Listen to the full interview with Ciaran via the podcast.

Many may remember Ciaran O'Lionaird from the heart-wrenching post-race interview at London 2012.

After bursting onto the scene at Daegu in 2011, the Cork distance runner had finished second last in his 1,500 metre heat and it capped a bitterly disappointing year that had been marred by an Achilles problem.

2013 turned out to be a far better season for O'Lionaird and saw him claim bronze at the European Indoor Championships in Goteborg and thankfully the Achilles issue was a thing of the past.

Heading into 2014, he is told Joe on Off The Ball that his running has "taken a whole new lease of life" after undergoing surgery.

"After [the Olympics], having talked to my coach and everyone in my support team, the decision was to get out mentally and get a really good result in the European Indoors. We went for that and rehabbed the Achilles and we painted over the cracks to a degree - there were some other issues besides the Achilles that needed to be resolved. So once we got that positive result and got the medal in the Indoors, we decided to get it dealt with once and for all with three years to Rio."

Post-surgery, the Florida-based athlete is now able to run pain-free as he builds towards a positive 2014, starting with the European Athletics Championships in Zurich.

Living across the Atlantic, O'Lionaird has been able to get a different perspective on Ireland. 

"Ireland was a very different place when I left. It was the end of the Celtic Tiger boom. I remember I was doing my Leaving Cert and SATs. It was drilled into me from a pretty young age that I was going to go to the US," said the 25-year-old who admitted that many of his friends had told him how lucky he was that he left before the economic problems worsened.

O'Lionaird has also shown his support for LGBT rights in Russia ahead of next months's controversial Winter Olympics: 

Let's fight for #LGBT equality ahead of the #Sochi2014 Games with @AthleteAlly . @NickSymmonds & I are in, are you? pic.twitter.com/qAPEIEhiZz

— Ciarán Ó Lionáird (@GoCiaran) January 8, 2014

He confirmed that he would keep a close eye on events in Sochi.

"Obviously Russia has made some decisions politically which are not in line with what I agree with in terms of discriminating against the LGBT community. They've made protests pretty difficult. They have the classic IOC protest zones, kilometres from the arenas. That's going to encourage a demonstration and I hope so," said O'Lionaird.

"At the end of the day, LGBT rights is the big social issue now. It was race at the time of John Carlos and it was people being discriminated against because of the way they were born and that's how I see this. It's not fair. A lot of the times, athletics and sport are seen as a place where the LGBT community hasn't had a lot of support."        

O'Lionaird also talked about life off the track, living with fellow athletes and his time with Nike's Oregon Project. Listen to the full interview via the podcast.

Main image: Ciaran O'Lionaird celebrate taking bronze in the Men's 3000m Final in Goteborg ©INPHO/Morgan Treacy