‘Five Games is a lot for anyone mentally’ – Strong swim team motivates Paralympian Ellen Keane for Paris swansong

In that time, she has put down a remarkable career in and out of the pool, winning medals and making podiums, becoming perhaps the face of the Irish Paralympics. But at 29, and in the final weeks of her swimming career, she’s ready for whatever is next.

“No, definitely not,” she replies when asked if it was easy to stay motivated. “It is a lot harder. And I guess that’s the reason I stayed after Tokyo because it is the three-year cycle. It wasn’t the four-year cycle, so it was a little bit less daunting,” Keane said.

“With that as well, there’s been ebbs and flows and highs and lows and doing Dancing With The Stars, having that little bit of time out, and then coming back. Like, I had that motivation to come back then because I had that little bit of time away from competition.

Today's Sports News in 90 Seconds - 19th June

“It is hard . . . I’ve been doing it since I was a kid. It’s my fifth Games, but I’ve also been doing it probably since I was nine years old. Twenty years of the same thing! It has been hard and I guess the thing that does keep me kind of motivated is [that] every Games itself is different.

“Going to Paris now, the swim team is so strong and that’s kind of what motivates me. Even in the Europeans, it was the best we’ve ever had. It was incredible. I feel really proud to be able to go to the Paralympics part of a team that is so strong, and just to see it out – and to see it out in a good position as well is motivating.”

Ireland will send six swimmers to Paris. Barry McClements, Róisín Ní Ríain, Deaten Registe, Nicole Turner, Dearbhaile Brady and Keane carry a good portion of Team Ireland’s medal hopes, having secured a record 12 medals at the European Championships in Madeira in late April.

Keane will compete in her recognised 100m breaststroke as well as 100m backstroke in Paris.

“The reason I wanted to get a second swim so much is because my breaststroke, the main event, is on day two, and then because I am planning on retiring afterwards, I didn’t want to go to the Games, race on day two and then be done.”

The breaststroke brings her to day six of the Games, then it will all be done. There are loose plans for a media career as well as a trip to Bali for a yoga teacher training course, but that is for another day. What is certain is that her time in the pool for Ireland will be over.

“I’d say physically, my body could probably keep going,” she says. “But five Games is a lot for anyone mentally. I wouldn’t want to go to LA and just be there for the sake of it. I still want to be able to do a good performance and that’s what I’m trying to do with Paris. It’s probably harder than I thought it would be . . . Mentally, it is a lot harder.

“When I go away competing, or when I go away on camps, I never used to get homesick, and now I do. That’s probably the hardest thing for me at the moment because I’m like, ‘I want to go home to my dogs!’

“The harder thing for me as well is I’ve seen so many people come and go . . . my friends from different countries, there’s less and less of them. You kind of just feel like my generation is kind of ready to move on.”