Martin King interviews Sharlene Mawdsley

Sharlene Mawdsley accelerated herself into the hearts of the Irish public with her heroics at the European Athletics Champions in Rome as part of the Women’s and Mixed 4x400m relay teams.

Two weeks out from her debut Olympics, Sharlene sat down with Martin King for Ireland AM to discuss her form, fitness and emotions heading to Paris, heartbreak in Glasgow, ecstasy in Rome, and what it means for her to be seen as a role model in Ireland.

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I’m here at the Crown Plaza in blanchardstown where team Ireland has kind of taking the whole thing over as they’re HQ and the lead up to this year’s Olympic Games now a whole load of our medal prospects are here we’re here to chat to one of our sprinting Sensations the lady that is Charlene Morley so let’s go in and say hello running running running running running running for myself more together we wi it all i’t running R well great to see it but I have to tell you you put the hard Crossways in because you pulled out of the Nationals a couple of weeks ago just put all our minds to rest you’re okay I’m okay I already uh started back racing so I started back racing on Sunday and it was just to put down a performance let people know I’m okay the body’s good and yeah just it was really cold the weekend of my hamstring was a bit tight I was down to do the 200 so I pulled out under safety precautions and yeah I ran on Sunday in the Netherlands and it was pretty good okay so we we we we are safe in the knowledge that you’re good yes I’m good fully healthy thank God we’re two weeks out from the Olympics how are you feeling it’s crazy I’m still a bit shocked I think now I’m really starting to enjoy the momentum and the build off to it like it’s crazy I just can’t believe I’m going to be an Olympian I know I I know you missed out the last time but like this is this is the big deal I think this is making me appreciate it more you know what I mean like I know the time of Tokyo was really hard but I worked so hard to get here now and yeah I’m just so proud of myself well we were all boring with pride as we watched what happened in Rome that 4×400 mixed relay that has to be the highlight of your career yeah a metal is everything like that mixed relay was a second to none like every time I watch it back Greg’s commentary like it it brings me tears even thinking about it now it’s funny cuz I was just in the Netherlands and you know they were slagging me saying you know watch out for the Olympics and I was like who has the gold medal guys like it does and it’s mad to think about it because I was saying it but I was like but I do I I have that gold medal at home and I have that silver medal for the women’s team so yeah definitely the highlight of my career okay well so far so far so far yeah yeah of course we want to keep those fingers crossed of course um can I just ask you about because like what happened you were disqualified so what happened it was very very harsh so how do you feel about that and has that been kind of your motivation to drive you on yeah I guess I’m someone who’s dealt with the highs and the lows of the sport um Glasgow was a bit bizarre because I thought I qualified for my first major individual final and you know it was only when I came back I was like I missed out on a world individual final you know it was it was took me a while to realize what had actually happened and I did think it was a bit unfair it wouldn’t have happened a lot of other people like the races I seen afterwards I was like what is going on like there’s no disqualification in these yeah it was really disappointing I was really lucky to have the relay the next day with the girls and we had broken the National Record like it was it was really good and what was important for me is I split really well individually and that gave me the confidence to know I should have been in that final and yeah it’s been a definitely it motivated me for the rough sessions that I had the weeks after and yeah World Championships European championships this is the Olympics so you know is this a different pressure I think for me I have no pressure because I wanted this for so long and I was always saying if I get to Paris that’s going to be everything to me so I think I’m going to be walking out in the that track just smiling taking it all in and just loving every moment of it I could be nervous on the day I could be like wow I’m actually the Olympics but no I think right now I the feeling I have like I feel such high emotion so I want to bring that in and put out a good performance at Paris as well just gather your memories at the opening ceremony and then do the business yeah okay okay exactly well you get into your teenage years and we know what teenage years are like now you had your studies you still had your Athletics but you had other distractions so you were kind of starting to shy away from the sport is that fair to say Yeah in 2018 yeah I went to University started partying a little bit too much I enjoyed my first year and yeah I nearly hung up the spikes I was just I had left my coaches at the time I was on my own and I was actually at a festival in sgo right in bondor and Roddy Gainer actually came to pick me up and he brought me to his house and he was like okay you need to you need to keep at this like and he was just like there’s no there’s no given up so he then told me to approach Gary Ryan so that’s what I did and Gary has been my coach since then he’s got on the straight now he does yeah no night out with Gary oh really no he’s he’s okay he knows I’m disciplined but I think since 2018 I remember it was the summer and everyone was in Berlin I felt that European championships everyone seemed to be there and I was sitting at home on my couch watching it and I was thinking okay maybe the night life wasn’t really like longlasting so yeah I ended up taking a bit more serious so ever since then I kind of had the discipline to know you know my competitors aren’t doing it so I need to not do it as well okay all right all right so so that’s been tempered a little bit there are there are many little charlin who might be watching us you know who you somebody was your role model you’re somebody else’s role model so what’s your advice to anybody who might be watching us as they’re sitting out just to stick at it because I was never any good when I was younger um I just enjoyed it I loved going down to the running field I say the running field it was a the back of our school like I just enjoyed it I loved going with my friends just have stick to one person I was cutting every corner possible don’t get me wrong but yeah just stick with it because you’ll Truly find what you love eventually like I always told people I will never run the 400 I was like that is way too long and here I am now running it and I’m going to be running it at the Olympic Games so it’s crazy and you went back to your school with your medals I did that must have been really sweet for you yeah that was the only thing I did since Ro um but just to show the kids like I remember when I was in that primary school and we used to have um Shane mcgr and Conor maty to tip former Herer they used to come to the school and I remember you know you would have this tiny sheet of paper and you would ask them to sign it and that’s what the kids had for me this time and letting them wear the medals and things like that I think that’s really inspiring for little kids because I remember it when I was younger you know I have the little hurly sign I don’t even play ear or kogi but I still have that little hurly sign in my bedroom so it’s just it was so lovely for me to be able to go back to my school and just see the pride on everyone like they support me so much it was honestly the nicest thing ever and you know watching all the support that came out to me for the relay on that the day of the women’s relay which I had no clue about was so so lovely to show their support it’s amazing okay well let’s hope that When September Comes you’ll be heading back to your primary school with another medal an Olympic one fingers crossed fingers legs eyes everything great to see you and best of luck and post [Music] [Music]