Silver lining for young swim star
Gráinne claims first Irish medal in 13 years
GRÁINNE MURPHY'S incredible rise to swimming stardom reached its highest point yet on Saturday last when she produced the performance of her life to win a superb silver medal in the 1,500 metres freestyle at the European championships in Budapest.
The talented and supremely dedicated 17-year-old from Ballinaboola made the rest of the world sit up and take notice when she crowned her first-ever appearance in a big Senior competition with this amazing display.
It was an emphatic show of strength from the Limerickbased swimmer as she shattered her own Irish record by a staggering eight seconds in posting a time of 16 minutes, 2.29 seconds which left her behind gold medal winner Lotte Friis from Denmark.
It was Ireland's first long course medal since Michelle De Bruin's success in Seville in 1997, and the country's first European swimming triumph since Andrew Bree also took silver at the short course championships in Dublin seven years ago.
What made Murphy's achievement all the more remarkable was the manner in which she bounced back after being pipped for a bronze medal in the 800m final just two days earlier.
Any disappointment at finishing a gallant fourth in that race was quickly put to the back of her mind as she set her sights on the 1,500 metres freestyle event and was richly rewarded.
In the short space of a year, Gráinne has blossomed from a triple European Junior gold medal-winner into one of the hottest prospects on the Senior scene, and everything she does from now on will be geared towards an all-out assault on the London Olympics in 2012.
Her disciplined lifestyle has been well documented since Saturday's success, rising at 4.30 a.m. to get in some training in the pool before heading to school, and going to bed at 8.30 p.m. every night to ensure that her body gets the proper rest.
Gráinne moved to Limerick with her mother, Mary, in order to have the best facilities at her fingertips, and her Leaving Certificate exams at Castletroy College were split over two years to cater for her sporting prowess.
The man behind her development at the High Performance Unit on Shannonside is Ronald Claes from Belgium, and he was elated by her success.
'She's a very special competitor and I saw that from the moment I came to Ireland,' he said. 'Generally, it always takes two years to move from the Juniors to the Seniors so she's surprised me a little bit, she's got a medal a year earlier than I thought but she's always giving me more.'
'I'm just really happy with that,' a delighted Gráinne said after her silver medal-winning performance. 'I had a race plan and I went out there and went with it.
'I wasn't focussing on what Lotte was going to do, I was just going to swim my own race. I had to concentrate on what I was capable of.
'I'm just really glad that it worked out for me and I got the silver medal,' she added.
Gráinne was given a tremendous reception on her return home and will now take a well-earned break for a few weeks to catch up with her friends.
However, this girl with the potential to be Ireland's bestever swimmer clearly isn't finished yet.
