Paralympic hero Katie-George Dunlevy scoops prestigious Irish award

Crawley’s Katie-George Dunlevy and her cycling partner Eve McCrystal have become the first Paralympians to win the Team of the Year accolade at the Irish equivalent of BBC Sports Personality Awards.
By Mark Dunford
Published 23rd Dec 2021, 08:55 BST
Updated 23rd Dec 2021, 08:58 BST
Crawley’s Katie-George Dunlevy (left) and her cycling partner Eve McCrystal have become the first Paralympians to win the Team of the Year accolade at the Irish equivalent of BBC Sports Personality AwardsCrawley’s Katie-George Dunlevy (left) and her cycling partner Eve McCrystal have become the first Paralympians to win the Team of the Year accolade at the Irish equivalent of BBC Sports Personality Awards
Crawley’s Katie-George Dunlevy (left) and her cycling partner Eve McCrystal have become the first Paralympians to win the Team of the Year accolade at the Irish equivalent of BBC Sports Personality Awards

The pair picked up the award at the RTE Sports Awards 2021 last week after picking up two gold medals at the Tokyo Paralympics.

They were up against serious opposition, including the Galway camogie team, Leinster Rugby, the Limerick hurlers, Meath ladies gaelic football team, Olympic rowing gold medallists Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy, football club Shamrock Rovers, the Tyrone gaelic footballers and the women’s four rowers, who won bronze at the Olympics.

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On accepting the award, Dunlevy, whose father is a native of Mountcharles, said: “I can’t believe we’ve won this, we’re blown away.

“It’s been an incredible year and this actually just tops it. It’s a really special moment, I can’t believe we’ve won it.

“This is really for any blind or partially sighted child aspiring to do something with their life, whether it’s sport or not; just believe in yourself and you can achieve. Just aim high and dream big, you can do anything.”

McCrystal tweeted: “The last few months have been hectic. I think it’s only sinking in now what we have achieved. To win @RTEsport Team of the Year is so special to us. What a year. Thank you so much to everyone for your support and all your kind messages. Blown away again. Merry Christmas”