Shane Lowry has had many great moments throughout his amateur and professional careers, but the experience of the Olympic Opening Ceremony, where he was honoured with being one of the two Irish flag bearers on the River Seine, is one that he feels he will live long in the memory banks.
“It was amazing,” he said in his pre-tournament press conference alongside fellow Irishman Rory McIlroy. “It was an amazing experience and something that I’ll remember forever. Yeah, it was a big honour and when I got there and got to experience the whole thing, yeah, memories for a lifetime and just even being there and being around the other athletes, it was pretty cool.
“You know, to see the Olympics from there, it’s something that when I was growing up, you never — as a golfer, you didn’t really think was going to be achievable. So yeah, it was an amazing experience.”
Lowry joined Limerick native and 100-metre hurdler Sarah Lavin at the head of the Irish party last Friday and he enjoyed getting to know Lavin as the two spent the day together ahead of the spectacle that was delivered in the rain in the French capital that night. And he admits that he’s now a big fan of the sprinter who has recently suffered personal tragedy as her boyfriend and international rally driver Craig Breen died in a collision ahead of the Croatia rally last year.
“Obviously the weather played a big part in the whole thing and a few of us, we tried to stay a bit dry at the start of those but it was one of those, well, we’re wet now, might as well enjoy it,” he said. “As the boat ride went down, the crowds got bigger and bigger and honestly I was just soaking it all in, enjoying the atmosphere, and like trying to spot the Irish people in the crowd. There’s a lot of Irish flags.
“Obviously when you get down past all the sights in Paris and then towards the Eiffel Tower, it’s kind of a bit of a surreal experience. Other athletes outside of the Irish, I didn’t see of those or mix with any of those. But it was nice to kind of be in the Village for a day and hang out with some people.
“I spent the whole day with Sarah Lavin. I got to know her pretty well that day and the story and what she’s been through is nothing short of incredible. She gained a huge new fan that day and I hope to see her go on and do great things next week. Yeah, just see what people do and what other athletes go through is a pretty cool thing.”
The Irish medal count has already begun with swimmer and Sligo native Mona McSharry claiming Bronze in the 100m breaststroke on Monday evening and despite being at the airport collecting his luggage, Lowry was among the many Irish who tuned in to watch what one hopes was the start of a successful metal haul in Paris.
“I did, yeah,” he replied when asked if he got to see the race. “I was picking up my bags at the airport and I watched it on my phone. It was pretty cool. I watched the race in the heat, yeah, the semifinals. It’s great. It’s great to get the medal tally off and running and hopefully another one tonight with Daniel [Wiffen who competes in the 800m freestyle final] and hopefully one of us can add one or two between us. That’s the plan. That’s why we’re here.”
And what would a Gold Medal mean for Lowry himself?
“It would be better than Silver,” he joked, before going on to add: “Yeah, look, I felt I had a good chance to win The Open a couple weeks ago and I was really disappointed to not give it a better go on Saturday and Sunday.
“Straightaway after that, I sort of felt like I have a chance to redeem myself here in a couple of weeks. For me, look, if you look at the media and what it was like back home yesterday when Mona won that Bronze Medal, I think if I was to win a Gold Medal and bring it back to Ireland, yeah, it would be pretty cool.”
McIlroy spoke at length about the qualification process for the Olympics and Lowry echoed his sentiments that the Olympic Games are an international competition and that only the best from each country deserve the right to compete.
“Like Rory said, you watch other sports, that’s the way it is,” he said. “If you don’t run the time and don’t qualify, you’re not in. If you’re from a country – you watch the American nationals, it’s the biggest race of the year, the Jamaican nationals in the sprint. If they run a bad race, even though they might be one of the best in the world, they are not here competing.
“I know we are not used to that in golf; that the biggest events have the best fields. But you know, there is a few players maybe that would make it better, but it’s still the Olympics and we’ve all qualified to play for our country and we’re all here to win a medal.”
The men’s Olympic Golf competition gets underway on Thursday, played as a 72-hole strokeplay event Thursday through Sunday.
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