Annalise Murphy talks Olympics
We spoke to the Irish sailing hopeful a few months back...
Craig Fitzpatrick, 01 Aug 2012
She's just bagged two more race wins at Weymouth, proving herself a serious contender in the 2012 Olympics. Here's an interview with Annalise Murphy from back in January, as she excitedly looked forward to the Games...
Annalise Murphy is a real water baby. Brought up in a family obsessed with sailing, she booked her place in the Olympics, after only three years on the senior circuit, with some stunning displays at the World Championships in Perth in December. Ultimately she ended sixth, missing out on a medal, but her individual racing, particularly early on, was hugely impressive.
At 21 years of age, Murphy – who sails out of Dun Laoghaire – took on the best Laser Radial sailors in the world and, on a number of occasions, left them trailing in her wake. If she carries that form into the Olympics she will be in the final shake-up.
2011 was the year Annalise came of age. She finished third, taking the bronze medal, in the ISAF World Cup in June, held at the Olympic venue in Weymouth. But then she has the heritage – her mother Cathy MacAleavey sailed for Ireland at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea.
Our sole representative in the Women’s Laser Radial class, the word among the experts is that her consistency in Regattas still needs work. But if she has a strong wind behind her, she can beat anybody.
As it happens. qualification came quite early on in the World Championships when the fleet split and Annalise made the top half.
“Yeah, it was overwhelming,” she says. “And it’s still hard to believe that I actually managed to do it. If you’d asked me three years ago what my chances were, I would have laughed. I hoped maybe for 2016 – but I had such a good year last year and I’ve been getting progressively better. I was quite lucky. It was a six-day event and we couldn’t sail on the second due to thunderstorms, so they split the group 50/50. I counted up the nations and realised I was within the top 29, in the gold fleet, so I’d qualified for the Olympics. It was a huge relief!”
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