She also says when she retired in June, 2014 – a month after turning 33 – she felt her career was a failure because she never won an Olympic medal. This is especially the case as O’Rourke spent much of her career raging against the cracks in Irish high-performance systems. “There was still a lingering sense of disappointment that I didn’t win an Olympic medal. On the flight home she was seated beside Irish Olympic sailor Peter O’Leary, also from Cork. “It did nag me for a few years, not winning an Olympic medal.

Source: The Irish Times November 22, 2025 10:31 UTC