“So now I think ‘Greta you better do well because you’re representing this famous name,’” she says, laughing.

She doesn’t just represent the Streimkytes now but also her adopted nation as one of over 36,000 Lithuanians who have made Ireland their home in the past decade.

They’re the country’s third largest immigrant community after the Poles and English, contributing considerably to Irish society’s greater diversity of history, culture, food, and sport.

As a dual citizen Streimikyte’s large family back in Vilnius, including her four grandparents, will be just as invested in her second Paralympic appearance as her family and friends in North Dublin.

Her dad Raimundas arrived first, seeking better economic opportunities for the family that includes mum Asta and Greta’s siblings Emiliga and Arnas.

They are triplets and started school in Drumcondra when they were 15, a tricky age to uproot most teenagers though she insists the transition was relatively smooth and helped by being such a tight unit.

A decade later her accent is a charming mix of Lithuanian and Irish and her personality, she reckons, is a similar blend.

“More and more I count myself Irish but I took so much from Lithuania because I came when I was 15. The Lithuanian character is more strict, possibly linked to the Soviet Union background,” she explains.

“There’s this strong thing of ‘stick with it, work hard, get it done!’ in Lithuania. You have to push it through if things are hard. There’s lots of discipline. I don’t know if that’s me, or my family or national (trait) but it’s good to have.

“Ireland is much more relaxed. It’s really changed me as a person, I’m more balanced now. It has really brought out my sense of humour, I love the Irish sense of humour,” she grins.

Her dad was into lots of sports and her mum did athletics when she was younger so whether running is nature or nurture she’s not sure either.

What’s certain is that she has never let her visual impairment (retinopathy), which occurred after her premature birth, hold her back.

It may have worried her parents when she was younger but never Greta: “If something was dangerous I would do it anyway. I was fearless!”

She qualified from DCU with a degree in International Relations and a Masters in Business Management.

She works two days a-week for AIB to facilitate her training and is also an ambassador for ‘Fighting Blindness’.

Streimikyte credits her PE teacher Sean Gallagher for first encouraging her to start running and Enda Fitzpatrick, then Head of Athletics in DCU, for coaching her to a Paralympic debut in Rio 2016.

She trains and competes with able-bodied athletes and was particularly proud to make this year’s national 1500m final, given the current quality of Ireland’s female distance runners.

Within a year of first representing Ireland in para-athletics Streimikyte made a European podium (bronze) in 2016 and finished fourth in the T13 1500m final at the Rio Olympics in a personal best of 4:45.06.

Since then she has added two European titles (2018 and this year) but disappointment at finishing fifth in the 2019 World Championships saw her make a big decision, moving to be coached by Feidhlim Kelly whose world-class training group at the Dublin Track Club includes Olympians Mark English, Michelle Finn, and Andrew Coscoran.

“I always say it is important to surround yourself with good people. They all went to the Olympics and we all seek the same goal, to be the best we can be. It’s amazing to be surrounded by such driven people and we’re all very supportive of each other,” she says.

Finn paced her to a new PB of 4:32 (from 4:38) in Belfast in May and since then she’s got it down to 4:29.33.

That’s 16 seconds faster than her time in the Rio final and a nine-second improvement this season alone, making her a serious medal contender in Tokyo.

The leap has largely come from doubling her mileage, which is now up to 80 miles a-week, plus some tweaks to her form and technique.

“She’d had some injuries before she came to me so I talked to Eamonn Flanagan (S&C lead at the Institute of Sport) to make sure she could tolerate a bigger load and we built it up gradually,” Kelly says.

“Greta was probably always good in the gym but sometimes you just have to pull the band-aid off and do a lot of running and she’s well able for it and has a great work ethic.

With a vision impairment you probably have a tendency to reach out with your foot and heel so we’ve been trying to improve that.

But Kelly admits that he otherwise doesn’t treat her any differently from the rest of his charges and she wouldn’t stand for it.

“She’s very independent and wouldn’t view herself as any different from anyone else in the group.

“Once she keeps developing the confidence and managing the nerves she’ll keep improving,” Kelly adds.

“It’s a cliché to say the Paralympics is just another race. It’s not. But, at the same time, once you follow logic and stick to the practical side — like splits and tactics — you stop thinking about the scale of the event. Greta’s certainly more confident now, and confidence and resilience come from doing lots of hard work.”

Streimikyte ran a 2:14 800m earlier this month and Kelly believes she’s ready to run a 4:25 1500m when she puts it all together.

That fact that Olympic metric miler James Nolan is Paralympic Ireland’s head of athletics also helps with feedback to herself and her coach.

Greta herself insists her dramatic improvement this season is down to pure hard graft.

I’ve never counted myself as the most talented athlete. I think things happened for me because I put in the work.

The Paralympic opening ceremony in Tokyo coincides with the triplets’ 26th birthday and she’s the first of Ireland’s track team in action (August 28) where a medal would mean that Streimikyte, like Puspure, becomes a name recognised in every corner in Ireland, bringing similar sporting honour and pride to not one but two nations.