D’Arcy has no regrets over passing up Olympic dream

Talking Sport with Stephen Glennon

With the countdown already on to next year’s Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Ireland’s former No. 1 Olympic weightlifter and Headford native Kevin D’Arcy says he has no regrets about not seeking qualification for the 2016 Games.

Three years ago, D’Arcy missed out on qualification for the 2012 London Olympics and, 26 years old at that time, he felt he had reached a crossroads. No longer supported by the Irish Sports Council – as modest a contribution as that was – he realised without financial backing it was impossible as an amateur to compete against professionals at the top level.

Up to this point, he had been working the night shift as a security manager at a Galway City nightclub, and then getting up early next morning to fit in his two daily training sessions. He worked hard, broke Irish records, captained Ireland, and trained with the best of the best in the Ukraine and Poland.

“Physically, if I wanted to in 2012, I could have trained another four years and I would be better now than I was back then,” he says. “But in terms of the career opportunities I would be sacrificing, I couldn’t. It wouldn’t be viable.”

Today, D’Arcy, now an Irish coach who takes a 10-person team – including two Galway lifters – to the European U-20 and U-23 championships in Lithuania this weekend, runs the Galway Physiotherapy Clinic with Canadian Kelly Lee, another Olympic weightlifter. Both are qualified chartered physiotherapists.

Still, he must miss the cut and thrust of competing at the top level all the same, especially with Rio coming down the line. “No,” he exclaims. “In a word, ‘no’, although you would think about it from time to time.

“Even if Ireland gets a place for next year’s Olympics, I can’t go because I would have to have gone to last year’s World Championships or this year’s Worlds and next year’s Europeans. I qualified for last year’s World – I only trained for three months – but I got injured the week beforehand and I had to withdraw.

“This year, I haven’t qualified. However, could I be the top lifter in the country by next June if I was training this year? Yes, absolutely. But would it be enough for the Olympics? Probably not! So, in that regard, unless a miracle happens, it was the right decision to stop.”

D’Arcy’s preference to take a step back from international competition did not see him walk away from the sport as a whole though. Weightlifting Ireland availed of his knowledge by appointing him as a Performance Director in 2013 and he began to coach up-and-coming lifters around the country.

“This is my fourth year coaching the Irish team. When I finished in 2012, straight away I started coaching the U-20s and U-23s. As a Performance Director for Weightlifting Ireland, we won three European U-20 silver medals, which was an achievement which had never been done in this country before and it could be a long time until it is done again.”

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.