Ireland Olympic success ‘the stuff of dreams’ as athletes welcomed home

More than 20,000 cheering fans welcomed Ireland’s Olympic team home after its most successful medal haul ever on Monday.

Most of the Irish athletes who won medals attended the celebratory event on Dublin’s O’Connell Street, together with most of the other athletes who had competed.

Thousands of family members and fans carried flags and homemade signs as they tried to catch a glimpse of their sporting heroes.

Girls wore white bows in their hair – a nod to sprinter Rhasidat Adeleke – and parents hoisted children onto their shoulders to give them a view of the stage.

A total of 64 women and 69 men represented Team Ireland across 14 sports at the Paris games, winning four gold medals and three bronze.

Daniel Wiffen, 23, won gold in the men’s 800m final and also took a bronze in the men’s 1500m final.

Rhys McClenaghan, 25 and from Co Down, won gold in the pommel horse final.

Three athletes retained their Olympic titles from the Tokyo games: Skibbereen rowers Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy in the men’s lightweight double sculls; and Dubliner Kellie Harrington in the women’s 60kg boxing event.

Mona McSharry, from Co Sligo, won a bronze medal in the 100m breaststroke, while rowers Philip Doyle and Daire Lynch also won bronze medals.

Speaking to thousands of supporters at the event, Harrington described the support of her home country as “just fantastic”.

She said: “This is absolutely amazing for absolutely every one of the athletes here on Team Ireland who give their everything day in, day out. To have the support of this nation for all of us, from the bottom of every one of our hearts, it really does mean the world to us.

“That’s whether we win, we lose, we draw, to have you all there to pick us up, to dust us off and to