Brilliant Bronze for Burke at European Youth Olympics

By Thomas Conway

Under the baking Balkan sun, Templemore sprinter Joe Burke scorched his way to a brilliant bronze medal in the 200 metres at the European Youth Olympic Festival in North Macedonia last week.

The seventeen-year-old set a new personal best time of 21.22 in the process, which wasn’t entirely unexpected.

Joe knew himself that a medal was within reach if he performed to his optimum. He strolled through his first heat, stepped on the gas somewhat in the semi-final, and then turned on the after-burners in the final. It was one of the best races he has ever produced, as he revealed afterwards.

“It was probably one of the best executed races that I’ve ever run,” he said.

“Everything fell into place pretty much. I had a very good start, probably my best start to date. And the whole race just kind of fell into place after that. I was in a very good place coming off the bend and then it was just a straight line all the way up home straight to the finish.”

Many of his fellow Team Ireland members were on their feet in the crowd, screaming and shouting the Templemore man on. But when the race ended, they had no idea whether to celebrate or sigh. Neither did Joe, because the result was far from clear.

“There was a nice bit of waiting then, after the race,” he revealed.

Many of his fellow Team Ireland members were on their legs in the crowd, screaming and shouting the Templemore man on. But when the race ended, they had no idea whether to celebrate or sigh. Neither did Joe, because the result was far from clear.

“There was a nice bit of waiting then, after the race,” he continued.

“Now first place was obvious - we knew the Swedish lad had it. But second, third, fourth - I’d say we were there for three to four minutes just waiting. And I’ll be honest with you, it was an intense wait!”

Eventually it emerged that he had nicked bronze and the Irish contingent went into delirium. Just half-an-hour earlier, another team member, Ellis McHugh, had secured bronze in the 400 metre hurdles. A successful morning in Skopje’s national arena.

Articulate and modest, Joe was thrilled with the outcome, but a multi-sport event such as this is never just about the competition. The EYOP offers emerging young athletes the chance to live and dwell and mix and mingle alongside one another, and Joe found the experience fascinating,

“It was great fun being around other sports, getting to know other people and how they kind of ground themselves,” he said.

“You know every athlete has their own routine, on the days prior to the event, on the day of the event, in the hours leading up to it. So, it was just interesting to see others’ routines, and many of them are different. No one athlete is the same in what they do.”

For Joe, the time-horizon is shorter. He’ll travel to Tampere in Finland in a fortnight’s time to run for 4x100 relay team in the European Under-20 Championship. Let’s just say he and his teammates are quietly confident.

Experience

There was stifling heat in Skopje, the kind of temperatures that shatter the mercury, in excess of forty degrees celsius. Furnace-like conditions that sent most normal people shuttering indoors during daylight hours. Athletes though, well they’re different animals. Over 4,000 of them - along with their coaches, delegations, families, and support teams - all converged on the North Macedonian capital for the European Youth Olympic Festival. The heat certainly made life that bit more difficult for the competitors, but compete they did, and from an Irish perspective, there was plenty to cheer about.

A medal at this level is an indicator of serious talent, but it isn’t the overriding objective for Team Ireland.

The EYOP is a stepping stone on a longer path, a rung on a ladder that runs as high as the Olympic Games. In essence, it’s a long-term game. Gavin Noble, Team Ireland’s chef de mission, explained that to parents over the course of the week.

Badminton

Roscrea’s Luke Marks, at just age fourteen, was one of the younger competitors in this year’s event. But he’s a lad who specialises in punching above his weight. He very nearly qualified from his five person group, but was just pipped for second place.

He too found the heat trying. For the first several days, the badminton players were competing in a sweltering arena with poor air-conditioning. The high temperature was a huge factor, Luke admitted, and while he enjoyed the excitement and the adrenaline of it all, he also took the experience as a learning opportunity.

“It was very fun, but it was also very different to anything I’ve ever experienced before,” Luke revealed.

“It was just cool to see how other countries - athletes from other countries - how they played. Particularly the countries and the athletes that would be used to the heat.

Heat can affect any sport, but its impact is particularly consequential when it comes to badminton. Not only does it exhaust players, both physically and psychologically, it also changes the movement of the shuttle, as Luke’s father Pat explains.

“Because it was so hot, the shuttle was actually flying very fast, and what that meant was the players had to control it very carefully,” he explained.

“Control it without hitting it out. So, Luke was actually quite good at that - he was able to hit the shuttle with plenty of pace but keep it within the court. And he would have been up against lads much bigger, much stronger than him. But Luke was able to kind of offset their strength with his more controlled game.”

Both father and son describe the EYOP as a “fabulous experience, a fabulous trip”, and it won’t be the last overseas voyage Luke will make this year.

Luke now has his sights on the European Under-17 Championships in Spain at the start of December.