Name: Katie-George Dunlevy
Country: Ireland
Sport: Tandem Paracycling
Previous Paralympic experience: London 2012, Rio 2016, Tokyo 2021
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Who is Katie-George Dunlevy?
Through her exploits in Tokyo three years ago, Dunlevy made breakfast rather enjoyable across Ireland. Viewers across the country saw her and pilot Eve McCrystal sweep both Class B road events at Fuji International Speedway and deliver some winning wake-up calls.
In the time trial event, they covered the field to win a second straight gold medal. Four days later, they plowed through the rain to win the road race and get revenge on a British tandem that had beaten them by inches to win the UCI world road race title two months before the Paralympics.
Add a silver earlier in the Games at the velodrome in the 3000-meter individual pursuit event, and you had a medal haul for an athlete who found new life in a second elite sport, in a second country.
Katie-George Dunlevy was born in Crawley, United Kingdom. At age 11, she was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative eye condition that greatly degrades eyesight over time. Dunlevy is classified as legally blind, but it hasn’t slowed her drive in competitive sports.
Growing up, she was capable in cross country and swimming, but found a sweet spot in pararowing, including a spot on Great Britain’s rowing team. She was twice a world champion in a boat in 2004 and 2005.
After seven years competing for Britain, she had ambitions to compete for Ireland, the nation that her father is from. In 2011, she was in a training camp for rowing for Ireland when she was approached by Cycling Ireland. Seeing her potential, they invited her to trade oars for pedals.
She began her cycling career thrown in at the deep end of her new sport.
“I came to Dublin to do a ramp test and I had to borrow a pair of shoes and they wanted to send me and my pilot at the time, who had never raced tandem, to represent Ireland in six weeks’ time at the world championships,” she recalled to On The Ball Sports. “I had six weeks’ time to learn how to ride a tandem and then race it.”
Dunlevy learned quickly and in 2013, McCrystal became her pilot. In 2014, the tandem won silver in the road race at UCI Worlds, and have been consistently earning precious metal since on the road and on the track.
She has six UCI world championship titles to her name, including sweeping the road events in 2017 and 2018. She has five Paralympic medals in her career as well.
Dunlevy discussed her coming out journey in an interview with ESPN in 2021. “I came out at the age of 29 and it ended up being positive for me, but until then I was in denial and hiding it for years. It was only until my relationship was serious that I told my family.
“But everyone has been fantastic, it was like a huge weight lifted off my shoulders and I was able to be who I am.”
Katie-George Dunlevy at the Paris Paralympic Games
One of Dunlevy’s trademarks has been an unwavering confidence and a willingness to push through. her quest for Tokyo showed that. She pushed through the 2020 lockdown to get up to speed to compete at worlds in 2021 and to win big in Tokyo.
Now aged 42, Dunlevy’s resilience will be tested again as she competes on the track and the road next week. McCrystal stepped away from active competition in 2022, citing that she couldn’t give full commitment to run at 2024. Linda Kelly was Dunlevy’s pilot heading into the 2024 season and the final chance to qualify for Paris.
A crash at a UCI World Cup event in Belgium in May scratched Kelly for competition. With the next World Cup race ahead in Italy, and needing every UCI point possible to get in the Paralympics, the winning band from Tokyo got back together as McCrystal returned as pilot.
Dunlevy was second in the time trial, but in the road race with the team in position to secure the points, there was a second crash. Dunlevy suffered a broken collarbone, but refused to quit the race.
“She is one tough cookie — the fight that was in her was something I’ve never seen,” McCrystal stated to Paralympics Ireland after the event. “Katie is next level, hats off to her.
“This is why she is a double Paralympic champion and multiple world champion. I’m sure by the weekend, she will be back on the turbo resting her arm on the ironing board and working towards our shared goal.”
Dunlevy is slated for a busy Paralympics. She will compete in the 1000-meter time trial and 3000-meter individual pursuit in the velodrome, in addition to defending both Paralympic titles on the road. If past performance is any indication, she’ll be in the middle of the fight for the podium.
