SHARLENE MAWDSLEY DOESN’T have that much left to enjoy the Olympics after party.
As we speak, she’s preparing to meet her coaches for a discussion about what her 2025 season will look like.
There’s another few nights out to enjoy first, concluding a rest period which included a holiday in Greece and a trip to London. But in about two weeks, the curtains will lift on a new season and her heroics of 2024 will be filed away.
And what a year it was for her? A fourth-place finish in the Olympic final of the women’s 4x400m in which Mawdsley ran a scorching 49.14 which is her fastest-ever relay split time. Before that, she ran the final anchor for the Ireland mixed 4x400m team who won a gold medal at the European Championships in Rome, and played the finisher role again for the women’s relay team in their charge for a silver medal.
In March, she suffered the heartbreak of a disqualification which denied her a place in the women’s 400m final. But last month, she ended her 2024 season on a high note when she won a 400m final at the Gala dei Castelli meet in Bellinzona in a time of 51.35.
The sword has fallen for her and on her at different times this year. But that was a sweet sign-off for the 26-year-old, who took out Netherlands’ Lieke Klaver and Susanne Gogl-Walli of Austria on her way to victory.
“Before the race, I was like that it didn’t matter what happened. And then when I won, it kind of made it that little bit sweeter. I felt a lot of weight lifted off my shoulder with who I beat in that race. I was really pleased and ended the season perfectly for me.”
Having that race in her schedule helped Mawdsley navigate the tricky path that unfolds after the conclusion of the Olympics. Paris was her debut at the Games, meaning she was new to the concept of post-Olympics blues. Every athlete is susceptible to the condition.
She admits to feeling a “dip” in the early weeks of the comedown. Her training schedule had changed between her races in Paris and Switzerland, mainly just “tipping over” with her sessions between the two events. A chest infection didn’t help as she was put on a course of antibiotics for 10 days. She placed a lot of demands on her body at the Olympics and now it was time to pick up the tab.
“It was just the accumulation of you’re fighting your body so much at the Olympics and I asked a lot from it. I think all of the girls [Ireland relay teammates] were sick as well.
“I just needed to do that race for myself to say that I could keep going after the Olympics.”
Mawdsley is still caught between two emotions when she thinks about the fourth-place finish with Ireland in the 4x400m relay. The disappointment can’t be separated from the feeling of gratitude for what they achieved. Along with Sophie Becker, Rhasidat Adeleke, and Phil Healy, they set a new national record of 3:19.90 as they emptied their reserves in the final.
Mawdsley gutted it out with Femke Bol of the Netherlands and Great Britain’s Anning Amber on the last 100m for a place on the podium. She was frozen out by a fractional distance.
“It’s hard because you still feel disappointed but at the same time I did come to that realisation that we would have won a medal at any other Olympics apart from 1988, which is insane” Mawdsley says.
“To be part of such a historical race is really special but obviously, walking away without the medal does hurt.
“But it was more hurt because I had absolutely no expectations that we would be anywhere near challenging for a medal. So, maybe it was that kind of confusion, and, a lot to process.
“We went out that night and any Irish person that was there was explaining how proud they were. I know a lot of people don’t understand split times and I ran 49.14 and everyone was telling me it was the fastest I ever ran so that helped me warm up to the idea that what we had done was really special.”
Mawdsley already has the standard time for the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo, which is an unusual position for her.
“I’ve never really been the person to be going into a season with the standard,” she explains. “I’m pretty much always chasing it.”
The safety of having that already banked allows her to experiment next season. The 400m is obviously Mawdsley’s specialist subject but there are other disciplines she would like to try. The 400m hurdles is on her mind, as is the 200m which she wanted to try last season. Those plans were dashed however, after she entered herself in a 100m race.
“My body did not thank me because I’m not naturally running 100s every week so I had a little bit of a niggle after that and we called a halt on 200s for the rest of the year.”
There’s no off ramp for athletes, even during the off-season. Mawdsley learned the truth of that last night when anti-doping officers arrived at her door requesting blood and urine samples. It was an inconvenient moment for her as she was heading off to Dublin and was already running late.
Not an ideal time to call but this wasn’t her most unpleasant encounter with anti-doping protocols. In 2020, after suffering the agony of missing out on qualification for the Tokyo Olympics, they called to her door.
“I thought there was a time and a place,” she laughs remembering the pain of their arrival while trying to deal with a torment no athlete ever wishes to experience.
But at least last night’s visit went by quickly and smoothly. Another reminder that an athlete is always on duty, even in the off season. And even that period is coming to an end soon for Mawdsley.
“I was on the way out the door and they came, I was like, ‘No way.’ And I had already left it late to go to Dublin and then they showed up. But I was in and out, bloods and urine done within 30 minutes so I was one of their fastest tests ever.”
Ambassador Sharlene Mawdsley was speaking as Zambrero Ireland prepares to donate 120,000 Charity Meals Ahead of World Food Day 2024. Volunteers wishing to help can register at zambrero.ie
