KATE O’CONNOR has revealed how a post-Olympics mindset shift was behind her European bronze. O’Connor came third in the pentathlon at the European Indoor Athletics Championships on Sunday. The 24-year-old clinched a podium position as she set new personal bests in the 60m hurdles, long jump, high jump and 800m. When her best event, javelin, and shot put are thrown into the mix, she is excited about what might lie ahead in the outdoor season. And she said the biggest difference so far in her performances came as a result of her Paris experience, where she came 14th. The Dundalk woman said: “Something I said straightaway was that I need everyone around me to push me and expect more of me. “I had felt like I had never turned up to a session and not been able to do what was given to me or not been able to surpass what was given to me. “I kind of realised at the Olympics that I knew that I could be good enough to be up there with those girls and potentially be on an Olympic podium someday. “The biggest change is that everyone around me is now working towards getting me on that podium and it’s not just my goal it’s everyone’s goal and each session that is planned it made with that goal in mind. “Over the last few years I would turn up to training and I would always give 90 percent, whether that’s in recovery, effort levels, everything 90 percent, which is good and it got me to championships but just not up there with the best. “This year I have turned up and given 100 percent and that 10 percent every day for the last few months has got me a bronze medal. “People talk about post-Olympic blues. For me, I never experienced that. I had the most amazing time at the Paris Olympics. “I know that I want to be up there with those top girls and I also knew that I could be. Self-belief has never been an issue for me. I know that I’m good enough. “I just needed to put in the work and I needed the team that was around me to push me and support me to that point. I’ve always known that I could medal at the top stage. “I’m delighted that I’ve done it already. “People chase these medals their whole career. Sarah Lavin, watching her interview before I competed and her finishing fourth, how devastated she was. I’m trying to appreciate how lucky I am. “I have a medal now in my closet that no one can ever take away from me. I’m trying to enjoy it as much as I possibly can. But I just want to keep going and change the colours maybe.” LOOKING FORWARD O’Connor had admitted she was bracing herself to finish fourth after a strong performance in the long jump had not been enough to move her into the top three before a barnstorming 800m run did the trick. She will compete in the World Indoors in Nanjing, China later this month and is looking forward to wrapping up a Masters in Communications and PR by the summer. That would enable her to turn full-time and she would hope to be part of a training group, recalling how being based in Sheffield where she developed a healthy rivalry with Jade O’Dowda, who came fourth on Sunday, helped her progress. Either way, she is ambitious for the rest of the year. She said: “Before this indoor season, I would have considered myself a heptathlete and not a pentathlete. Indoor multi-events has always just been ‘we’ll break up the winter a little bit’ because it’s not a strong point for me because javelin gives me a slight edge. “At the start of the year, I set a pentathlon goal of 4,500 and a heptathlon goal of 6,500. I’ve broke that indoor goal twice and I suppose the plan is just to keep working. If I can stay injury-free this summer could be really, really exciting. “I’m really looking forward to outdoors. I’m obviously still focusing on indoors but outdoors, adding a big javelin on to that, it can be a pretty amazing score.”