Hurtling down head first on ice at speeds of 140km

Talking Sport with Stephen Glennon

CANADIAN-born Sean Greenwood Ó Foighil says he is proud of his Galway roots as he prepares to represent Ireland at the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia next week.

Indeed, Greenwood, whose mother Sibeal Ó Foighil was raised on Upper Newcastle Road in Galway City before emigrating to Canada in the early 1980s, will represent Ireland in the skeleton at the Winter Games and he says he feels a surge of pride every time he dons the tricolour.

“When I see the tricolour running down both my arms I certainly want to do my best for myself, for my family and for Ireland,” says the 26-year-old who is speaking over the phone from a World Cup event in Germany. “It is very serious for me and I want to represent the country as best as I possibly can.

“So, when I put the tricolour on me, it is game time. Certainly, with my Irish connections, and with having family and friends back in Galway and everywhere else, I want to do my best.”

Greenwood, who was officially informed last week of his inclusion in the five member Irish team to travel to Russia, has a strong bond with this country and is the third generation of the Ó Foighil family to call both Ireland and Canada home.

With his mother one of nine children, he has a large family of relations in Ireland and so the family’s links with Galway have remained strong, with Greenwood himself spending Summers working in the West and Dublin. “We would go back and forth from Vancouver to Galway and do the whole wedding circuit, basically, and meet everyone there.

“So, I have spent a fair bit of time there. I worked on Shop Street for a bit for a Summer. I think the last time I was in Galway, though, was when I worked in Dublin in 2006. So, I have been away for too long but I am hoping to go back there after the Games.”

In many respects, Greenwood stumbled into the world of skeleton racing. He had been playing rugby, looking for his big break with the Canadian national team, but a succession of shoulder injuries limited his mobility.

“Also, the snow season starts there pretty early so it was not all that enjoyable playing in minus 30. I decided to change sports and have a look at a sport that was more Winter-based. So, I went and tried my hand at skeleton.”

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