Success for Ireland at the Winter Olympics as Offaly woman’s sister-in-law’s cousin’s daughter wins bronze for Kazakhstan

Paul McRingo | Sports Correspondent

There was major success for Ireland at the Winter Olympics earlier today when an Offaly woman’s sister-in-law’s cousin’s daughter – Rayana Makhinov – won a bronze medal for Kazakhstan in the Pigeon Strangling.

Margaret Colgan from Cappincur just outside Tullamore said it’s a proud day for the family and for everyone in Offaly as well as all sports fans across Ireland.

“We’re all feeling very proud today. She was always a very determined young lady and I never doubted that she’d make it to the top and become the best at whatever she chose to do in life. Well, she came third, so she’s not really the best is she but you know what I mean.”

We asked Margaret if she has been in touch with Rayana since her amazing performance at the Winter Olympics this morning.

“No. I’ve actually never been in touch with her. To be perfectly honest I’ve never even heard of her. I was only messing. Some lad from the Tullamore Tribune rang me earlier and told me the news. He said they’re going to put me on the front page of next week’s edition so I’m heading down to the hairdressers now to get myself dolled up. It’s all very exciting.”

We got in touch with Rayana and asked her how much of her success does she attribute to her strong links to Ireland. She replied “What’s Ireland?”

Once again Ireland lights up the world of sport making us the envy of all nations. As the saying goes, you’ll never beat the Irish. Hon Offaly!