From Glenmore to the Games, Mia Griffin is ready for the big stage

Irish sporting history has had many high points across many codes. From hurling and soccer to rugby and athletics, our country has hit many international heights.

Cycling has had its success stories too, from Sean Kelly and Stephen Roche to Sam Bennett and Ben Healy - now Mia Griffin will add her chapter, with the flourish of five Olympic rings.

Griffin will become the latest in a long line of Kilkenny Olympians when she takes to the velodrome to compete in the team pursuit competition in women’s track cycling on Tuesday, August 6. It has been a long journey, but one that has delivered its reward.

“We’ve been on a rollercoaster of emotions, with plenty of ups and downs,” she said, “but it’s been worth it.”

Having travelled around the world in search of Olympic qualification, the Glenmore native and her team-mates Alice Sharpe, Kelly Murphy and Lara Gillespie achieved their goal when they won silver in the Nations Cup in Hong Kong and, with it, secured their place in the Summer Games in Paris.

“It’s been a surreal experience,” Griffin said of the trek from charging for qualification to being named on the Irish team.

“When we were training in Brisbane we had it in the back of our minds that we needed to keep Japan and China behind us in the national rankings (only the top 10 nations were guaranteed to make Paris). If they had beaten us in Hong Kong that would have put us under pressure qualification-wise, so the relief and sense of achievement when we did it was something else.”

So much has gone into making the Olympic dream a reality, with the Irish team practically living out of suitcases as they’ve combined training with competing at the events necessary to earn their Olympic berths. While that has been tough, Griffin felt the hard work and miles have helped to develop a strong bond amongst the squad.

“We haven’t been very eco-friendly!” she said with a laugh, reflecting on a trek that saw the Irish team start 2024 at the European Track Championships in the Netherlands, then head to Australia for Nations Cup action and a month-long training block before that all-important competition in Hong Kong. “It’s only when you sit back and think of the journey we’ve been on that you realise how mad it’s been,” she said.

“We performed really well in Hong Kong off the back of our month-long training camp in Australia,” she added. “As a team we have a really special group who have been able to get top performances out of each other as we’ve pushed the standards up in every session.”

And it’s not just been on the track.

“Look at the results Lara (Gillespie) has achieved on the road,” said Griffin, acknowledging her Irish team-mate’s performances which included overall victory in the Giro Mediterraneo Rosa after two stage wins with the professional UAE ADQ team, results which saw her move up to the World Tour level. “Training with those girls is savage because they’re so f****** strong that it pushes me every single day.”

The cyclists prepared for the Games with a two and a half week holding camp in Majorca, but all the while their thoughts were on the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Velodrome on the outskirts of Paris, which will house the track cycling. With full crowds expected after Covid put the shackles on spectators in Tokyo, Griffin is expecting fans to lift the roof off the venue.

“We’re going to have all the spectators back, so the velodrome will be packed for each event - I’d say it will be pretty insane,” she said, imagining the wall of noise that’s going to greet the Irish team.

“People love to watch track cycling in the Olympics because it’s so noisy and unpredictable. It will be an experience that will be hard to beat.”

And whatever comes from the Games, Griffin believes it will set cycling in Ireland on a new path. With plans underway to build an indoor velodrome at the Sport Ireland campus, the next generation of cyclists may not have to travel to the same extent as their predecessors to reach the top.

“Once we have an indoor velodrome the sky will be the limit for the sport,” she said. “I think it will be a great investment because you get out what you put in with track cycling. There are so many girls who would be so good at cycling, while it would also be a great avenue into the professional side of the sport. There are many more opportunities, especially on the roads, so having track squads could offer that route for the next generation.

“We performed really well in Hong Kong off the back of our month-long training camp in Australia,” she added, using the background of Ireland’s Olympic qualification as an example. “The benefits we got from being able to train with a track close by were incredible. Imagine what we could achieve if we had that all year round.”

Imagine indeed...

Ireland’s track team will get their Olympic campaign underway on Tuesday, August 6, with the women’s Team Pursuit qualifying. Should they be successful they’ll go on to compete in round one and the finals on Wednesday, August 7.