Derval O'Rourke voted Sportstar of Year at Irish Independent Jurys Sports Awards

Derval O'Rouke voted Sportstar of the Year by Irish public at Irish Independent /Jurys Ballsbridge Hotel Sports Awards

Story below by Cliona Foley from Irish Independent Tuesday 13th Feb:

Derval crowned people's champion

DERVAL O'ROURKE was crowned the people's champion last night when she was a clear winner of the Irish Independent/Jurys Ballsbridge Hotel Supreme Sports Star of the Year for 2006.

A record poll of Irish Independent readers voted for the brilliant Cork sprint hurdler, whose outstanding form in 2006 put Ireland back on the international athletics map.

On a gala night for Irish sport, O'Rourke significantly held off the challenges of international superstars like Ireland's European Number One Pلdraig Harrington and rugby sharp-shooter Ronan O'Gara.

Such resounding support was fitting reward for O'Rourke's marvellous breakthrough season which sparked into life exactly a year ago when the Leevale hurdler first broke the crucial eight-second barometer for 60m hurdles indoors.

The young Corkwoman, who won a medal at the 2005 World Student Games, significantly broke her Irish indoor record four times and was unbeaten in the build-up to the World Indoor Championships in Moscow last March.

Historic

There she took a historic gold, breaking her record twice again, including in the final, to underline her nerves of steel under pressure.

However, the European Championships in Gothenburg last August was always an even bigger challenge, not least because an injury meant she could not race outdoors until July and went to Sweden running slower than she wanted.

The pressure on O'Rourke, after her gold-medal heroics in Russia, was suddenly immense.

Yet, despite the fact that local heroine Susanna Kallur attracted the full glare of the world's tv spotlight to her event, Ireland's newest athletics star came up trumps again.

In the final she broke her Irish record (12.85) with her 12.72 seconds dash to win silver.

And just as impressive as her physical performance was the classy, dignified way she dealt with the extraordinary climax to that race, when there was a delay in the photo-finish decision to which Germany then put in a lengthy objection when went on late into the night.

Yet O'Rourke's gracious presence never faltered and she proved herself as exceptional a sporting ambassador for Ireland off the track as she did on it.

Her next focus is the World Championships in Japan next August.

She was forced to miss last night's awards ceremony because she was visiting world-renowed German specialist Dr Hans Muller-Wohlfahrt for an extensive screening before her next phase of training.