Another Irish paralympics star was born today. Her name is Nicole Turner.
Ireland won its fourth medal of the Tokyo Paralympics this morning as Turner soared to second in the S6 50m butterfly.
The 19-year-old from Portarlington finished behind Jiang Yuyan of China, in a race she had finished in fifth at the 2016 Paralympics.
A positively jubilant Turner spoke with RTÉ's Darren Frehill just after the swim and conducted one of our favourite post-race interviews of all time. She could barely contain her glee at finishing second and was so happy and stunned with the result, she struggled to answer Frehill's questions.
Nicole Turner interview
An overjoyed Nicole Turner was shaking with excitement as she spoke to @Darrenfrehill about her brilliant silver medal swim https://t.co/WnFPRxuuVq #rtesport #paralympics #paraswimming pic.twitter.com/t1l0aTCVo5
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) August 30, 2021
"To be honest it hasn't sunk in. It feels like a dream come true. This is honestly the best day of my life. To be on the podium, in a silver medal, it's for everyone at home. It's not for me."
Nicole Turner was the youngest member of Team Ireland at the Rio Paralympics, aged just 14. She managed to reach five finals. Her goal for Tokyo was to medal, but as she revealed in her post-race interview, a bronze was as much as she had hoped for.
"I'd aimed high to get a medal but to be honest, to reach to the podium now with competitiveness in there, it's not sunk in."
"I think I was shaking before the race even started," Turner admitted.
Turner gave special mention to her coach Dave Malone, her strength and conditioning coach Niamh Buffini and her mam Bernie.
Turner also hilariously confirmed that she'll be able to reply to whatsapp messages from her mam now that the race has finished. Bernie had mentioned before the race on RTÉ's coverage that her daughter had been blanking her from Tokyo
"To be honest, I'm done now so she can talk to me all she wants now!" Nicole said.
Nicole Turner's parents Jason and Bernie spoke to RTÉ after the race and it got quite emotional. 'This was five years in the making," Bernie said. "I'm the happiest girl in Ireland."
Tears of joy and enormous pride in Portarlington as the huge sacrifices made by Nicole Turner and her family over the years reap a precious Paralympic Games medal https://t.co/fWFiuv09nB #rtesport #paralympics #paraswimming pic.twitter.com/nOOnXEhFhy
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) August 30, 2021
What a morning for the Turners, and for all of Portarlington.
See Also: The Amazing Journey of Ellen Keane To The Gold Medal Podium
