Irish LGBTQ+ Paralympian Katie-George Dunlevy wins silver at Paris Games

Dunlevy secured a place on the podium alongside her pilot Eve McCrystal, with the race marking the end of the pair's 10-year sporting partnership.

Ireland . Written by Alice Linehan.

Katie-George Dunlevy and Eve McCrystal doing a lap of honour in the velodrome at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.
Image: @ParalympicsIRE via X

Katie-George Dunlevy has earned her first medal of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. The Team Ireland and LGBTQ+ para-cyclist emerged in second place from the Women’s B 3000m individual pursuit, which took place at France’s National Velodrome of Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines on Sunday, September 1.

Alongside her pilot Eve McCrystal, the 42-year-old finished the race in a time of 3:21.315. Team GB’s Sophie Unwin and Jenny Holly finished in first, 2.166 seconds ahead of the Irish duo.

The result marks Dunelvy and McCrystal’s sixth Paralympic medal together, as they end their 10-year sporting partnership on a high.

 

Speaking after the victory, McCrystal said: “We’re like sisters, we fall in, we fall out, we have a lot of respect for each other.”

Dunlevy added: “We have gone through some really tough times together…There are times when we have been training individually but we always come back together and we know we have been training hard at home.

“And we have a special bond which we will have forever, those memories and special moments, nobody else will know what that feels like except for me and Eve.”

Speaking about their partnership, McCrystal expressed: “We’re 10 years together, it took us a few years to get to the top.

“It’s really hard to get to the top and it’s fricking harder to stay there. You have so much pressure. I don’t think we ever felt external pressure from people but it was pressure that both of us felt to stay there. That’s just so hard to do as an athlete.

“When the two of you are together you constantly don’t want to let each other down so you’re fighting every single day – that’s the fight for the last three years coming out there in a medal.”

Despite their previous Paralympics successes, a podium finish at these Games certainly wasn’t guaranteed after Dunlevy broke her collarbone during a road race in May. The athlete had to have surgery as a result of the crash, and is currently competing with four pins and a plate in her left arm.

“We’ve always just trusted each other,” McCrystal commented. “Even with her collarbone, I was like, ‘She’ll be back.’ Collarbone, whatever.”

Dunlevy added: “At first when I did it, I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, I really didn’t know (if I’d make Paris). But then I just thought, ‘It is the arm, I didn’t break my hip or my leg’. I could still pedal with one arm, so I just got on with it. It could have been worse.”

 

While Sunday’s race is the last for Katie-George Dunelvy and Eve McCrystal as a pair, both athletes will be in action later in the Paris Games in road race events.

© 2024 GCN (Gay Community News). All rights reserved.

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