LET THE GAMES BEGIN

With the Olympics having just wrapped up, it’s now time for para-athletes to take the stage and compete for coveted bronze, silver and gold medals. Representing Team Ireland and Team LGBTQ+ is para-cyclist Richael Timothy, who spoke to Alice Linehan about her sporting story so far and her hopes for Paris 2024.

From Ballymoe, Co. Galway, Richael Timothy boasts an impressive list of sporting accomplishments. She played soccer for Ireland at U15 and U17 level alongside now-captain and LGBTQ+ icon Katie McCabe and represented Roscommon in Gaelic football.

“When I was younger, I just did every sport I could possibly do,” she said. “I just loved the team sports side, so I stuck with the Gaelic and the soccer.” Richael’s talent was undeniable, and ultimately earned her a scholarship to Athlone IT.

Her whole life revolved around sport - she lived and breathed it. However, things drastically changed in 2016 when she suffered an acquired brain injury, caused by treatment for a rare condition known as Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia (HHT). It left her questioning whether she’d ever have a place in sport again, as her veins and arteries were affected, leaving her with just 30 per cent of power in her right arm and leg.

“It was obviously a massive shock in that I had no fallback plan. Everything I was doing - work and college - was all sport, and suddenly the doctor’s telling me ‘You won’t be able to do sport. You’ll have to be sedentary in what you do’.

“There’s obviously loads of different treatments, medications and stuff for brain injuries that you can try and I was just kind of trying everything. In my head, I always thought that I was going to get back playing football. I never thought I’d never play again.”

Experts told Richael that the condition she was in at the 18-month mark following her first symptoms would generally be her new baseline. When she got to that point, she hadn’t made as much progress as she hoped and had to accept that she wouldn’t be able to go back to the sports she loved so much.

“I was never going to be able to regain enough power in my right leg or right arm to run or be able to react quickly, the way you would need for football,” she realised.

However, she didn’t dwell on the negative for long. Her mindset was admirable, telling herself: “I need to forget about what I can’t do and focus on what I can do”.

“It kind of came out of nowhere, the cycling side. I wasn’t able to walk very far so I just got on a bike and literally did a little five-kilometre loop around my house, and every day I was able to go a little bit further. Then, my GP told me to look into para sport. Obviously, because I’d done sports science, I had seen different Paralympic athletes but I didn’t realise I qualify.”

The following week, she went to Cork for her first time trial.

“I was terrible, but I was racing,” she remembered. “From that then it was just like I had that bit of competitiveness back. So every month I went and tried to do a better time and it just kind of escalated really quickly.”

She added: “I went all in because I had nothing to lose. I was willing to put everything into it and just see. If it didn’t work, it didn’t work.”

And work it did. Richael continued to bring her times down until she had strong enough numbers to make her Irish debut in 2017. Since then, she has won silver at the 2019 Manchester Para-Cycling International, three bronze medals at the Para-Cycling Track World Championships and made her Paralympic debut at Tokyo 2020.

“I’m full-time now cycling; I would have never had that with football. So it’s mad,” she said.

At Paris 2024, she will compete in two track events (a sprint and an individual pursuit) and two road events (a bunch race and a time trial). She classifies in the Women’s C3 category, with the C indicating she is on a solo bike, and the 3 representing her level of disability.

“I’m competing against the C1s, 2s and 3s, so we’re all in together for the Games, which is a bit different to the World Championships. It means people who have slightly different disabilities are competing against each other, but they get a factor, so they get some of their time taken off to make it fair between us all,” she explained.

“With the combined categories, it is way more difficult to get a medal at the Games. But for me, my two better main events that I’m focusing on are the individual pursuit and the road race. The hope is to get a top six, but I think you could get a top six or a bronze medal. It’ll be that tight.”

She continued: “I’m excited. It’s my second Games and it’s obviously going to be a lot different to Tokyo. And I think obviously for me, I’m a lot stronger and I’m a lot better than I was in Tokyo.”

The last Paralympics took place while Covid-19 restrictions were still in place. There were no spectators, so Paris 2024 will certainly bring something new.

Richael’s partner Jennifer and baby Lucie will travel to the Games to support, with her daughter turning one on the day of her first race. While the athletes’ village is strict about family visitors, Pampers has a nursery where children can be brought in once a week to see their parents.

“We’re definitely going to do that,” Richael stated, adding that she won’t see Lucie for 22 days because she’ll be training in Portugal in anticipation of the Games.

“I’ll be able to see her then. But as well, with the cycling, you’re on the road so you can see people after your race.”

Richael will also have a lot of support at home, with flags already flying high in her local community.

“It’s really nice and I think it’s nice for kids that are in those clubs to see someone competing. I think the main thing is that the kids see the Paralympics after the Olympics and they understand why I’m in the Paralympics.”

She added: “There are lots of kids in the county, in Roscommon or Galway or wherever, that are maybe in wheelchairs or have cerebral palsy, have a disability, who didn’t realise the Paralympics was a thing. But now they’re engrossed in it because they know me or they know someone who’s actually partaking in them.

I think that’s really good and that’ll build it for the future… Champions will be kids who’ve played the sport from when they were kids.”

Richael is not just an inspiration to the younger generations, she is also an inspiration to all the women, disabled people and LGBTQ+ folk who statistics show drop out of sport as they get older. Too often, these groups can feel like there is no place for them in the industry, which Richael proves couldn’t be further from the truth.

And she is not the only Irish LGBTQ+ para-cyclist taking to Paris this August. Her teammate and five-time Paralympic medalist Katie-George Dunlevy will also compete in what is her fourth Games.

Speaking about training alongside her, Richael said: “Katie has been to every Games since London, so it’s really good because she has all the experience and she has all the medals as well to show for it. So I suppose, whatever she’s doing, you’re trying to copy; that’s what needs to be done to get to the top.

“She’s the best stoker there is out there, so to train with her is really, really good.”

Richael Timothy, Katie-George Dunlevy and the 33 other Team Ireland athletes will compete in the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games from August 28 to September 8. We wish them all the best of luck and know that they will do us proud!