Terry McHugh: Six Olympics, two sports and one man determined to do it his way

, which will run every Saturday in The Irish Times up to the beginning of the 2024 Olympic Games, on Friday, July 26th

“I remember thinking, ‘Oh, good Jesus, I’ve left what I can do at home.’ Suddenly, you’ve made it to the world stage, you’re having to go into the stadium in a couple of days, and I was trying to find the feel and put it back together. When I got into the stadium, my first throw was an Irish record – 76.46. It was just like a weight was lifted off my shoulders and Seoul became the greatest experience ever.

“I had bought a house for £33,000. There was a first-time buyers grant of £3,000 from the government and I was earning £15,000 a year. I was earning half my mortgage a year as a salary so it was a very comfortable position to be in. In terms of making ends meet, doing a sport was stupid. Fundamentally stupid.

“There was a certain stigma attached to being one of the first full-time athletes in the country. You had people in your neighbourhood saying, ‘He doesn’t work, you know.’ Even within my own family. One of my sisters said to me after the Barcelona Games, ‘So, you’ll be stopping now.’ I understand. She worked very hard for a living and maybe she was concerned about my welfare. I didn’t have a problem with that.

The Irish bobsleigh team was the dream work of Larry Treacy, a British-born entrepreneur with Irish parents and a passion for winter sports. The operation was run on a shoestring. Pat McDonagh was McHugh’s partner in the two-man bob and for the 1992 Games they were the only crew – apart from New Zealand’s second string – who didn’t compete full-time on the World Cup circuit. That season they went to three World Cup events before their money ran out.

“In competition we were doing 120 kilometres an hour in the bob. It was like being in a low car, with no suspension, on a boreen, going around 15 bends, trying not to crash. It was a hell of a ride. You know, if someone said you have a month to go dick about on the ice with a best friend, with no other pressures in the world – it was just good times. Good times.”

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