AFTER our first phone conversation, one thought lingered: Breeda Dennehy-Willis hasn’t lost her Cork accent.

Even after 38 years living in the United States, there are no Americanisms, no noticeable twang. It’s still there, unmistakable.

When she was 18, Breeda left Canovee for an athletics scholarship at Western Kentucky University in 1988, and America became home. It still is. Stevens Point, a city north of Madison in Wisconsin, has been home for the past 20 years.

The first evening we spoke, it was snowing outside. Breeda sent on a WhatsApp photo – thick snow blanketed everything, covering the garden furniture, while tall, slender pine trees stood in the background. It felt isolated. But it’s home.

‘If you came here on our coldest day in the winter, you wouldn't think anywhere on earth can be this cold,’ she says.

‘You can’t stand out in the cold for more than ten minutes.’

Breeda likes the Wisconsin seasons, though, and prefers them to the Florida climate – her husband Lee is from Tallahassee. She loved her time among the rolling hills of North Florida. It had it all – extended family, so you always felt connected, great people and a strong community of runners.

‘It's one of the best places I have lived in the United States,’ she says. ‘But those summers are so hot and humid.’

By the time we spoke for a second time, a record snowfall meant Breeda couldn’t leave the house. Like her Cork accent, it was here to stay.

‘If you don’t have the ability to pick up a tune or a rhythm, you actually keep your accent,’ Breeda says.

‘When I took dance lessons when I was younger, I had a hard time picking up routines. When I did music, it was really a challenge.

‘I do talk to my sisters a lot, and my mom every week for a couple of hours. Maybe that helped!’

Breeda Dennehy-Willis in action in the women's 5000m. (Photo: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile)

That connection to home has never loosened. She admits it’s been far too long since she was last in Cork, but it’s where her journey to become an Olympian began.

Her father had a farm close to Shandangan where Breeda and her six siblings grew up. There was no choice but to get on with it.

‘From a young age, we worked long, arduous hours on the farm,’ she recalls.

‘It wasn’t that we came from a poor family, it was just my dad expected it of us and we just did it. It was hard, physical labour. Long days lifting stones, packing hay, feeding animals.

‘We might have had to round up sheep, so you’re running into the fields – we were like sheepdogs sent out!’

That upbringing travelled with her. From Canovee to Wisconsin, from farm work to the Olympic stage, the same traits endured.

‘I think it makes you more resilient as an athlete. I was able to endure 100-mile weeks without a problem. That’s why I still like things so physical now, why I work out so much, to make up for all the farm work.’

That same work ethic – and desire for a better, easier life than her childhood – would carry her further than she could have imagined.

***

Breeda became the first athlete from Bandon Athletic Club to compete at an Olympic Games, lining out in the 5000m and 10,000m in Sydney in 2000. Since then, two more athletes from the club have joined that list – Phil Healy (Tokyo and Paris) and Nicola Tuthill (Paris).

All three have something in common: they share farming backgrounds. That’s no coincidence. Sprint star Phil grew up on a farm in Ballineen, while hammer thrower Nicola is hands-on at the family dairy farm in Baurleigh.

Each can point to farmer’s strength, and the mentality of seeing hard work as normal.

When Breeda and Lee’s daughter, Roisín – a gifted middle-distance US runner who was crowned World U20 800m champion in 2022 – took her first steps in athletics, her parents leaned on Breeda’s childhood.

‘When we decided to start training Roisín, my husband said because I grew up on a farm I had an inherent strength – we wanted to replicate that with Roisín if this is what she wanted to do,’ Breeda explains.

‘We set our basement up for circuit training and started that really young, and it was attributed to her speed and strength. We tried to emulate what I had growing up with because it was so beneficial to my athletic ability.’

That same background also shaped Breeda’s resilience. Her journey to become an Olympian wasn’t straightforward, but she absorbed every setback and kept moving forward. Tough as nails.

***

In an interview with Roisín in 2021, ahead of the US Olympic track and field trials, she referenced her mother’s resilience.

‘She has gone through things that have been much more difficult, missing an Olympic team one year, but then coming back and making one four years later. Having someone who is that resilient in my family, I think helps,’ Roisín said.

I put that to Breeda: does her own story connect her closer to Roisín? This high-achieving mother and daughter share a deep love for the same sport, so Breeda’s experience – and her ability to deal with setbacks – can help guide Roisín on her own journey.

Breeda and Lee with Roisín at the 2025 Millrose Games.

‘The only thing I would say – and Roisín would agree with this – I would never be overly invested in her running. I get very excited when she does very well, but I don’t live vicariously through being a coach for her. I stay in the background a lot,’ Breeda explains.

‘I’m not the kind of person who talks about my own running,’ she adds – this is Breeda’s first interview on her career in over 20 years.

‘If you were to quiz Roisín about my athletic career or my upbringing, she wouldn’t know a lot because I don’t talk about my running or my training. I never really go back.

‘My husband says she should know more – he’s a historian, so feels those things are important to talk about and pass along.

‘We are an athletic family, but can also separate from it really well too.’

Roisín’s athletic genes can be traced back to her mom, but Breeda is quick to play that down.

‘My daughter is already a better athlete, she was a world junior champion. It’s not a comparison as she has already achieved more,’ Breeda says of Roisín (21), the reigning US 800m outdoor champ who also holds the US indoor 800m record.

‘I don’t think about my DNA, but more the knowledge we have that has helped her along the way, that guided her training when she was younger, and that can help guide her next decisions.’

When Roisín was seven years old, she said she wanted to be the best. Breeda and Lee went the extra mile – Breeda went to every training session possible, Lee read every book he could, and they brainstormed to get Roisín up and running. That, Breeda insists, was her role.

‘It’s a different journey for both of us, and that’s why I try to help athletes, not just Roisín. We have helped athletes walk on to college teams, get scholarships, and win World medals.

‘Passing on some of my knowledge is very satisfying, because of the athlete I once was.’ 

A two-time national champion over 5000m (2000 and 2001), Breeda is still the fifth fastest Irish woman ever over both 5000m (15:12.83) and 10,000m (32:11.30). Only Sonia O’Sullivan, Catherina McKiernan, Maria McCambridge, Marie Davenport and Fionnuala McCormack have gone faster. Esteemed company, and a measure of just how good Breeda was.

***

‘It would have been nice to have been better,’ Breeda admits. ‘Certainly by my daughter's abilities, I should have been better. But my journey was mine and I’m responsible for my choices.

‘As a coach now, I know what I wasn’t working on and how much of a difference that could have made. I should have been a 1500m runner, or 800, if I had done more speed.

‘I was fast – go back to when I held the U9 Irish 200m record with the NACA (National Athletic and Cycling Association).

‘I know my build as well. I was lean as an athlete but it was hard for me to get down that low. I wouldn’t necessarily be very light – I was built more for power and speed.’

Breeda turned heads from the start. Her story begins with the local club in Kilmurry, before she joined Bandon Athletic Club. Success was instant, including racing to All-Ireland U12 cross-country championship glory. There was an 800m record, too, Breeda recalls. With Bandon AC, her reputation continued to rise. In 1988, at 18 years old, she was offered a scholarship to Western Kentucky University.

‘That was my ticket out,’ she says. This middle child of seven was carving her own path.

‘I feel I always stood out a little bit in the family. People would look into the car and be like “well, isn’t she a black sheep”. I didn’t look like the rest of them, I was darker skinned and had darker hair,’ Breeda says.

‘I never felt I had to prove myself. My dad would always praise me for being the hardest worker, always willing to help. I think I was favoured more than anything.’

But perhaps Breeda’s willingness to take hard work in her stride also held her back? In 1996, the year of the Olympics in Atlanta, she was training under a distant coach who was into extreme volume. She ran 120 to 130 miles every week. But her tendency to over-train cost her.

‘It takes so much to be a medal contender. You need mental toughness. Also, I don’t have the ability to rest,’ she says.

‘In America it’s all about miles, but maybe if I had done more speed work and been successful with that, would I have gone in a different direction? Would I have not been so neurotic about constantly training and getting in all those miles? I do tend to over-train.’

Breeda Dennehy-Willis celebrates after winning the Irish 5000m title in her Olympic year of 2000.

That whole period was challenging. While the 1996 Olympics weren’t initially a target, the door opened – before it slammed shut.

‘I had some bad experiences, and the administration wasn’t always very helpful,’ Breeda says. ‘In 1996 I felt it was very haphazard how they picked the team. It seemed more political. I did try out for that team – I made the 5000m standard and got a B standard in the 1500m. There was a lot of messing around.

‘When I was in Florida, I was sent a text three nights before an Oslo meet to say it was going to be the run-off of all the Irish athletes who have the A standard for the Olympics.

‘How was I going to get to Oslo?’

Breeda didn’t travel. Her Olympic dream was shattered. So was she, as her training programme took its toll.

‘I ran well off the programme for a while but by the time I needed to be ready in June, I was really fatigued. I was falling apart at the seams. Mentally, I was losing it a bit too because I knew my body was not holding up. I frizzled out,’ she says.

‘It emotionally scarred me, to the point where I felt I’m not going to do this anymore, not try to make an Olympic team, not come back to Ireland to race anymore – I didn’t want to do it. I decided that I wanted to just run road races in America and be happy.’

But a change in coach got Breeda powering forward again. Resilient, she got back to work.

‘I switched to John Sinclair, a great coach and person. I loved his training, it worked really well for me, but I was insistent on over-training,’ she says.

‘John was able to control me to a certain extent, and got me back running well. I did the road circuit where you could race and make money. It was fun. It was decent money, too, if you did it consistently.’

Back on track, and happy, Breeda had no intention of running for Ireland again. But one call changed that.

***

‘Around 1998, I think, Patsy McGonagle left a voicemail on my phone in Florida. I don’t know how he got my number!’ Breeda quips.

‘He was the athletics team manager for the Sydney Olympics, and said he really wanted me to try out for the team, and to call him back. I had no interest, but he was persuasive, asking me how I could let an opportunity like this go when I was running so well.’

Breeda was back in. 

But the scars of missing out four years earlier meant she was intent on making sure she was on the flight to Sydney. 

‘My target was to get every standard – 10,000m, 5000m and 1500m – and secure my spot,’ she recalls. Breeda clocked in personal bests in all three disciplines in 2000 ahead of Sydney, nailing the A qualifying standards in the 10,000m and 5000m. She earned her spot on the Irish team. Her resilience was rewarded.

Breeda, now 30 years old, was about to become an Olympian. She felt very good in the lead-up, primed to explode on the big stage. But then it all fell apart, leaving her in tears before the biggest races of her life.

‘We did a session on the track in gale-force winds. I was in dynamite shape. I did a long run the next day, probably way too much. The next day I woke up and felt like I had the flu,’ she says.

‘When we drove into the Olympic Village I was in the van crying because I knew I wasn’t going to be able to do anything. I could hardly breathe. And I was meant to be running in the Olympics. I was devastated.’

The women’s 5000m heats were on Tuesday, September 22nd, 2000. Breeda felt fine for the first mile, but struggled after. She finished 13th in a heat won by Gabriela Szabo, who eventually edged out Sonia O’Sullivan for gold in the final. 

‘By the 10,000m I was physically a lot better but the fatigue of the flu took its toll,’ she says, as five days later Breeda finished 11th in that heat.

‘It was a disappointment for me.’

‘What really frustrates me is before the Olympics I came to Ireland from America, and went to get the flu shot before we flew out to Sydney, but I was told it was too late. Who knows, it might have protected me some bit,’ she reasons.

‘I am definitely very proud of being an Olympian. It gives me strength to do the day-to-day things that I do. Looking back, I didn’t get all the help I needed to do what I did so I feel that my struggle to get there was very difficult. But I feel that it stands to me – it has given me an inherent fearlessness, and confidence.’

Sydney was both her Olympic debut and swansong. Roisín was born in August 2004, the same month the Athens Games were held.

‘I knew I was not going to make it. The body wasn’t going to hold up. I am very resilient but the way I trained and the volume meant my body wasn’t going to allow me to compete,’ Breeda admits.

***

A back condition means Breeda doesn’t run now. She’s not in pain, but has been told not to run, so she doesn’t. If she could, she would. Not socially, but to win, she laughs, competitive as ever. 

At 56, Breeda isn’t slowing down. She’s a private trainer and coach, qualified in almost every form of exercise there is; from Olympic lifting to Pilates, and everything in between.

When Roisín started college, Breeda got her real estate license, a part-time gig to keep herself even busier.

‘I am a bit of an exercise addict,’ she laughs. 

‘I’m not sure if it is competitive, but I like to exercise – that’s why I never allowed myself to rest when I was competing.’

She still lives in a faster lane than the rest of us.

As the heavy snow fell last week, Breeda layered up and put the snowblower to work. Tough as nails, like back home in Shandangan as a kid, helping her dad on the farm. Breeda has never forgotten where it all started – you just have to listen to her to learn that.