Waterford's Olympic hopeful Diarmuid Clancy stars in TG4 documentary

“A marvel, what is it? I believe a marvel is different to every individual and it effects people in different ways,” wrote one of Waterford’s finest track and field athletes in an Irish-language school essay.

“After that day in 2013, I believe that a marvel is a moment. A moment that shapes your future and changes your mindset towards life. It’s a moment when nothing else matters except for what you are doing right then and there. My marvel changed my life.” 

“I believe moments should be treasured because at the end of it all, life is a series of moments stuck together in a line. I am now a teenager following a dream. My name is Diarmuid Clancy. I’m a 400-metre hurdler that has run for Ireland twice in two years and I’m looking to run at the biggest sporting event in the world, the Olympic Games.” 

An inspiring new documentary, directed by Ardsallagh-based Darina Clancy, tells the story of how Diarmuid Clancy chased his dreams of attending the 2020 Olympics and chronicles the highs and lows of training for the event.

A former student of Meanscoil San Nioclás in An Rinn, Diarmuid began his athletic career as a multi-sport athlete competing in everything from the high and long jump events, as well as the hurdles, for which he would become known, he said in the documentary.

It was when he was 16 that Clancy “really started putting in more work into sport”, crediting the beginning of his time as a 400m athlete.

“I travelled to my first competition with the Irish national team to Scotland. I was looking to improve my times,” he said, “so I went to Belgium and elsewhere to achieve that.” 

The better weather in Belgium, he said, was critical to improve his times in the shorter races, such as the 400 metre races.

Filmed over three years, An Cliath Oilimpeach also features valuable insights from Derval O’Rourke, a Cork native and three-time Olympian, who provides a veteran perspective on the hurdles faced by aspiring athletes. 

The goal of making it to the Olympics, O’Rourke said in the documentary, “it’s like buying a ticket for the Lotto and hoping your ticket is the one that gets pulled out. It’s a pretty tough dream.” 

The life of an athlete can be challenging, the documentary demonstrates. 

“It was difficult regarding money between sport and college,” Clancy said, “So I took the second year out and worked 40 hours a week while I also trained.

“It was very difficult to get to training every day, so there were a few days a week where I trained on my own. That was very hard, mentally more than anything else.” 

In the lead up to competitions, however, Clancy says his work ethic led to him “working too much and I suffered with burnout.” 

The work he was putting in was paying off, with Clancy coming out of camp “much faster than I had ever been” but in competition he wasn’t seeing the fruit of his labours.

“That was kind of tough, because I had done a lot of work but it didn’t happen for me.” 

Diarmuid Clancy said that he then considered attending sports courses abroad in which third-level was free. For his second year in college, Clancy made the decision to move to Finland to study sport.

In 2020, as the athlete neared his Olympic dreams, the Tokyo Games were postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic sweeping the world at the time leaving him in the lurch as to the viability of his dream.

“We had no idea if competitions would go ahead or what was going on; so we were all in limbo regarding the competitions.

“I couldn’t do anything about my technique because I didn’t have hurdles” and, due to Covid regulations, training at a running track was not permitted.

Going on Erasmus to Prague, Diarmuid continued to fight for his Olympic dream despite injuries and when his grandfather fell ill and passed away. He had returned to Ireland to see his grandfather before he died and, after making his way back to university in Prague, Clancy made the decision to quit athletics.

“I’d say that’s the end of athletics for this year for me,” he said in an emotional video to camera at the time, “I had to stop because my leg was extremely painful.

“I stopped just as the competitions were starting, and that has left me kind of heartbroken because I was training well and I was happy that I was on track to go to the European Games.” 

In a challenging physical and emotional period for the athlete, O’Rourke explains that this period is crucial to get the funding to continue to pursue Olympic athletics.

“Lack of money is the main issue, I wasn’t able to go to Tenerife and I’m not able to put money into the food and nutrition and the training,” Clancy explained at the time, “This year is the last year that I was able to go to the European level while getting funding from Sport Ireland and Athletics Ireland.” 

“I’m a little lost at the moment,” he said in a heart-wrenching scene.

Clancy, the TG4 documentary explains, went on to find a new purpose – using his degree in Sports Management to work as a strength and conditioning coach for the Danish Rugby Sevens teams. Following a successful tenure with the team, he continued his coaching career with soccer team, Malmo FF, in Sweden, who were crowned champions that year.

“The dream hasn’t gone out the window… It’s just a dream in a different direction.” 

The full documentary is available to watch as a VOD on the TG4 website.