Annalise Murphy in People’s Park.
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown welcomes back silver medal winner Annalise Murphy and local Olympic Athletes to a special homecoming ceremony.
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council and the National Yacht Club were delighted to welcome home silver medal hero Annalise Murphy to a homecoming event in the People’s Park on Thursday 25th August at 6pm.
Annalise, from the National Yacht Club, won the Silver medal in the Women’s single-handed Laser Radial event while her team-mates, in the three other disciplines, Finn Lynch (also of the National Yacht Club) , Andrea Brewster and Saskia Tidey (49erFX) and Ryan Seaton and Matt McGovern (Men’s Skiff) all achieved personal best performances. The celebratory events will also greet local members of the Irish Olympic hockey team Mitch Darling, Kyle Good, Shane O’Donoghue, Alan Sothern, Ronan Gormley, Kirk Shimmins & David Fitzgerald who in a tough group had a notable success in their Olympic campaign over Canada and also Dundrum’s Irish Badminton Olympic hero Scott Evans who impressed defeating two opponents to reach the last 16 in his competition in the process becoming the first Irish person to win an Olympic badminton match.
Annalise Murphy won Ireland’s first Olympic Sailing medal in 36 years at Rio 2016 and the result marks her reward for eleven years of dedication and intensive campaigning.
Led by the RNLI Dún Laoghaire lifeboat Anna Livia and accompanied by a flotilla of some 25 yachts and ribs crossing the town’s harbour, Ireland’s silver Olympic sailor Annalise Murphy was given a joyous welcome home this evening.
Standing proudly at the front of a rib as it cut through the harbour waters, Tricolour-holding Ms Murphy returned like a conquering heroine.
“This is pretty different,” she said as she stepped ashore, comparing her victorious return from Rio to that from London where, four years ago, she finished an agonising and frustrating fourth in in the Women’s Laser Radial sailing competition.
“This is mad,” said her sister Claudine, laughing as she tried to nudge her way through the throng of media cameras to snatch her own memento of the occasion on her phone.
Family, friends, fellow sailing enthusiasts and wellwishers lined the pier to cheer the silver medallist and a selection of Ireland’s other Olympians – badminton player Scott Evans, men’s hockey team members Kyle Good, Peter Caruth, David Fitzgerald and Alan Sothern; and Ms Murphy’s fellow sailors Saskia Tidey, Andrea Brewter, Matt McGovern and Ryan Seaton – as they were led by Ms Murphy up the pier and along the seafront to People’s Park.
