High hopes on Waterford's streets for Olympic dreams
Roseann and Lilly Magee.
Team Ireland have won seven medals so far at Paris 2024; four gold across four different sports, and three bronze.
This is Ireland’s most successful ever Olympic team. Homecoming celebrations are planned for Team Ireland as they return home, the first time the Irish Olympic Team will have received a civic reception.
Waterford has a rich history of producing Olympians who have showcased their talents on the world stage. From John Treacy’s memorable marathon silver in Los Angeles 1984 to the performances of competitors like Peter Crotty, Francis Connors, Jessie Barr, Maria Walsh and Susan Smith amongst many others, our county has a proud legacy of Olympic participation and success.
Thomas Barr, Ben Johnson and boxing coach Lynne McEnery are representing the Déise this year in Paris.
Locals in the city this week were asked about our future hopes of bringing an Olympic medal home to Waterford, with most of them excited about our current crop of young boxers.
John-Paul said: "There could definitely be medals coming to Waterford in a few years and theres plenty of really good boxers coming up in the county."
Sharron, Lila and Karen Hennessy added: "It's great to see the Irish doing well winning a lot of medals and someday we will get another medal for Waterford. We have very good boxers and we’re getting closer with the amount of young talent there is in Waterford.
Roseann Magee said local boxer Kelyn Cassidy is a prospect for the next games in Los Angeles: "It would be lovely if Kelyn Cassidy got to go, I reckon he will get the next Olympics because he’s still very young and he only barely missed out missed time with a very narrow defeat.
"Boxing is definitely looking promising for Waterford, but the athletics is as well. Ferrybank athletics have great athletes and there’s a few coming up."
