Norwegian son of Galway mother carries Team Ireland colours at Beijing Winter Games
What started as a holiday romance in the sun has its latest sequel in the depths of Beijing’s snow next month – as the Norwegian son of a Galway woman represents the land of his forefathers at the Winter Olympic Games…for the second time.
Thomas Maloney Westgaard is part of the six-strong Team Ireland squad that will compete in Beijing in a week’s time – and nowhere will be prouder than his mother Celia Maloney’s homeplace around Dunmore.
The Galway nurse from Kiltevna moved to the tiny island of Leka in Norway 35 years ago after she met Ova, a Norwegian dairy farmer on a sun holiday in the Canary Islands. They married and had five children – the eldest of them is Thomas.
This is Thomas’ second Winter Olympics, having competed in Pyeonchang in 2018 – in the same three events that he has been chosen to participate in this time.
His pride in representing his mother’s homeland at those Games was tempered somewhat, because few knew the emotional turmoil Thomas was suffering; his beloved dad Ove was terminally ill with cancer and passed away, aged only 66, three months later.
“I knew things were coming to an end but, he was so focussed on me doing my best and I was really happy that I could finish the races and that he witnessed that. It was huge for both of us,” he says now.
His first event this time is the cross-county skiing sprint on Tuesday week, February 8, followed by the 15km Class on Friday, February 11.
And he will line up in the 50km cross-country race on February 19 – the last Team Ireland member to compete before the curtain comes down on the Games, with the closing ceremony taking place the following day.
Last time out at the Games, he finished in the sixties in all three events – 60th in the Cross Country Skiathlon; 62nd in the Cross Country Sprint Classic, and 63rd in the 15km Freestyle.
His 2018 results were Ireland’s best ever in Olympic cross-country – but he feels he has improved a lot since and proved that by finishing ninth at one of those races in Val di Fiemme last January.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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