Fencing for China gold

THERE is a unique sporting pedigree about the men and women of Meath. Great footballers, athletes and soccer players are commonplace, but Royal County Olympians are more difficult to come by and it is for that reason that we are claiming Irish fencer Siobhan Byrne as one of our own. Meath can stake a strong claim for a hold on Byrne. Her father, although born in Mayo, was reared in Rathkenny, Grangegeeth, Slane area of Meath and he played football for Slane as did his brothers. Byrne was born in Germany and brought up there, but she is proud of her strong local links. The fencer hails from a very sporty family with a brother who represented Ireland at under-age soccer and a cousin, Stephen Moore, who lined out for Australia in rugby on over 20 occasions as a hooker, so it is no surprise that she is about to make a major impact on the international scene. She is delighted to be linked with the area and she calls the Slane area her second home. The support she has received from everyone in the area has made her really proud. 'It is great to be able to represent Meath because I did grow up here in a sense. I came here every summer and spent those times with my cousins and family. It is great to see how proud everyone is of me and it makes me feel good because I have travelled the world on my own for so long, so to have this support behind me is a great feeling,' she said. Fencing is not one of the traditionally strong disciplines of Irish sport, but Byrne is aiming to change that. She will become the country"s third Olympian at the event and the first woman to compete. Despite a lack of funding and the huge expense involved, Byrne has risen to the top and aims to prove she is amongst the best. 'It is amazing to be the third fencer ever to represent Ireland and it is great to be Ireland"s only ever sabre fencer,' said Byrne. 'I was only seven years-old when I started looking to get involved in sport. I tried athletics and dancing but became bored with it and one of my neighbours in Germany took me fencing and I loved it straight away. 'You have to be very well prepared mentally as well as physically for fencing, it is often referred to as 'chess on legs." You really need to clear your mind of all negativity. 'I started foil when I was seven because there was no women"s sabre event. However, when the women"s sabre became available I found I was way better at it. I trained hard for a year and a half before my coach said I was ready and that is when I realised that I was good enough to compete against others from all over the world. 'I did most of my training in Germany until I was 20, then my coach, who was a Russian, asked me to go and fence for the collage he coached in Columbus, Ohio, Ohio University. He is the world"s best fencer with several world and Olympic medals so when he asked me to go train with him then I couldn"t turn that down. 'At 16 I was the best junior fencer in Germany and they wanted to claim me, so when I turned 18 they pressured me to change to a German passport, but I didn"t want to because my Mum is Scottish and my Dad is Irish so I had no German ancestors. Ireland had already been supporting me for four years so I didn"t feel the need to change. 'I would have been financially better off if I had declared for Germany, but my family supported me and I got a donation from Lakeland Dairies which helped me to start fencing for Ireland from when I was 14. Then I also got funding from the Olympic Council of Ireland and the Sports Council, but hopefully I"ll get more. 'At Ohio State we had a world-class team because we had a world-class coach. The ability to combine academics and sport is brilliant in America and that is not something I could have done anywhere else. 'I didn"t compete in World Cups because of the expense, but instead I concentrated on college events, I qualified by beating a Romanian and it came down to one hit, but once I qualified I was so happy. It took a while to sink in, but having all this media attention has helped it to sink in.' Byrne will miss the opening ceremony because her event is one of the first on the agenda and she doesn"t want any distractions taking her focus, so she will not be part of the Irish team parade. She aims to be the very best and is aware that if she competes to the best of her ability then she will be satisfied. She could also have London 2012 to look forward to. 'A good Olympics for me is to be able to look back in September and say that I did as good as I could and to have no regrets. I want to be able to say I gave it my all. No matter how far it takes me, even if it is to the top, I want to be able to say I did my best,' said Byrne. 'It means everything to me to get to the Olympics because I have worked so hard. I tried to qualify for 2004, but missed out by one spot. I was patient and I worked hard and it is amazing to have the chance now. 'I will be at my prime age for fencing for London 2012 and I would love to have the opportunity to be a professional athlete, but competing for Ireland I will not be financially viable. So after this Olympics I have to get on with my life and hopefully by 2012 I will still be good enough to compete,' she concluded.