Irish Swimmer Mona McSharry Awarded Olympic Solidarity Scholarship

The Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) has announced 12 athletes who will received Olympic Solidarity Scholarships to “assist with qualification and preparations for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.” The 12 individual athletes has been joined by the Irish Men’s Field Hockey Team as part of the program.

Included among the individual athletes is swimmer Mona McSharry, who was named the Swim Ireland Performance Athlete of the Year for 2017 on Sunday evening. This year, McSharry made history when she won a World Junior Championship gold medal in the 100 breaststroke, becoming Ireland’s first-ever gold medalist in the history of the World Junior Championships.

McSharry, in the process, broke the Irish Senior Records in the 50 (30.91), 100 (1:07.10) and 200 (2:27.44) meter breaststrokes in long course, as well as the 50 (30.19) and 100 meters (1:05.27) in short course. In the 100, she finished the 2016-2017 season ranked 24th in the world.

She was Ireland’s only female swimmer at the senior World Championships, finishing 24th after missing a best time. She swam just 1:08.52 in the prelims of that meet.

Individual athletes will receive €625/USD740 per month (€7,500/USD8900 per year), so long as they remain eligible to compete in the Tokyo Olympics. Additionally, the men’s hockey team will receive $25,000 per year.

Funding comes via the Internatonal Olympic Committee’s (IOC) Olympic Solidarity program. Each of Ireland’s National Sporting Federations nominated names to the OCI, who then pushed those names forward to the IOC.

In order to be eligible, according to the OCI, “athletes must be competing at international level in an Olympic discipline that will feature at Tokyo 2020 and have the technical ability to qualify for the Games as demonstrated through recent results. Priority is given to athletes not in receipt of funding from any other source. The IOC awarded the OCI eight scholarships and one team scholarship but the OCI’s Executive Board decided to invest an additional €140K to bring the number of scholarships awarded up to the maximum of twelve permissible under the scheme.”

The 17-year old trains with the Marlins Swimming Club in Ballyshannon, Co Donegal.

Athletes awarded scholarships, as described by the OCI press release:

• Siofra Cleirigh Buttner (Athletics Ireland) who is currently on scholarship at Villanova Unviersity and who competed earlier this year at the World Athletics Championships in London;
• Nhat Nguyen (Badminton Ireland) is a European U17 Gold Medallist and also medalled at the 2017 Poland Open, an event on the senior circuit;
• Liam Jegou (Canoeing Ireland) who is a former U17 Vice World Champion;
• Mark Downey(Cycling Ireland) a track and road cyclist who secured Ireland’s best ever finish at the U23 World Road Race Championships coming 9^th;
• Ian O’Sullivan (Irish Clay Pigeon Shooting Association), a former World Junior Champion and current 2017 Scottish Grand Prix Champion;
• Cathal Daniels (Horse Sport Ireland) who to date has won 6 European Underage medals;
• Leona Maguire (Irish Ladies Golfing Union) the World’s Leading Amateur Golfer for the last 3 years;
• Rhys McClenaghan (Gymnastics Ireland) who is the reigning European Champion in the Pommel Horse as well as becoming the first Irish gymnast to ever win a Pommel Horse Medal at a World Cup event;
• Megan Fletcher (Irish Judo) Commonwealth Games Champion in 2014;
• Denise Walsh (Rowing Ireland) who holds 17 National Rowing titles and won a silver medal at the 2017 European Championships;
• Mona McSharry (Swim Ireland) who emerged on the national stage earlier this year with her Gold Medal in the 100m breaststroke at the World Junior Championships
• Jack Woolley (Irish Takewondo Union) who is now ranked 13^th in the World in the 58kg Weight Category.
• The Men’s Hockey Team in 2016 became the first Irish Team to represent Ireland at the Olympics since 1948 and the first hockey team to qualify since 1908. Finishing a credible 10^th the Men’s Team have had a successful 2017 maintaining that World Ranking and qualifying for next year’s World Hockey Championships being held London with a 6^th place finish in this year’s European Nations Cup.