A north Westmeath resident who attended the recent Team Ireland Centenary Olympic Ball, has spoken of his “privileged job” as Chief Medical Officer of the Irish Olympic team.
Collinstown-based couple, Dr Jim O’Donovan, alongside his wife, Dr Jean O’Donovan (née Murtagh) attended the event on Sunday, 10 November, to celebrate Irish Olympic history, in a night with an illustrious guest list, including Kellie Harrington, Paul O’Donovan, Daniel Wiffen and Sonia O’Sullivan.
“The ball was for the athletes,” said Jim, who is originally from Limerick. “I was lucky to go. It was in memory of 100 years of Olympic athletes. One athlete turned up in her tracksuit from the Mexico City Olympics (1968). That was really impressive.
“It was great for the athletes to get that recognition. I am not an Olympic athlete, but when you are working with them, it makes you realise what a privileged job you have to be able to help them.”
Jim has been part of the Irish Olympic team since 2016 in Rio de Janeiro where he worked as a team doctor. He then started working at the Institute of Sport at Abbotstown in 2017.
He said: “It is where the best athletes train and they get medical support there. I am Head of Medicine there, which then progressed on to being the Chief Medical Officer for Tokyo (2020) and Paris (2024)”
As Chief Medical Officer, Jim oversaw the Irish teams seven doctors, who were responsible for the medical care of the 133 athletes and 160 staff in Paris.
When asked about his experiences in Paris this summer, Jim told Topic: “It probably didn’t hit me until I got home. I was so focused on work. It was right up to the last day. We had the marathon on the last day because we had medal hopes throughout. You are in a bubble over there. You don’t get to celebrate as much as you would like.
“I went to a few events but I was mostly in the village because we had to look after injuries but if there was a medal up for grabs, I am knocking around in case anything happens or if there are injuries before to the athletes.”
Despite not attending as many events as he would have liked to, Jim made sure to be there when Irish sporting history was made.
“I did get down to rowing and boxing, to see the Irish athletes to win back-to-back medals, both Paul O’Donovan and Kellie Harrington. That is massive history. They were days I would remember.”
