There is a sweet juxtaposition in tracking down Martina McCarthy to Font Romeu. Things have clearly changed in the 25 years since she became Ireland’s youngest Olympian.

Back then, McCarthy was among the new breed of Irish sprinters. Part of the women’s 4x400m relay that made history in qualifying for Sydney in 2000, she was only 18 when first experiencing the Olympic arena, weeks after getting her Leaving Cert results at home in Oranmore in Galway.

That same year McCarthy made the final of the 400m at the World Under-20 Championships in Santiago, Chile. Another first for Irish women’s sprinting. Slowly, then suddenly, her sprinting career went south.

“I’ll never forget the noise of walking out into the stadium in Sydney,” she says. “The sheer number of people, the sheer magnitude, you’re like ‘f**k’, this is the Olympics. I never made it back again as an athlete, but I’d wanted that moment since I was six or seven; I know what it’s like for other athletes who want to chase that dream.

“I came back from Sydney incredibly motivated, wanting to do more, wanting to win a medal. But that’s not how you train. Input is not always output in athletics. You need be a whole lot smarter than that.

“So I just picked up a litany of injuries. I think I was talented, I obviously didn’t maximise it. I know what it’s like to have the desire, and also to have the frustration when it doesn’t work out.”

Even before injury cut short her career, McCarthy was turning that frustration into something constructive.