Gone to the dogs

A decade ago, Thomas Chamney ran for Ireland at the Beijing Olympics and got no thanks for it. Today, running a small food business in Sweden, he can look back at the madness of his athletics days and laugh

Thomas Chamney running in the heats of the Men’s 1500m at the 2010 European Athletics Championships in BarcelonaINPHO/Morgan Treacy

A message came through from Thomas Chamney a couple of weeks back. “Getting married Saturday, grilling burgers in a tuk-tuk at a dog agility contest in the middle of Swedish field on Sunday. Another weekend in the life of a big, swinging mickey.”

I’d wanted to touch base for a while, what with it being a decade since his appearance at the Olympics and five years since he hobbled from an athletics career ...