ONE NIGHT IN 2009, Brendan Doyle clocked in for his shift at about 9.30pm.
“It was a Thursday,” he recalls. “I’ll never forget it.”
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Doyle had joined An Garda Síochána upon finishing school and had a grá for the job – for helping people. On this Thursday, he had only just arrived at the barracks when he was assigned to respond to an incident in a house.
The events of that night left Doyle injured in hospital and ultimately saw him resign from the Gardaí as he battled depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Brendan sat down with The42 to tell us about his struggles and his journey in skeleton.
The years that followed have been a long and tough road for Doyle, who fought back from the brink to narrowly miss out on qualifying for the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in the sport of skeleton.
More determined than ever, he has now set his sights on the Beijing Winter Olympics of 2022.
This year is a pivotal year in Doyle’s preparation for the next Olympics. Offered the opportunity to train with the Canadian team, he has to raise funds to follow his dream and as such, is actively seeking sponsorship.
As he says, getting funding for just the year of the Olympics is “like getting a textbook the night before the exam. You just get to see how much you don’t know.”
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A life-changing injury, night terrors, and resigning from the Gardaí to pursue the Olympic dream
ONE NIGHT IN 2009, Brendan Doyle clocked in for his shift at about 9.30pm.
“It was a Thursday,” he recalls. “I’ll never forget it.”
Doyle had joined An Garda Síochána upon finishing school and had a grá for the job – for helping people. On this Thursday, he had only just arrived at the barracks when he was assigned to respond to an incident in a house.
The events of that night left Doyle injured in hospital and ultimately saw him resign from the Gardaí as he battled depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Brendan sat down with The42 to tell us about his struggles and his journey in skeleton.
The years that followed have been a long and tough road for Doyle, who fought back from the brink to narrowly miss out on qualifying for the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in the sport of skeleton.
More determined than ever, he has now set his sights on the Beijing Winter Olympics of 2022.
This year is a pivotal year in Doyle’s preparation for the next Olympics. Offered the opportunity to train with the Canadian team, he has to raise funds to follow his dream and as such, is actively seeking sponsorship.
As he says, getting funding for just the year of the Olympics is “like getting a textbook the night before the exam. You just get to see how much you don’t know.”
He is also selling merchandise and raising funds on his website SliderDoyle.com and on Pledgesports.
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