TWO Southside athletes have been lighting up the 21st World Transplant Games in Malaga.
Deirdre Faul, from Dalkey, has been basking in glory under the sizzling Spanish sun as she celebrated a world record and a hat trick of three gold medals at the games.
Just a day after winning gold and retaining her World Champion title in squash singles, Deirdre seized another two gold medals in swimming events and broke a World Transplant Games time record in the process.
At her first swim competition, the 200m breaststroke, the Dalkey native won gold by beating the previous record set by Australian Lisa Cuthbertson at the 2009 games in Gold Coast Australia.
Just a few hours later the unstoppable Deirdre, a liver transplant recipient, went on to win the 100m breaststroke swim in her age category (40-49 years).
Deirdre said after her win: “I’m delighted to get the six in a row in my 40-49 year age category.
“I want to thank my squash coach Frank Donnelly and all the squash players at my club, Old Belvedere.
“I am 14 years transplanted this summer and I am so grateful to my donor and the donor family for making the tough decision to donate.
“Of course, I would like to say thanks to my Dad and my sons for all their support.”
Lenny Ryan, a kidney transplant recipient from Tallaght, also won a bronze in petanque singles.
The 21st World Transplant Games came to a close last Sunday.
The Irish team of 27 athletes were competing among close to 1,000 transplant recipients from over 50 countries.
Every athlete at the World Transplant Games will have already received a kidney, liver, heart, lung, pancreas or bone marrow transplant.
The Irish team includes four newcomers. Although the main objective for team members is to embrace life and promote organ donation, some returning team members were also contesting world titles.
Keen to build on their medal successes at the previous World Transplant Games in Argentina in 2015, Deirdre Faul, Kieran Murray, Tony Gartland and Peter Heffernan had been training hard in anticipation of the competition in Malaga.
Between them, the much smaller team of four won 13 medals including seven gold, four silver and two bronze in Argentina.
Two years previously, at the World Transplant Games in Durban, South Africa 2013, the Irish team of 24 athletes scooped 34 medals including 12 gold, 10 silver and 12 bronzes with 50 competing countries.
Athletes compete in their respective age categories in various competitions including badminton, cycling, darts, golf, petanque, squash, swimming, table tennis, ten pin bowling, tennis, mini-marathon, and track and field.
The Irish team was due to arrive back in Dublin for an informal homecoming reception attended by family, friends and supporters.
For more information on the World Transplant Games and the Irish athletes visit the Irish team blog www.transplantteamireland.ie. Visit the Games website www.wtgmalaga2017.com/en
