By the time Kate O’Connor landed in Dublin Airport on Wednesday, with the silver medal from the World Championships in Tokyo around her neck, two things had already changed beyond all imagination.
O’Connor was now a household name, catapulted into the lofty realm of sporting distinction rarely marked out in any lifetime. At 24, it was her fourth medal success story this year, and she’s still only getting started.
O’Connor also got households talking about the heptathlon. Her multi-event discipline was hardly a complete unknown before Tokyo, but she’s single-handedly entered it into the national conversation – and opened fresh possibilities for the next generation of Irish athletes.
How touching, then, that among the first to welcome O’Connor in the arrivals area was Bríd Golden, who was elected president of Athletics Ireland earlier this year having been one of the trailblazers of the heptathlon in this country. As an athlete with Ferrybank AC in Waterford, and later as the club coach, Golden was part of the movement that helped pave the way for O’Connor’s success.
RM Block
“Going back years, the general public here wouldn’t have known anything about the heptathlon,” says Golden. “It was a common quiz question, ‘how many events in the heptathlon?’. Kate has put it on the map.
“And she’s just blown out of the water what we ever even thought was possible. To see world and European medals in the heptathlon and pentathlon (the five-event indoor equivalent) is a dream come true for so many of us.
“She also represents everything that’s good about athletics. Young kids are looking at her now and saying, ‘I’d like to try that’. And that’s where the next Kate O’Connor comes from.”
Golden made her international heptathlon debut for Ireland at age 16. She competed throughout her career under her maiden name, Bríd Hallissey, and won 11 Irish heptathlon titles, breaking the Irish record five times. At the 1985 European Cup for Combined Events, she was part of the Irish team that was captained by Lucy Moore, another of the multi-event pioneers in this country, and equally successful in her coaching capacity with Dundrum-South Dublin.
Moore was in Tokyo to witness O’Connor’s latest breakthrough, the awe of the performance still fresh in her voice. Like Golden, Moore understands better than most what is required to juggle the 100m hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200m, long jump, javelin and the 800m across two days of competition.
“I don’t think people fully appreciate just how good Kate is, in all seven events, and just how much effort it takes to maintain that level,” says Moore. “She is one of the best athletes we’ve had in several of those events, individually, and especially the javelin. Her scores are that good.
“It takes a whole team, and Kate has also that. And then despite hurting her knee, she bangs out another personal best in the javelin. And that’s what makes her such a championship performer, which is the other big thing.”
Golden was also in Tokyo for the World Championships, in her role as president of Athletics Ireland, and a lifelong devotee of the heptathlon. Sadly, she didn’t get to see O’Connor compete, as three days into the championships, she received news from home that her mother Pearl had died, aged 83, after a long illness.
“We got the phone call about 15 minutes after Mondo Duplantis broke the record in the pole vault,” she says. “And we were on a flight home 12 hours later.
“The way things worked out, the funeral Mass was timed for 1pm on Saturday, and Kate’s 800m was at 1.10. So I think half the congregation at the back of the church had their phones out, were watching, with my blessing, and with my mother’s blessing, I’m sure. Then during communion, they gave me the nod to say Kate won the silver medal. And I got to include that in the eulogy at the end. Mam would have been very pleased.”
Just like O’Connor, Golden’s pathway to success in the multi-events was a family affair. Her father Andy was one of the founder members of Ferrybank AC, just outside Waterford City, and coached his daughter up through the underage ranks. It’s the same pathway that exists today.
“Like everyone else, I just started as a juvenile in the club at under-11,” says Golden. “I started with the high jump. That was the first event I won something in. The next year, I started the hurdles. The year after that I won the high jump and the hurdles. Then the next year I added the long jump.
“Then I realised that maybe the combined events was something I could do best at. But I loved that approach, and I think that’s in the nature of the combined-events athletes, just that love for different events.
“Then when I moved into the senior ranks, I had to look for a bit more. Because I was competing a lot internationally, you do become friends with your fellow competitors. And I linked up a lot with the British girls at the time, and in the last few years of my career I was coached by Bruce Longden, who coached Daley Thompson and Sally Gunnell.
“So that connection was important for me, and when I saw the way Bruce created his training programmes, it also influenced me as a coach. And something I brought to Ferrybank AC in a lot of events, introducing athletes to the combined events. His philosophy was a huge influence.”
During her career Golden became the first Irish heptathlete to surpass 5,000 points, in 1990, later raising it to 5,236 points in 1995. She then coached Mairead Murphy and Kelly Proper to Irish heptathlon records, Proper winning a remarkable 37 Irish titles between her individual and multi-events.
While Golden understands what’s required to be successful in the heptathlon, she also points to the benefits of the multi-events approach for young athletes: “It’s something I noticed over the years. Young athletes really don’t know what their best event might be. I’d use the example we had in Ferrybank with Thomas Barr. He trained for a lot of different events, and it was only in his late teenage years that he started getting very good in the 400m hurdles.
“An athlete develops movement skills, co-ordination, flexibility. All the key elements of being a high-level athlete in later years. All the proper foundations are laid in the multi-event approach. Also, when young athletes are doing a few different events, if one event isn’t going well, they can still do well in another. So that’s another benefit, it can keep young athletes going through difficult times.”
For Moore, the multi-events approach for young athletes also makes perfect sense, although she also recognises the enormous challenge it presents when trying to succeed at senior level.
“With Dundrum South-Dublin, kids aged seven, going on eight, they join the Little Athletics programme. That’s specifically designed to teach the fundamental movements that will be required in all athletics events.
“After a few years in Little Athletics, they move into the juvenile events, and the emphasis there is still on team approach. But you don’t know what you’re going to be good at until you try it. And it can happen that some will stick to the combined events.
“With young distance runners, in most cases, they will edge towards that at age 12 or 13. They know they’re cross-country runners, probably couldn’t jump or throw for toffee. But it’s very hard to get multi-event athletes to come through any further. The sticking point for the sprinters, the jumpers, is the throws. And for girls in particular. For example, I think you can either throw the javelin or you can’t throw the javelin.”
“But then you can always teach the 800m. When I started, I hated every minute of it, but I got my time down just by training myself to do it.
“With Kate, she also has that support team behind her. I remember Barry Walsh from Limerick, an outstanding all-round athlete, who won bronze in the decathlon at the European Under-20 Championships in 1987. But he just couldn’t keep it up. And that’s what happens to so many multi-event athletes.
“So yes, theoretically it’s always possible to produce an athlete like Kate. But it’s also so, so difficult to maintain. Particularly in the men’s decathlon, where there are 10 events, and all those technical throws.”
Athletics Ireland already put word out last week on ways for young athletes to get involved in the multi-events.
Moore’s coaching experience spreads deep across several events: she’s also playing a coaching role in two current Irish record holders, David Gillick in the 400m and Deirdre Ryan in the high jump, and this year she also coached former international basketballer Lorcan Murphy to the Irish decathlon title.
“I also believe with combined events, because of the overall training approach, upper body, lower body, speed and endurance, there might be less of an injury risk than someone who was spending all their time just running or throwing.
“With Kate, her 200m and long jump are open for improvement. We’ve seen how much her hurdles have improved this year. Sometimes you can get a bit obsessed with your weaker event, think you must bring that up. And maybe neglect the more natural events. So it’s very much a balancing act, and that will vary from year to year. Each season might start a new project.”
Injury ultimately ended Golden’s career at age 28, at which point she’d already started teaching in Waterford city. Years later, however, she still sees room for improvement in Irish athletics facilities.
“My dad would have driven me to Nenagh once a week, through the winter months, two hours’ drive there and back. That was the only indoor facility around then, and it’s still the only indoor facility we have in the whole of Munster.”
