Teresa McDaid has always been interested in athletics, from working for the athletics club in Glencar and Letterkenny 1972 – 73 to now coaching the Irish Athletics team for the Paris 2024 Olympics. Growing up in Donegal, she competed at a young age and always remained involved in sports. After
taking an early redundancy from the HSE, she started participating in coaching and team management. She and her family have greatly contributed to their communities in sports. “Athletics has been a way of life for us!”
Her first world championship was in 2019 in Doha with seven athletics that brought her to Budapest a couple years later with twenty-five athletes. Her greatest motivation to coach at this level of competition is to create the perfect and encouraging environment for the athletes. The athletes can trust their coaches and know that they have their back in times of great pressure. “Coaching has always been about people.” Her work in the Tokyo Olympics 2020 was an especially difficult year due to Covid restrictions. Going to Toyko was a huge personal achievement for her however and gave her the opportunity to reach the Olympics 2024.
“The atmosphere in the stadium was electric,” she stated in her experience attending the Paris Olympics 2024. Ireland had great expectations after their success in the European Championships in Rome. In the aftermath, she believes it was the best Olympics Ireland had ever had, being a small country. It had represented her love of sport, and one of her favourite aspects was that the athletes were finally able to mix with each other and could embrace the Olympic experience after Toyko 2020. However, if they had come home with a medal, it would have dramatically increased their funding, but it has not inflated their spirits and the fact they put Ireland’s name on the map.
Teresa is also the first female to ever hold the role of the Irish team athletics manager which is inspiring to many young women. Despite that, her greatest achievements at championship levels are regardless of her gender, but of her hard work and dedication. She has always enjoyed what she has done and continues to keep a good balance of coaching locally and across the world. She has won multiple awards for her accomplishments and her advice is “If you are open to opportunities, it is amazing what will come of them.”
