Name: Paul Hession
Occupation: Olympian sprinter
Location: Athenry
Best thing about Galway: Sitting in Eyre Square on a sunny day eating a sandwich!
Worst thing about Galway: The weather here as it is just not conducive to the training that I need to do and of course the traffic.
From the Athenry community games team to being one of Ireland's Olympic hopefuls, Paul Hession has come a long way since he began his running career at the age of eight. After graduating through the Galway running ranks Paul moved on to study Medicine at NUI, Galway and was awarded an NUI, Galway Sports Scholarship for Athletics in 2000. He is still an integral part of the scheme, receiving the sport award for four years in a row from 2002 to 2005.
Hession won the gold double at the intervarsity track and field in the 100m and 200m in both 2002 and 2003. He was a silver medallist in the world student games in Osaka, Japan in 2003. Hession was also a bronze medallist at the world student games in Turkey in 2005 and a semi finalist in the 200m at the world championships in Helsinki in August 2005.
For the past couple of seasons he has taken the athletics world by storm with world-class performances in the three major sprints 60m dash, 100m and 200m. Paul has been away training intensively in South Africa, Portugal and Scotland this past year as well as heavily competing throughout the year.
After the disappointment of not qualifying for the last Olympics by 200th of a second Paul knows he is now "in the right mind frame and completely focused on the task in hand with this years Olympics".
"I have been training away under Stuart Hogg who is also coming on the Irish Olympic tour this year. It will be great to have him there for that extra mentoring and support. From my first race in Oslo to now I have run in 100m, 200m and managed to break the Irish 300m record this summer. The Olympics is the next step and the next big challenge for me," says Paul.
Just before the Athenry man set off for Beijing he produced a stunning double at the Cork City Sports recording the fastest 100m run in this country (10,21) before eclipsing a star studded field in the 200m at the Mardyke. The NUI, Galway student also collected the American trophy for the outstanding athlete at the meeting.
So why was it running that stayed with Hession? "I just really liked running. I mean, I used to do cross-country but I was not much good at it. I played a bit of hurling in school and I really enjoy GAA but it was sprinting that I always really enjoyed. Running is a really great sport to be a part of both for body and mind," explained Paul.
Paul Hession left Galway last Wednesday and took to the skies on Friday. After flying to Beijing, he left for a ten-day intensive training camp in Japan. "We have been to Japan before - it is a great facility and it is great to be going somewhere that is familiar to me and my training. All this prep will help me get over the jet lag and will allow me to become acclimatised as quickly as possible," explains Paul.
Paul's first race at the Beijing Olympics will take place at 2am Irish time on Sunday 18 August.
Paul Hession, a fine athlete, student and a true gentleman, has already brought so much to the sport of running and in particular sprinting. We here at the Galway Independent wish Paul and the other Galway Olympians Cormac Folan, Alan Martin and Olive Loughnane all the very best at the Beijing Olympics 2008.
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