Paul Hession

Little Sprints, Great Strides; The Fastest Irishman in History.

Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after another. - Walter Elliott, The Spiritual Life

Paul Hession has been running many short races for the best part of 18 years now. The headline might suggest a decorated national hero but sprinting operates well below the radar of the average Irish sports fan. 100mts and 200mts are his chosen disciplines, 200mts his preferred and one to which he has excelled to a world class standard, even attracting the moniker ‘fastest white man in the world’. A backhanded compliment perhaps but then again the sprinting world is dominated by black athletes, particularly those of West African descent. In fact for the last quarter of a century not one white athlete has made the final of an Olympic 100mts. In his book ‘Taboo:Why Black Athletes Dominate Sports and Why We Are Afraid to Talk About It’ John Entine makes the point that “no white, Asian or East African has broken ten seconds in the 100metres”.
With all this statistical dissuasion a young Irish sprinter might well decide it’s not worth it. There’s been an inner steel within Paul Hession from an early age, however, a ruthful determination to challenge convention. His first foray in to international Athletics came at the World Junior Championships in 2002 followed by the European Senior Championships in the same year, this at the age of 19. The following year brought his first taste of success on the international stage, a silver in the 200mts at the World University Games. As the competition suggests Paul was now a full time student, studying for a medical degree at NUIG. A course requiring such mental endurance and ability mirrored the physical demands on the running track. Throw in to the mix our famously temperate climate, not conducive to fast sprinting, our basic training facilities and you get a picture of the challenges that were prevalent. “I think the importance of self-belief cannot be exaggerated. Oftentimes, the mind is the limiting factor. If you don’t believe you can do something then, more often than not, you will never even come close.” said Hession in 2007, a year of great significance in his development as an athlete. Squeezed in between in 2005 was another medal at the World University games, this time a bronze in the 200mts. 2007 was the year in which he broke the Irish 100 and 200 metre records twice, helping to imbue a sense of self belief and confidence that bigger nuggets were only around the corner.

Leave the beaten track occasionally and dive in to the woods. You will be certain to find something you have never seen before – Alexander Graham Bell

The life of a professional athlete can be a lonely one, particularly in a singular discipline such as sprinting. Paul Hession left the track beaten on more occasions than he won. He continued to dive in to his training, however, steadfast in the belief that his perseverance would reward him in time. Sure enough he was soon reaching times he had never seen before, each one bringing him a step closer to the ultimate glory for any professional sprinter, an Olympic medal. His 2008 efforts brought about a semi final berth in which he finished fifth, missing out on a place in the final by thirteen hundreds of a second. Such are the margins and finer by which sprinters rejoice or recoil. It just so happened that 2008 was the year in which a sprinting phenomenon scaled the heights. The Jamaican Usain Bolt pushed sprinting to the forefront of World Athletics like the great Michael Johnson had done before him. Indeed he smashed Johnson’s world record in the 200mts whilst also beating his own record on the way to winning gold in the 100mts. Hession would find some solace later that year by claiming silver in the IAAF World Athletics Final in Stuttgart. Track Athlete of the Year and Athlete of the Year awards at the annual Athletics Association of Ireland awards dinner rounded off 2008 for Hession, recognition by his peers of the great strides he was making in the world of sprinting.
A misty eyed romanticism has built up in Ireland about the 2012 Olympics in London. Geographically it’s practically on our doorstep and there is a feeling that Irish athletes may well excel on the back of a familiarity with climate and a reduced travel schedule. Those factors alone of course won’t success bringeth but they’ll give Irish athletes an edge in arena’s where hundreds of seconds make or break careers. Paul Hession will be 29 by the time the 2012 Olympics come round and arguably at the peak of his career. Thereafter he will be approaching the twilight of his career and it would be fitting therefore if he could go out on the reflected glory of an inspirational career. It would no doubt be reward enough for every spike mark he has left on the terrain of every running track throughout his distinguished career.