Mona McSharry wins Ireland's first Olympic swimming medal in 27 years

Mona McSharry made history last night, winning Ireland's first Olympic medal in swimming since 1996 in Atlanta.

The Sligo native took bronze after an intensely tight race, in which she was initially seeded second, in the Women's 100m breaststroke. McSharry narrowly made the podium with a time of 1:05.59, edging out Italy's Benedetta Pinato by just one-hundredth of a second, quite literally less than the blink of an eye. Gold went to South Africa's Tatjana Smith, with the silver to Qianting Tang of China.

McSharry is Ireland's first medal winner at the Paris Games, the first Irish medallist in swimming since Michelle Smith, four years before McSharry was born. She becomes Ireland's 39th Olympic medalist since Dr. Pat O'Callaghan won the first at the 1928 Games in Amsterdam.

"I’m very excited,” said McSharry, moments after her bronze medal success. "I don’t think it’s fully sunk in yet that I’ve actually won a medal. I think once I get up on the podium, it’ll all become real. I think it’s just amazing because years of hard work have paid off, and it just feels amazing."

Friends and family back home in Grange, Co. Sligo held a watch party to cheer on McSharry and Team Ireland, celebrating as her podium finish was confirmed on the scoreboard.

Celebrations in Grange as Mona McSharry secures Olympic bronze in the women's 100m breaststroke #RTESport #Paris2024

📱Updates https://t.co/NhnQoPxaeE

📺Watch https://t.co/b2OI4OoWVJ pic.twitter.com/rcsbCsY679

— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) July 29, 2024

A student at the University of Tennessee, McSharry placed eighth in the Olympic final three years ago in Tokyo when she became the first Irish swimmer to reach an Olympic final since Smith in 1996.