Annalise Murphy on her mum also being an Olympian and the ‘turning point’ in career

Annalise Murphy made Ireland proud when she took home a silver medal at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games in the women's laser radial competition.

The sailor shared that she knew how much hard work, dedication and sacrifice was needed to reach the milestone moment as her mother is also an Olympian.

She explained that she enjoyed sailing growing up, but she didn’t take it seriously as a career until she was at the Senior World Championships.

Read more: Rhasidat Adeleke on becoming a full-time professional athlete after graduating college

Read more: Ulster rugby star Zac Ward had very traditional first meeting with girlfriend Blaithin

Annalise explained that sailing was more of a pastime as a child.

She told RSVP Magazine: “My mum is an Olympian. She competed as a sailor at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. My parents met through sport, so I grew up in a very sporty family. It was never something that I thought about as a child, we just went sailing on the weekends. I wasn’t particularly good and I wasn’t a national champion, but I really enjoyed it.”

She continued: “As a teenager, I was quite realistic and knew how hard it was. I thought, ‘I don’t know if I’ll ever be good enough. I don’t know if I have the talent to do this’.

“In 2008, I was at the Senior World Championships and I finished 84th out of 140. People were qualifying for the Beijing Olympics and that was the moment in my life where I knew I wanted to go to the Olympics.

“The emotion and the happiness of everyone qualifying made me realise that I wanted to feel like that. I put my head down and trained hard. I took it more seriously because up until then I did it because I loved it and I was having fun. I wasn’t killing myself in training.”

There was a turning point in her athletic career which saw Annalise defer college and focus solely on sailing.

“I did my Leaving Cert and went to college. I had more freedom,” she said. “I went to the gym every day and I could train a lot more. I made a huge improvement and finished 8th at the Senior World Championships. It was way better than my standard at the time.

“It changed my life because it qualified me for funding from Sport Ireland. Suddenly, I was able to afford to go away to competitions. Up until then I was relying on my parents to help me pay for these events. It was a big financial struggle for them.

“I deferred my degree from college and went full-time to qualify for the Olympics. Everything changed for me.”

She described winning a silver medal at the Rio Olympics as “a huge sense of relief”.

Annalise said: “My fourth place finish in London had defined me for the past four years, so being able to get a medal was amazing.

“I was so happy for everyone who stuck by me, like my family, my coach, my friends, my sports psychologist and my physiotherapist.

“It was incredible getting to stand on the podium with everyone who was part of the journey there.”

After her experience at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Annalise needed something else to focus on - and that turned out to be cycling.

“For sailing, I did a lot of cycling for fitness. I went to the Tokyo Olympics thinking I had a shot at winning a gold medal,” she shared.

“I had a realisation that you shouldn’t have high expectations because it will let you down. I performed badly and I threw away any chance of a medal in my first two days.

“When I came home, I needed something to take me out of a slump because I was feeling sorry for myself. A friend suggested I do some bike racing. I had so much fun that I got hooked.”