In just a few days the 2024 Paris Olympics will be over and thousands of visitors and spectators will go back to work and school, as will hundreds of Olympic athletes.
Years of hard work, sacrifice, and dedication are required for just over two weeks on an Olympic stage. Thousands of hours all for two weeks, one day, or one minute.
One of these athletes, Lee Cole, a fullback for the Ireland field hockey team, will return from Paris to go back to his full-time job as a software engineer.
So with this temporary yet memorable experience, how does it affect his life and those closest to him?
Playing for pride instead of popularity
Cole’s parents-in-law, Tony and Lisa McCarthy, traveled from Dublin, Ireland to support their son-in-law in his Olympic debut. They say although Cole does not play field hockey full-time, his life still revolves around the sport.
“He trains five days a week, he plays one day, he rests one day. It’s incredible, just an incredible sacrifice [he makes] to get there,” said Tony.
They say several of Cole’s teammates also maintain jobs outside of the sport. They don’t travel the world every weekend for matches or get paid to play, but there is a level of pride that comes with being an Olympian
“It’s quintessential Olympic spirit just to participate,” said Tony. “I know people who are going for gold medals don’t think that way and they can’t, but for [them]... this is the pinnacle of their life, of their sporting life, to play in the Olympics.”
Field hockey isn’t the most popular sport in Ireland, which means national players like Cole don’t get as much recognition on the street as other athletes, such as footballers. But the McCarthy’s say that pride for their country drives their dedication.
“There’s great pride in it. Ireland is a small country, a small hockey playing population, so it’s just fantastic to see this and be here. [Being] absorbed in the whole Olympic process, it’s just magnificent,” said Tony.
Ireland has only one win and three losses in pool play at the Olympics. However, the McCarthy’s say being in the Olympics is more important than bringing back a medal.
“Their chances of getting a medal are very very slight, but their whole participation is just so important for them,” said Lisa.
So in just less than two weeks, when these athletes go back to their hometowns and desk jobs, many of them without medals, they will always be Olympians.
“When he’s 90 years of age, the team people will always say he played in the Olympics,” said Tony.
“And they can never take that away,” said Lisa.