Niamh McCarthy on Skydiving, Olympic Medals & being just a bit Competitive! EP043

In this episode, I talk with Niamh McCarthy. Niamh has collected Olympic and World Championship Silver medals over the last few years in the Discus in the Paralympic games. During the conversation, she talks about how her life has changed since discovering a talent for the Discus. The last few years have been a whirlwind for Niamh as you’ll hear and she’s setting sights on the future and the bar is high! We discuss:•Earliest Memory of painting rocks and being creative as young child•Being part of a Skydiving group and attributing this to her maturity and growth in confidence•Comparing the feeling of skydiving to the feeling of throwing a discus in competition•Living in France between the ages of 9 to 16 and learning lots there•Returning to Ireland and immersing herself in the Leaving Cert years •Learning the Piano growing up and finding it as a good outlet •Constantly learning to adapt •The story about how a chance meeting and conversation with a local solicitor made the connection with a talent scouting event in Dublin for paralytic events •Being Competitive always and hugely determined•Stepping up training 3-4 times per week to prove herself •Winning the first medal in Qatar at the world championships •Focusing on training & going outside the comfort zone to achieve things•Breaking Personal Bests•Controlling & Staying Level headed in competition•The Experience and indescribable feeling competing at the Olympic stadium in Rio •Overcoming Injuries and Vertigo – going from not being a gym person to the Paralympic games•Competing in London World Games, being overconfident and feeling stressed •Acknowledging that the head and mental state let her down at the Worlds in London•Reaching goals and meeting them – end the season on a PB getting over – 28:43 – the goal to get over 28 meters•Adding the shot-put to expand her events to compete in•Plans for Next Season with discuss goals for Tokyo •Finish off in the last 20mins talking about a number of topics:oFear & How Niamh approaches it – challenge herself oWork-life balance oOverthinkingoAdvice given and shared with others oInfluencers and Admiration for other public figures oA Passion for Medicine and How the Body wordsoA view of what Success is to Niamh If you’d like to learn more about Niamh, follow her on the Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook at the handle @NiamhMacDiscus Hope you enjoyed listen. Don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE, RATE & REVIEW the show on iTunes and of course tell EVERYONE you know about it! Credit to Paul Brady (pdbrady123) for the great picture of Niamh. See more of his pictures on @Pbrady123 on Instagram. Thank you so much,Rob