 What's the feeling like for you going on to this one compared to to the other games that you attended before you headed away? I suppose really it's really down to But experience, you know, I just haven't done it before in that and you can never ever Replicate the the first ones which is suddenly in 2000 obviously and you know when you're young when you're excited Then you're energetic and you go to the other side of the world Obviously, it's gonna be it's gonna be very exciting So, you know, I don't have the same buzz buzz going to it to be honest with you Different different challenge a different story a different team a different group. So, you know, looking forward to it It's the Olympic games. So, I mean, you know, it's the biggest. It's the pinnacle of sport really in a global sense So I mean very excited and you know Anticipating now some some some really interesting days ahead and just in your memories Patsy of Olympic games if we go back to the first one and in Sydney What was it like back then for you obviously it was a very very exciting time and in your athletic career, of course it was You know and 16 years ago and I believe it or not and obviously I was younger and I was I was so so excited So so excited to travel the double the night before I can remember it Well, we had national championships that weekend and you know and then we select we knew a few bits and pieces about selection and Obviously, there was a sign you'll solve in fact of the possibility of a medal and you know Good performances from the team big team 34 athletes and we traveled I remember well, it's the other side of the world as well and you know all of that to take all that into account I had been I had been to Sydney. I had sussed it out and sussed out all aspects of it Sussed out the training camp prior to that. So I did it. I did a recce as you do for games and then We spent a bit of time in a place called Newcastle the way we way north of Sydney spent about maybe four weeks there We got a lot of good work done there and came back into the games And you know, it's just like it's this new this environment this village environment whereby you're meeting all these big stars from other sports and stuff You know when you're traveling on the wee buses and through the village and and stuff like that So it was kind of as a wee bit of an awe of all that initially And then you just you get into the groove of it all then very very quickly But it was very very exciting and and the fact that it was Australia and the fact that they spoke English and the fact That it was an easy environment. It was it was really good. Yeah Is it fair to say that would London have been right up there with them because it was seen as as like an Irish home Olympics? You're right. I think London been been a home Olympics family were able to come across People from an athletics locally were able to come across We did the training camp on a place called us and Mary's colleagues out in strawberry hill and twig twig in them Which were I had gone as a student. So, you know um, that was exciting for me and a personal level and uh We you were able to transit through the city and the trains and all, you know from training camp, which we used right into the village And and it was it was such an easy it was such an easy environment to handle and London was probably the best. I mean, they done a massive massive job. They done a great job and um, you know But but every games they make such an effort, you know, and there's always these panic, you know before games and stuff and Like this time at zika. It's Some problems with the village and all but Everything starts itself out, you know in Athens, they were saying the village that the place might be finished They were saying something else about sydney. They were saying about security if you remember in london There's always big issues, you know, and uh, we're gonna now we're gonna now to these games too on the shadow of the drugs Thing the story in the background, you know, so there's always issues, but um, you as a manager manage the team You manage the athletes and you just drive on as they say, you know Yeah, we'll be talking about some of those issues just a moment But uh, your favorite moment your standout moments patty because this is your last games This is your fifth olympics. Uh, it's gonna be your last as as a team manager of of ireland So when you recap through the the last number of years, what is what really has been the standout moment? I'm sure there's there's a whole list of them patty Is there a whole list of them surely and they're all relevant to people of personally, you know But I mean it's opposed from from a national perspective sign is sounding getting the medal sound is sounding getting the medal and um In and where were we in sydney and you know the fact that she came down that straight and we thought oh my goodness She's going to get the gold medal and and stuff like that. So, you know, there was there was that factor, but And and the fact at that time at that time in ireland And maybe maybe maybe it would happen still, you know And I think it possibly would because we had a bit of an instance of it of the soccer there in the euros The country tends to stop to watch Uh, something that's going well for the country Uh, the whole world was going to stop and the but I mean by the whole word ireland was going to stop to watch her Race and the fact that she did get a medal and she did so well that was that was that was big plus So I mean I suppose that's the big memory, but there's been other other performances You know that people rose to the occasion That people Had been struggling and then got it together and then there's always the emotion of disappointment and all of this So you have a whole parallel of life really in in in it all and I went through all of that, you know But I would say as well, I should I would have managed it differently at different times You know as you grow on to a job and you grow on to a position From Sydney right through. I mean I would have You know being very enthusiastic. I would have been nearly ready to run the race for them I would have been big time and with them in the early days and then I stand back a bit more now And it's a more controlled situation You know so you manage differently as you get older and as you even get more experience I suppose over the last 16 to 20 years There's been a lot of change too and you've seen it both from Training methods of athletes and the work that they have to do now And even to a situation of how the games have been run as well Patsy Well, there's that as well You know when I seen that the other part of the learning experience that had in my life was I trained only go on GA senior team on two different occasions in my life, you know And from the first time to the second time how I had to adapt And how many other different elements had come into it and if you had to learn pretty fast, you know So it was one time it was in the 90s and the other time it was in the 2000s And so that and it's the same with anything, you know your approach changes Your your the job changes Right now I've got more support staff and I've got more help than I had initially I was kind of on my own with a couple of coaches and I said now you now they tend to give you more support staff and You know that I would probably say the job is easier now Than it was in those days because you were directly decisive in charge calling everything Now you can share it a little bit, you know and you can have an odd discussion If it's not something that needs to be done immediately you can have you have that opportunity so As you say, I think things have changed and yes indeed they have and science office is a huge part of what goes on In modern day sport and to see the way athletics has changed and not just even athletes But say right across the board and all sports when you're trying to bring teams to the Olympics and to get up To a standard where you want to win them out of science is now a huge part of it It is a big big big deal indeed it is and you know, that's more relevant in the training camp You know, we always we always do we always do training camps It's just a nature of global sport like athletics that the games that I've been involved in with the exception of london have been at a distance So you do a training camp for example and certainly that Newcastle place in Athens. It was in Cyprus In Beijing we we we believe we're going to the training camp in japan and came in from japan You know so and this time I'm way up on a city called uberlandia So in in the training camp all that science that you're talking about is it play, you know We have for example, we would have we would have a nutritionist with us You know, we would have sports science support with us and very quite a few between massage therapists and physios You know and all that so you've all the support that you need and you know, we get very we are very well supported So there is all of that but then in the individual element of each athletes training They they have to get on board the psychology and this and the physiology and the sciences of everything So yes, everything has changed and that and that respect towards the approach to perform and you know Just on a note of all the memories of past olympic games How proud are you when it comes to working with dunny gollaf? It's north-west competitors who've got as far as the games and they're trying to reach the panic on their sport When you know, it's like the old story here in dunny gollaf We all kind of look like for each other, you know and and basically You know you grow you grow up with the people that are involved at the top at every level of the sport Particularly those who are making making a name for themselves So I was very very happy when we got ourselves 44 my first two games We know we're from dunny gollaf and then we got into beijing and we had chloe and she's now going for a third game Now that's a marvelous situation and then obviously philip dagon was there as well in those games and then on beyond that in london We went in with brend boys. We went in with torey. We went in with them within with the katrina jennings, of course And and and brend boys. I mentioned so, you know, that was good and brend now He's going for a second game with torey again And we have mark english this time around as well and chloe again, of course So it's um and and the story of the story of all stories. I think she needed jennings I think I think I think she's unbelievable I mean I've said this on highland so many times from a way way way back I just have so much admiration for her and her determination and her approach So it's brilliant to have those people on board, you know and hope hope this time I might get get an opportunity to have to look see it some of these I've never ever gone in any of the games to watch anything else And I'm kind of thinking this time is a goal. We'll never get a wee chance for half of the day Someday I'd like to go and watch some of the dunnigol competitors. So that would be a special occasion as well Let's talk about these dunnigol people more in depth and we'll start with chenille because she has got so many knockbacks and kickbacks in her career And trying to make it as far as as the olympic games both in the boat On on the bike and somehow she has dug dug deep in this last couple of years to have have another go And at 39 years of age now she's nearly 40 and she's heading to again That's a that's a fantastic achievement. So it is because a lot of athletes would have Could have went the other way what what the knockbacks that they got Well, exactly And when you know when you go back even to the point of view that when she was the world's gold champion You know that there was no there wasn't that event that wasn't in the olympics and as you coped with that And dealt with that that was a great that was a great achievement in itself And then she coped with that and then she moved on and then she tried You know, I honestly think that you could have She was happy capability to make olympic games with about four different things Women being triathletes, of course, and there was the second and there was the rowing and and stuff So, you know, there's she was as a young girl. She was a good athlete. They did everything So she was but but her mentality and her drive and her commitment to it all with the young family and her studies initially Uh, it's just it's just it's just brilliant Yeah, and I know speaking to her that she's target on a medal and that's the right frame of mind You have to be impassive if you're going to the games. There's no point in setting them for for trying to progress to a certain day It has to be a medal and you know what? And the rowing people talk to the guy their own guy and he he he some time ago now this conversation was held and He did say that he wouldn't really like, you know with herself and careland So we'll have to wait and see but look she she'll go red. She'll rock at the best she can, you know Yeah, and Chloe McGee mentioned her as well. Chloe's going to three games She's looking to become the the first Irish badminton player to win two matches at a games Yes at the one game. She's already set a record where she has one matches at two games Which we've never done before now. She's trying to do two and the one games and She says that she's probably in the best shape and probably the furthest she's ever been Her career with the way badminton has developed particularly in the last two years And if she gets a kind draw we could see Chloe McGee on some headlines. That would be massive because I mean You know my memory of Chloe was Beijing This young gear running down the stairs and I thought right that's Chloe McGee hadn't we had never spoken Although we live closely close beside each other. She's in her sport and I'm in my sport and stuff She may have competed in the school sports when you know for a full centre the way back some years ago But but we never ever met so that was that was that was that and you know, obviously obviously You watch everything that she does since then and you know, she if she were to do that would be great And not only her her her story is the story of her family as well You know the whole the whole input I mean for example, I remember sitting in the back of a car in London With three McGee's, you know what I mean, you know They were there in support teams and everything else and manager management capacity And you know, they were so so so embedded in the whole situation even in our training camp in London And then onwards from that to into the games and Chloe. So no, no, no, no, it's a it's a lovely story It's a brilliant story. It's a story that doesn't he got you proud of really Let's go to your athletes now on the track. Let her Kenny's mark English Marked a bit of an injury in the early part of the year. He's starting to come back to form a two recent races there It's a big games for mark sodas. He's already meddled at at big championships But but this is the one that he wants to do something special on patsy Can mark can I do it? Well, you know, go back to where he's at at the moment like and you know As we all know, he was injured for a few months there and he dealt with that and he's come back and he ran a liaison around 147 odd and Last Friday night in London and in a full stadium. He he ran 145 And so he's in a 145 zone athlete right now. So that that was and he's happy with that He's he's happy with his progress to that point You know, he's got three weeks left. Um, you know to to he has to perform three weeks is a long time in terms of sharpening up You know, he hung on very very strongly that on Friday night And you know, he I think I think he continued to progress I think the training camp will be helpful to him and I think he handled it very well And I think, you know, but he he only has to have one thing in his mind right now I must get out of the out of her round get out of the first round, you know If you could get into a semi-final then let's see, you know But if you get out of that first round that would be vital for him because it was a great learning experience for him in Moscow And the word said we were the word championship in Moscow some years ago And he didn't get out of the first round and it was a big gunk for him, you know So that and it also I'm sure it was a very good learning experience for him And uh, you know, he's progressed through european levels for since and we know we know that we know that he's such a talented athlete And it but there's that thing he's been he lost a bit of training But recent indications are that he's he's coming he's coming he's coming good. Maybe at the right time It's as best 144, isn't it? Does he need to get to that level to be to make a final? No, I don't you see the championship at least different different You see that you take take london when he ran 145 last friday night. That was a pissed race You know, there was a guy in there to piss the race Boys like emus and bossy were following the piss And it was going to be a fast fast fast fast fast race. I mean Earlier in the week i'm radicia ran 143 So I mean at the end of the day those are pissed races championship races are really about how you know It's a different story It's sometimes sometimes championship races which tends to suit him can be a kickoff 150 or 200 when you wind it up and uh, you know, so No, no, I think I think uh championship races suit him and he handles he races very well He races very intelligently. He executes very well So he's a good he's he's the right man for that environment. So it's just it's just canny canny canny He asked me a question about 145 145 Could get him into a semi-final and you know, then you know, let's see then it's again It's it's it's like playing chess then after that again, you know And I suppose that the the mental the state of mind that the young these young athletes have to be in a championships It's crucial to those classes. Yeah, and athletes can train as hard as they can But how do you suck that those extra percent out out of an outfit? What's what's key in doing that so they can perform on on the bigger stage better? Well, if the athlete comes physically 100 percent, they've got to be mentally 100 percent and you got the you know It's all about percentages And if they get if they can get all the percentages then, you know, I would have seen for example rob heffernan I've seen him come into championships You know just come into championships and then I've seen him come into championships ready to eat eat guys You know just I mean in Moscow again. I'm relating to that which where he won the world title He was just so up for it. He was just so aggressive He was just so up and he controlled it and he was ready for it Um, I was in Rome with him recently and he wasn't as up for it now I'm hoping that his preparation and recent has got him together again, and I understand that it has so Basically, you know, no the mental mental mental mental Conference, I mean you can't it's a scare the Olympics are scary the Olympics are scary You don't appreciate the athletes probably don't even the athletes that haven't been there before They may have been to other championships But the Olympics are different and it's you're really it's a scary environment And you need to be able to control it and back to marking. He'll he'll manage it How do you how do you prepare your athletes for that? Well, you see yeah, well, you see this is the thing Well, you obviously have team meetings and you talk about it and you you talk about it over lunch And you talk about the training and you talk about coming from training and back from training and you kind of You kind of try to prepare them and Get them to remain focused that the danger this is why we don't go into the village too early either For example, people will be no doubt saying where you in the opening parade pitch here We this and this you know, I wasn't in the opening parade because we we weren't there Possibly have been a couple open praise but other other times I haven't been because we didn't go in So you hold your athletes out and you only go in about two or three days Because you're always concerned about the illusion focus and that big mad environment scary environment of the Olympic Village where you know, you have NBA basketball players like the best in the world walking around where you have You know where you have a member a member and where was basically but why is like Messy and Ronaldinho and all these characters, you know And you know, you could get you could get sucked into that and bolt and you know what I mean And they're sitting at that table and you're at this table and for you young young people coming in You know the top tennis players in the world are sitting there Everybody the number ones are there. So basically And and and you can get lost in the village because it's like a big town, you know And you know, whereas you have a very strong Strong relate with the best way to use it women in the camp But when you get into the village, you can lose them if you don't be very careful So you have to prepare to keep a lovely good eye on them and keep them focused, you know And just just go with the flow without up on the anti too much and let them roll into it without them You know, I mean go for it, you know, let's go back to the athletes. I have Brendan Boyce Obviously of training with with Rob Heffernan Brendan's looking for an improvement on his first games in London And I do know that he's working very very hard and training hard over the last couple of months And he really wants to better himself at these games He does and I think he'll be, you know, everyone according to plan. I think he'll be, you know Has turned and has been excellent. I mean his commitment and his attitude has been excellent And he's he's currently in Guatics as we speak here right now He's back. He's back, you know, he's back but we can cork him and he's coming in later And he's going directly into the village. He's not coming to the camp But he's been they've been they've been in the mountains of the serenity of out of mountains Granada for the last month, basically, you know with Rob and Alec Alec Wright, who's the other walker Alec is a 20k walker first of all, so he's coming with us now. He's coming back early, but He's he's he's a very very very very hard worker, you know, he's I mean I mean last week they did a 40k session and serious heat, you know, all the indications were very very good and and in Guatics and basically Everything's positive. So got to stay healthy got to stay healthy and got to remain focused He has the experience of games before it has the experience of word championships walking stuff. So he's a pretty experienced guy at the stage, you know So I've no worries about him. I just want him to perform pb, you know And you mentioned Rob Heffernan as well Rob, of course, got the bronze from the last games And you know just interrupted that was one of that you turn up at memories, you know about earlier But memories one of the things actually memories was just kind of an emotional sad memory was sitting on the Mal with me arms round on the media by his cup of picture of myself and Rob And and you know, he was devastated because we knew the Russian guy was in drugs And he was forth as you know when he walked unbelievably unbelievable performance And there was no reward for it. There was no podium for him And there was these thousands of Irish people on the road There was thousands upon thousands at this walking and and and he wasn't going to be rewarded So we had a deal with that that was a big it was a big challenge for me as a manager It was a big challenge for him as an athlete and He's been now rewarded. He will be rewarded with the medal, but It's never going to be the same But that was that that was a memory that stood out for me You know sitting on an air conditioning yoke at the side of the mall and thinking holy heavens and trying to trying to convince The Irish media the story's not over yet You know, they really weren't all that interested to be honest And I remember saying to a couple of Irish journalists that time Well, this may not be the end of the story But I mean as far as they were concerned because you do get media at the olympic games Irish media the olympic games that you never ever see anywhere And it just happened to be because the olympic games So they weren't really interested in the fact that we felt that the boy was in drugs, you know what I mean And uh, but it's obviously the point has now been proven and it's very well documented But um, that was that was Rob. That was a memory. Yeah. Yeah. He's he's in good shape I think that's the question you asked me. He's in good shape and um The sessions are going well and I would love to think I think I think he will be very competitive And I'm being very competitive. He's going to be he's going to be going for a medal We talked about the mental attitude of Shania Jennings earlier having knocked back not making games But Rob Heffernan's in a different place because he mentally he had to deal with that No one that somebody had cheated and he deserved a medal and that just we're going to fight it And didn't know whether they were going to get it or not. So that's that's a totally different dynamic there from that I well, you know what you do there, I see and you take it you take it on the chin at the time and you don't let you don't We never really sat around much and talked about guys taking drugs because you can't afford to get go down that route Because your your head's going to get softer then you're going to make alliances for yourself Because you're going to have this thing built up that these guys are better anyway So you have to think you're as good as them anyway Whether they're taking drugs or not So I mean we don't have many conversations and if the conversation even would begin I would politely kind of stop it because you know, we've got to stay in this environment where we think we can beat them Anyway, and and basically so yes, he did and he dealt with that and this for him. This is his fifth olympic games That's a massive record. I mean and And you kind of get you kind of relate to you know, take take for example, I'm talking about him for a second Rob Heffernan Um, I you relate particularly to a fellow like him because I have been on the journey with him for about For maybe 20 years, you know, I managed him as another 23 at european level And then he became you know, what he became and we went to seville for a world championship in 99 And then we moved on to to to the olympics and I've been there with him every step of the way for major games You know, so you've seen you've seen You've seen it all, you know what I mean, so you're really privately in your head You just want them to do well, you know back to some of the other athletes Tori Pina the pole vault She'll be looking to improve on her previous olympic game and she's working very hard We don't see her too often over here because because she's based on it. She's based in america And her preparation has that all been going according to plan has it Her preparation has been going extremely well and there's her second games She's based herself more recent years in phoenix. She's got a lot of good support there It's a us olympic center for training center and they took her on board, you know, which was a big plus for her And she you know, she's got up to iris record 460 she's six time iris senior champion You know, which is based in america Her just pretty quickly to say her her background is Her grandmother was from dairy and her family are brown dairy and muff coil and and mcdonald and that that's the background of her background Her introduction she's she's from california california She could pitch out of finn valley and she went Went to university in california And came to came to prominence when she got third in the nce age, which is a big thing in the states And her introduction to iron and initially it was tree iris dancing And you know, she came to dancing the word championships and all that kind of stuff So she's very aware of an iris thing and we grew up on the iris thing. So And she's just a really lovely lovely girl to deal with I'm just hoping that she hasn't had a great and she would admit this her championship performances haven't been good And you know, you would love to think that she could hit it this this will be her last games This will be her last this will be her last majors as well. Let's say she'll retire after this, you know And she may may may decide to change her mind, but I think the final can't she she make the final Make the final it depends what the qualifier height is going to be and we don't know that you see You mean we 460 her pb would make the final so she pbs. Yes, you can make the final Yes Um, some of the other athletes that that are going out with the medal contenders patsy can Ireland can Ireland perform here extremely well and take back a couple of medals I think I think no, I think that I think I think that would be rely a lot on Rob Heffernan And I think we'll also then when we knock that back then we'll be looking to you know to see how Kierry McGeean can progress We should get into the final You know we would like to we would like we would we would feel that we have done extremely well and performance wise if people A few others got the finals You know and then when you get to finds you never know, but just to get the finals I think I think this this is where we're at in this particular time You know if we can get a few people in the finals Um, if we couldn't get a medal from Rob or or maybe Kira, um, you know or whoever But you know it needs to be just bang on every day for whoever's going to do it and um, but I would just look I would offer performances and that's the answer the way I handle that question really as she knows if they perform You know to their to their ultimate And what more can we do? You know if that gets them there, yeah brilliant, you know, but as long as they do that You know, that's that's the requirement really that's what all the trend has been about And you always have to guard against and this is the thing you got to guard against You don't want this attitude that that they have made the olympics and then the story is over That they have qualified, which is a massive thing to do in fairness. It's fairness. It is It's massive massive massive achievement to make the olympic games, but you don't want An mentality where we're in they have just made it and they're happy that they've made it And then they switch off and I've seen that happen I've seen that happen. I've seen two things happen I've seen that happen and I've seen people just melt because the pressure got to them, you know And you know, I you got experience. You were asking me about experiences over management You get that experience, you know, you can see it days away. You can see it days away and sometimes you can't change You can't change it. You just can't you can't you can't I've seen it even with gaelic teams, too That I was involved with over the years I remember doing the golf team one time we were beaten by malin, would you believe in mccrew park way back years Going I could see it. I said so many days away I knew I knew from the reaction and training that we weren't we weren't rolling, you know And it's just it's just it's probably some experience that you gain in your internally in your head, you know And you can read it. So What the answer is to short cut it, you know Focus to remain and get good, you know strong performances Does the team get a lift if there's good performances early on not just on the track But an earlier other sports in the games that does the entire island team get it get a lift There's a good tone set there from that set. You do you do because there will be an atmosphere then, you know And we're all in the same housing, you know, so you're going to get that but but You know sport sport by its nature is a selfish game And um, you know, I would love to say and an answer is yes, of course, of course, of course But when you're with the athletes, you really only give a damn about the athletes And you know, of course you would be over the moon if anybody else gets met as the boxers tend to be brilliant, you know And they're in the environment and they're good characters, you know, and that all that all can relate and be very positive So yes, that atmosphere would be brilliant Um, but the environment is so huge That you may not you may not knock into them, you know, because you're staying focused and you see we're on at the end Yeah, we're the athletes the athletics is on the last 10 days nine 10 days So, you know, we have to stay in our only shell pretty much, you know, and um, and Even even remain removed from it all, you know So it's it's it's difficult to understand listen to this interview But that's where it's at and but yes, obviously obviously anybody from Aaron getting anything You know, it's just a big massive boost a massive boost. Yeah Where's where's the Olympics going pate with because what we've seen now in recent years and you've dealt with Hands on particularly in london known that there was cheating and doping going on And now we've seen what happened this week with russia and the decisions that have been made And the swimmers and the rowers have been banned and there's going to be a few more What's the future for the olympic games when we're dealing with issues in the environment that that's there at the moment I think the olympics will always survive is the big thing, you know, I think that we'll get over this You have to be positive. I think you know, I think in fairness my own sport athletics, which was wrecked with the stroke stuff and It took a serious hit as did cycling in the previous time in life I think that other other other federations needed to take a similar similar approach, you know Not only to russia's getting a hit right now And I mean there's been systematic government Involved in doping, but there are other countries doping We're we're clear and who's doping. We know who's doping, but um, you know Get you know These countries aren't dealing with anti-doping. They're not dealing with issue of doping. So then, you know, this is the problem I mean, I could have named them time and time again countries like turkey and and and kina and and maraca and places like that You just look at them and you think you know what I mean? This is this is not right, but but and ultra bellerous bellerous, you know, but Um, you see there has been if you go into the history of the olympic stuff, you know There's been big issues before I mean there's been boy cuts. There's been, you know Unless answers there was boy cuts in Moscow. There was boy cuts Um politics is never far away from sport It's it's it goes hand in hand, you know politics and sport at that global level You know, I think one of the One of the examples of how That the ioc appeased the russian this time Uh russian over, you know, the get the whistleblower gared for example Um, you would have expected that she'd be allowed to compete and as you know as of yesterday She's been a man. She's not been not been allowed to compete But that simply is to appease the russians because they would see her as a traitor really that she did the whistleblower And think you know what I mean? Yeah, and so there's a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes to try and Get to a position where you know life can move on But I think I think it'll take russia quite a while to move on because of culture They're not accepting it. You see they're in denial, you know countries like that are in denial They they they're throwing it off politically that it's a political thing and uh, it's not political I mean, you know, they they're doping in the story and they've gone to great lengths to doping You know, they've they've got their police and they've got everybody involved in it all It's it's it's a different it's a different culture. It's a different country It's a different approach They never changed their culture and you know, we in the west find it hard to understand, you know And I'll take a long time for them for their mindset to change their parts But as the IOC was the hand not heavy enough was the punishment not severe enough That's that's what people that's what people would say people would say that You know, I think it there's a balance in that going on here But keeping the thing together and thing and only time will tell, you know You would like to think that other federations would take a strong position But then tennis come out like a shot and said everybody was able to big part within within ours So it's it's it's I answered the question as I seen yes, they should have they should have left Russia out But that wasn't going to happen obviously Let's go back now to your own story. Patsy is going to the final part of the interview You've had a lot of personal sacrifice to be where you're at today throughout the years And and building to get to the position of Ireland team manager and then to continue that for such a long time It's it's it's been an interesting story, you know, I mean How did it survive for so long? For example, you know, because I would have thought that a member telling my wife that Promising her actually that certainly would be one of the only games and they've been Traveling around the world And I want to told her recently that everybody says now this year you can still nobody believes me and and But no, I think I've seen that I just got up and got on with it every day and I kind of like I like being in that environment and so I pushed to be in that environment and If I say so myself, I'm good in that environment and I know it very very well And you know, you take a situation now at 12 or 30 hours to get in the next day or so into Interview once I hit the ground. I know what to do. I know where to do you know where it's at And I know what's neat. I know the needs in the whole thing in terms of support and everything so I'm through over the years I'm pretty And I know that I'll sport and set out to you know a kind of note and I know what is a performance and what's not really a performance And and and one of the things that stood to me was the old only goals to you know, answer, you know, no good That's not good enough for whatever, you know, I told them as it was, you know And sometimes and I find this now going on a lot Everybody's clapping everybody in the back, you know, and everybody's and facebook is part of this, you know And everybody likes everything and you know, I don't like everything because I just say Jesus this stereo pair, you know what I mean? And I don't jump on that bandwagon and I try to see it as realistic as I see it And uh, I think that's stood to me as well, you know, and I haven't been impacted by You know, you're going to get into money's a row You know, you're going to get into money's a thing and I have been tough tough enough to battle to battle through all that and You know, probably as as it went on I got tougher and and stronger and mentally stronger so I kind of knew where I wanted to go and I just hung in there and and that and You know Survived basically and it's not easy to survive at the top because there's always, you know, you're going to go all mad first of all and they'll think This should be a job. There'll be some Dublin boy or something, you know, and um, you know And but I made it difficult for them. You have to fight your corner Oh, you have to fight your corner and always did, you know, and every every aspect of my life, you know And it's probably probably my personality to be honest Uh Like an athlete, do you still feel that you're top of your game? I think I'm on top of my game. I I am I do as a city earlier in the interview. I've seen I I do it differently I have to work a wee bit harder at it mentally You know, I find it I find it to believe it or not. I find it more difficult to get excited Um, and you know, I know in the early days, I would have jumped up and down I would have, you know, I would have been who I'd have been whipping it out, you know Now I can stand there and there can be performance is really classy stuff going on with me And, you know, for a given example, I was in I was in My early team in Amsterdam there a couple of weeks ago They ran a very, very, very good time. The men four by one And they ran around about 39 58 or something like that, you know, and they all came in and they were Rightfully so rightfully while happy, you know But I I student looked at them and everybody was bouncing off them and thinking this is lads 16 years ago, I had a really team around 13 20 39 20 You want to sit on your heads here? You know what I mean? Let's get this in perspective. You really did really really well But 16 years ago 16 years ago, I had a team that ran 39 20 in Sydney So I mean, we just need to put everything in perspective Why why the decision to stop now? Why is this this this your last game? What's the what was the factors and you you call them Patsy? I can't I just I can't Well, I kind of it's been lasting Olympics. Um, I just don't want to go on for another cycle Four years following it. I want to see if I can live life without it as well You know people sometimes both athletes and managers and people involved in a certain level of sport You know, sometimes they find it difficult to deal with life You know, for example, there's nobody going to be phoning you. You're not going to be impacting You're going to see stuff. You're going to be frustrated, but you're not part of that anymore So I don't know how I'm going to handle that but I do know I've seen that That the travel I've come to I've come to hit the travel I've come now my now a couple of days to go now from to traveling The only thing some of you mind is this second journey and um, you know And how am I going to manage this journey? I want me when my feet hit Sao Paolo, which we're flying into from Frankfurt and then I get another flight. I think Thanks be to heavens. We're now in Sao Paolo And just and you know, but once I'm there, that's grand But I just I just don't like to travel and you know, that's the problem You know, all these other stuff has been all over the world, you know, and you know But the other great thing for me, which doesn't happen normally with managers that level is Once I'm back on deck at Finn Valley or and only go I can relate immediately to the kids And I just switch and I have this have I've set myself again. I have an ability to switch from from Just young ones, you know that you hear you hear me chatting about every weekend. I get excited about them More so, you know, than anything now and you know, I still have that So, I mean, I want to keep driving that on as well, you know for for another few years and and to the best of my ability But not travel. I would say that travel is the thing It's got me to make up my mind as much as anything plus Getting older as well and and you asked a very you asked a very relevant question earlier Do you talk about your game? I I think I'm talking me game, but um, I think it's time for somebody else Yeah You mentioned the young kids there. You're this is your last Olympics But will you have a hand maybe and helping along some future Olympians for the next couple of years? Well, there's a call Parallels to that answer. Do you know what it is? I mean, you know, I have this primary school's athletic thing that goes on every year is going on for 40 years Plus that I started young young when I was a young man and basically to be honest I just keep turning turning out all these young people and just I keep supporting them to the point As much as they want and you just have to hope that that that that you know that people will come through Now currently there are many good youth, you know 17 18 19 year old your kids good But it's a it's a long it's a long road to another level You know, so you just got to continue to do what you do and support them And if they were to get to that level you would have to have to have to support them all the way But you know, you always have to put a bit of a rider on it and saying It's it's there's so many levels so many levels to get to you know, people take for granted We're lucky and don't ignore they kind of take for granted Marking these they take for granted. She need Jennings that Chloe McGee's not but the work rate the performance Focus, you know their own personal drive. It's they have come through As from kids up and it's taken them Maybe 15 years, you know what I mean 15 years of training every day and doing it every day and enjoying it And still being motivated to continue And I would like I would love to be part of something like that certainly and I'm still trying to get people closer and closer to that But it's it's it's um, I'm not going to say it's easy. Yeah, just finally then Your last games. What do you hope to get out of a pot? Say what what do you hope to get out personally and then Personally, I hope I enjoy it. I hope I can enjoy it. I hope I can relax enough to enjoy it And I you know, I tend to get too stressed up and internally in my own head Hope I can relax. I hope I can, you know, I come out of it healthy And uh, you know, and I'm I'm smiling when I have the deck and doubling whatever the end of August or whenever it is And hopefully we'll have something to celebrate Well, that's some parts of money. Thanks for coming on. Thank you. I wish you all the best And uh, we'll see you smiling and doubling All right, thank you