Swimmer Jack McMillan believes his late parents “would be proud of me” for his achievement in becoming one of four Northern Ireland athletes to win gold at the Olympic Games in Paris.
The Belfast native contributed to Team GB’s retention of their Olympic 4x200m freestyle relay title by competing in the heats, though he was not selected for the final.
McMillan’s success followed fellow swimmer Daniel Wiffen’s historic win in the men’s 800m freestyle, making him the first Northern Irish athlete to win Olympic gold since 1988. Additional gold medals were secured by rower Hannah Scott and gymnast Rhys McClenaghan.
“Everyone wants to have an Olympic gold medal around their neck so to be able to do this is unbelievable,” McMillan told BBC Sport Northern Ireland.
“All those early mornings when my mum and dad would take me to those early sessions, and I know they’d be proud of me now because they are looking down on me I guess.”
The 24-year-old competed for Ireland at the 2021 European Championships and Tokyo Olympics before switching to Team GB in 2022 after moving to Scotland to attend the University of Stirling.
After making the switch, the Bangor swimmer had to sit out competition for a year before making his Team GB debut at the 2024 World Championships in Doha and subsequently earning his Olympic spot.
“I made the decision [to switch to Team GB] two years ago, and at the time it was quite risky because it’s a wee bit harder to get onto the Team GB team, especially in swimming,” added McMillan.
“No-one had really transitioned from Ireland to Great Britain in swimming anyway so I didn’t have anyone to talk to about it I guess, so it was quite a risky move at the time and I was quite unsure about the whole thing.
“Two years ago this was the ultimate goal. This was the dream and for it to actually come true, it’s pretty surreal.”
McMillan went on to pay tribute to his late parents adding that he had had an “up and down journey” en route to the Games.
“I think it’s trying to show resilience throughout the whole journey, especially last year which was quite a hard and tough year for me, and I had to dig deep and be resilient to get to this point.
“They always believed in me and always were supportive of me throughout my whole career so I think this is just like a nice way to make those sacrifices, and all the support they gave me, worthwhile.
“I’ll treasure this moment forever and it’s only up from here. I can’t wait for the next four years.”