“I still haven’t really gone on Instagram.
“I have kind of been avoiding that. I think that’s where the craziest messages would be.
“I’ve just got back to anyone who texted me, on WhatsApp or Messenger, the most important people I guess and I’m going to keep everyone else at distance until I’m done racing I think.”
GOLDEN BOY
McSharry said she was excited for Wiffen who was struck long ago by his confidence.
She said: “I really believed that he could do it.
“It was pretty tight, it was a really exciting race but it was just unbelievable to see him do it.
“He’s been saying it for years, and I think when he first started saying it everyone was like, ‘wow, that’s a lot of confidence’ but he did it, he believed in himself and he did it.
“It’s honestly really impressive.”
There has been other success, too, with Ellen Walshe also reaching a final.
They will team up with Danielle Hill and Grace Davison in the medley relay at the weekend.
She said: “It’s definitely in general a boost knowing that I’m part of an Irish team that’s doing so well and I’m excited for the rest of the week.
“I see a lot more support just with the year that is in it, it being an Olympic year.
“But I would have seen the same back in 2021 when I raced.
“I do feel like everyone comes alive in an Olympic years and is like ‘Oh, swimming, wow!’”
The 23-year-old is not setting her sights too high in the 200m explaining: “I want to make the final in the 200.
If I make it back into the semis, that’s better than what I did at the last Olympics.
“If I can get into the final it will be the same process as the 100, just race with the other seven people and see how up there I can get.”
STAR STUDENT
She explained that approach – rather than worrying about times – comes from being in the University of Tennessee.
McSharry said: “We do a lot of racing not in race suits and the time is irrelevant, you’re just racing for points and for getting your hands on the wall.
“And not even just for first, there’s points for one, two, three so it’s just trying to beat as many people as possible and time doesn’t really matter because it’s straight finals.
“So that’s how I kind of take finals now as well.
“For qualifying for the Olympics, of course it’s time-based but then once you get past that it’s really just racing the people around you.
“As nice as getting a PB is, it doesn’t really matter.
“I don’t think anyone went their fastest time there in the final, we were all a little bit slower so it just goes to show you it’s about racing what’s in the pool next to you.”
The college’s swimmers are also usually last to crouch down on the starting blocks, an approach McSharry has embraced.
She said: “”When I went to Tennessee a lot of people were doing it there.
“It’s something that we do and if you look at pictures from NCAAs or SCCs, if you’ve got multiple Tennessee people in a final we’re the last people standing.
“I think it’s just like, technically, you get more air into your lungs and you’re not crunching down for the start for longer.
“I take one big deep belly breath before I go down, but you’re also standing tall, staring down the lane and thinking about what you’re going to do.
“I fell in love with it when I started doing it and I was like, ‘yeah, I’m going to continue to do this’.”