Brilliant Britney beams delight at Tokyo experience

OLYMPIAN Hero’s welcome for Mullagh star

Paralympian powerlifter Britney Arendse arrived back in Cavan in the early hours of Tuesday morning, ending her Tokyo 2020 adventure where she did her country proud setting no fewer than three Personal Bests.

The Mullagh 21-year-old, who shared the honour of leading fellow Team Ireland athletes out at the Games' opening ceremony, finished seventh overall in the 73kg weight category- with lifts of 103kg, 104kg, and 107kg- smashing her own Junior World Record lift of 100kg set in 2019.

It was a remarkable achievement in her Games’ debut. “I gave it everything. The main goal was to stay calm out there. I brought my best to the stage and I left with three PBs,” she told the Celt yesterday.

Britney arrived back to Mullagh just before midnight on Monday to a rapturous reception. Locals lined the village’s Main Street clapping her.

What next? Britney won’t be resting up for too long, with the World Championships in Jordan just around the corner.

On her downtime between training however, Britney is looking forward to catching up with friends and family. “I’ve two weeks off from training now, so I’m looking forward to that, just be around friends and family, get settled and back to normal. After that I’m back training with the World Championships in 14 weeks’ time to train for.”

See this week's Anglo-Celt newspaper for report