First comes gold, then comes marriage: US Olympian ties knot in Macroom, Cork
Fresh from claiming a gold medal at Cork City Sports on Wednesday, Olympian Priscilla Frederick wed her high school sweetheart Kenneth Loomis in Macroom today.
It was a week to savour for the athlete who jumped 1.88 to secure first place in the Women’s High Jump with second place going to Eleanor Patterson who jumped 1.85.
The Olympian, who got engaged in April, decided to get married in Ireland as her new husband has Irish heritage with his family originally from Mayo.
“Kenneth wanted to go back and see where he came from and I always wanted to compete in Ireland,” she said.
“Once I got the invitation, I was so excited. When we got engaged, we saw how much American weddings cost and what the process was and we wanted no part in that.
"We wanted to make sure we focused on our love story and our marriage. We decided on Cork with no hesitation.”
This was the first time Priscilla or Kenneth had ever been to Ireland, however, they have ties to Macroom.
Kenneth’s uncle Tom has been organizing a trip with the Woodland String Band to bring about 150 people every year to Macroom for the past 20 years to celebrate the St Patrick’s Day.
After a beautiful day in Macroom, Priscilla and Kenneth plan to spend their honeymoon travelling Europe together, while Priscilla competes.
