IRISH TIMES SPORTSWOMAN OF THE YEAR:THE LINK between Ardcalf, Eislingen, Ohio and Beijing might not, perhaps, be immediately apparent, but come August, when Siobhan Byrne represents Ireland in fencing at the Olympic Games, it should become a little clearer.

Byrne will become the first female Irish fencer to compete in the Olympics in almost 50 years and will bridge a 16-year gap since Michael O'Brien, our last Olympic representative in the sport, qualified for Barcelona.

Last month in Istanbul the 23-year-old, who competes in the sabre category, needed to reach the final of the European qualifying tournament to take one of the two available Olympic places. She survived the pool phase of the tournament to go through to the direct elimination phase, but was drawn in the quarter-finals against the British number two Jo Hutchison, who had already beaten her in the preliminaries.

Byrne, though, got the better of Hutchison second time around but faced an even more formidable opponent in the semi-finals, the number-one seed Andrea Pelei of Romania.

Producing the performance of her career, she beat Pelei by one hit, 15-14, to clinch Olympic qualification. An hour later she lost by the same scoreline to the Spaniard Araceli Navarro in the final, but having narrowly missed out on qualification four years ago it was mission accomplished.

"It was relief more than anything," she said yesterday. "There was so much hope and so much pressure. I knew how I felt four years ago and I just didn't want to feel that way again. It was a weird feeling in the end.

"When I saw the green light I just started crying," she said of the moment that green light signalled she had beaten Pelei and was Beijing-bound.

"Four years ago I'd put way too much pressure on myself; my only focus was making it to the Olympics so when I missed out I was heartbroken. I think I've matured in that time. I'm a lot more experienced too.

"Reaching the Olympics was just as important to me but I was calmer, I stayed patient. Fencing is a mental game, it's a fight against yourself mostly, so patience and calm are everything."

Not that there was anything calm about the atmosphere in Istanbul. "You could have cut it with a knife," she laughed. "Usually we're all friendly with each other and we chat - but not this time. There was just so much at stake, so we kept to ourselves."

The atmosphere in Ardcalf, she trusts, was considerably lighter once word of her success filtered through. Byrne's father, John, hails from the townland in Slane, leaving there for Germany to work in construction almost 30 years ago. Byrne's mother, Gillian, is from Glasgow; all three of her and John's children were born in Germany. Another member of the extended family with roots in Ardcalf is the Australian rugby international Stephen Moore, a cousin of Byrne's, while her family also has strong GAA connections, cousins Felim and Patrick O'Rourke playing for Skryne.

Byrne first took up fencing in Eislingen, her home town, when she was eight and within six years was competing internationally.

As holder of an Irish passport, she represented the country of her father's birth from the start, although after winning bronze at the Junior European Championships in 2002 she was invited to represent Germany. She turned down the invitation, at which point the federation withdrew her coaching.

She has, though, been fully supported by the Irish Fencing Federation and the Irish Sports Council's International Carding Scheme and Performance Planning Programme. In 2003 she was offered a scholarship in Ohio State University after being spotted at the World Championships in Cuba by former Olympic gold medallist Vladimir Nazlymov, a coach at the college.

Five years later Byrne is three weeks away from graduating from Ohio with a degree in Health Management, her studies combined with competing on the US college circuit. She helped Ohio win the national team title this year, taking silver in the individual event. That, then, is the connection between Ardcalf, Eislingen, Ohio and Beijing.

MONTHLY AWARDS TO DATE

January - Kelly Proper (Athletics)

February - Chloe Magee (Badminton)

March - Nina Carberry (Horse racing)

Each sportswoman is eligible for just one monthly award in 2008 but her achievements through the year will be taken into account by the judges when the overall winner is chosen.