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Like the vast majority of elite athletes in all sports, Ciara Mageean has to remember to savor the good times.
The 28-year-old enjoyed a brilliant 2019 season and appeared to be fit at just the right time with Tokyo 2020 on her hit list.
The coronavirus has altered the global outlook in an extreme way and the Summer Games have been delayed until 2021.
The 28-year-old finished tenth in her first world final in Doha when Sifan Hassan claimed victory in the 1500m in Doha on what was an ultra-competitive field.
The Portaferry native started this season with a national record of 1,500 meters indoors in Boston and set a better personal record by taking the win at the unknown 3,000 meter distance at the AIT International Grand Prix in February.
The pause in action has allowed Mageean to reflect; Recognizing her accomplishments as they happen is something she is trying to master.
“As soon as I finish a Championship, I’m thinking about the next one. I really don’t stop to enjoy it,” he told RTÉ Radio 1. Dis Island’s Des.
“This is why I say to myself, ‘Don’t forget to smell the roses’ because I finished the World Championship last year in tenth place, which was a great feat for me. That was my first world final.
“Finishing tenth was brilliant, but as soon as I got off the track, I said to my coach, ‘What do I have to do to outshine the gap? Because I don’t want to be tenth.'”
The Manchester-based athlete typically has a busy schedule throughout the year, which is good for staying focused.
“I feel very lucky as a middle distance athlete and athlete because I also run cross country for Ireland, so I finish the athletics season and the cross country spins fast. Then indoors, then outdoors, so there is always something for What to focus on.
“That’s fantastic, because that really helps the mind because the training is tough and I’m exhausted at the end of the week, but I always have a goal in sight.”
Japan and the International Olympic Committee made the unprecedented decision last month to delay the Games by one year, as the world battles the virus that has infected 2.3 million people and killed more than 150,000 worldwide.
While questions remain as to whether the Games can take place within 15 months, as a vaccine could still be in at least a year, according to the most optimistic estimates, the Irish athlete says he has raised all sorts of problems for those who hope to participate.
“The Olympics is what has that special understanding for everyone,” he told listeners. “Very often athletes work in four-year cycles, and so do most of our funds.
“For some athletes who said this would be their last cycle, they have come to the end and have been told to add an additional year and that can be difficult. We stopped many of our life options for our sport.
“I know people who said they were probably going to start a family after the Olympics. My male counterparts can have a much easier family than telling me if I wanted to start a family now.”
“It has given me some challenges. My boyfriend lives in Dublin and I live in Manchester. We decided that after the Olympics he would move out and we would start living together. That is not necessarily going to happen the way we had planned now.
“They are little things [for me]that doesn’t change life. “
Always optimistic, Mageean says his performance in Doha, where he had a better personal performance, has given him the confidence and belief to aim higher with the Olympics in mind. In fact, the Games that expired for a year could be to your advantage.
“This is a fantastic opportunity for me. I had a year of the World Championship last year to prepare for the Olympics. I spoke to my coach about what I needed to do and needed to strengthen myself.”
This gives me an extra year to strengthen myself and I see it as something very positive
“That 1500m final was won at 3.51 by Hassan. Listen, this is a moment that I don’t think will run in my life, but there are other girls that I can target.
“I can definitely cut my time in less than four minutes. This gives me an extra year to strengthen myself and I see it as a very positive thing.”
Mageean has spoken of his faith in the past, and the Vatican asked him to attend a conference on sport. Covid-19 has ruined that event scheduled for next month, but the broker insists that his faith, Mageean says he grew up in a “very Catholic home,” is an important part of his makeup, something he gleaned from his grandmother. who passed away from cancer.
“I was visiting her one day in the hospital and I realized that I was praying that she would not enter behind the curtain. I told her that I would wait and let her finish the rosary. She asked me if I could have the strength to do so. next scan, because it was so painful.
“That moment meant a lot to me because he didn’t pray that it didn’t hurt him, he just asked for strength. If he was praying to a greater God, or the clouds, or his chair, or whatever, he gave him strength.
It is important that you have something in your life in which you look for that little force
“Faith and family mean a lot to me.
“It is important that you have something in your life that you seek to gain that little bit of strength.”
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