Published: Wednesday, 26th August, 2009 12:00pm

Athlone teacher plays key role in Loughnane's silver medal success

A Westmeath native and Athlone Community College teacher played a key role in the success tasted by brilliant Irish walker Olive Loughnane at the World Athletics Championships in Berlin.

Michael Lane, originally from Mullingar and now living in Ballymore, is currently the National Event Director for Race Walking with Athletics Ireland and was part of a five-strong coaching team supporting Loughnane at last week's huge event in Germany.

The 33-year-old Loughnane, from Loughrea but living in Cork, breezed to a silver medal in the 20km walk, leaving behind a former Olympic medallist and five of the top ten fastest walkers in the world this year, including two of the Russian team which fills the top six slots in the world rankings at present.

Lane was also Loughnane's personal trainer for several years and guided her to a 35th placed finish at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, an achievement noted as one of the most major steps for Loughnane along the road to clinching last week's silver medal.

Michael was also Gillian O'Sullivan's personal coach when she claimed a memorable silver medal at the Athletics World Championships in 2003.

The Athlone-based school teacher returned from Berlin to his Ballymore home on Tuesday and said he is "very proud" to have been involved in Loughnane's success.

"It was a wonderful achievement for Olive and everyone associated with her is very proud of her performance. She has a very good support team behind her and she has done so well in recent years.

It was a great feeling to see Olive collect her silver medal after many, many years of hard work and dedication alongside her. I have been working with Olive since her formative years as a walker and this is a very proud moment for me," said Lane, who also works closely with Westmeath Sports Partnership.

A member of Mullingar Harriers Athletic Club, Michael is also a recognised Level 4 Walking official and is largely responsible for the administration of race walking competitions across Ireland.

Loughnane had 12 seconds to spare on third place Hong Liu, from China, walking a season's best of 1:28.58, and was only bettered by the hugely impressive 24-year-old Russian Olga Kaniskina, who looked every bit the winner right from the start, finishing in 1:28.09.

Ireland's previous four medals in these championships have been spread over 26 years; Eamonn Coghlan's gold in 1983, Sonia O'Sullivan's silver in 1993, then gold in 1995, and Gillian O'Sullivan's silver in 2003, also in the 20km walk.