Overview

Good stuff Ogreman. I find the year after Olympics is nearly always a year in flux in boxing. It’s true for most sports but seems *extra* true for boxing.

Boxing squad projection Feb 2024 This place is very quiet at the moment ay? Anyway so I meant to do this after the national championships at the end of last year but just didn’t get around to it but I guess nothing has really changed over the last couple of months. Strandja does start tomorrow though. So I thought it would interesting to just kind of project a potential boxing team for LA and just kind of see how much it evolves over the next few years obviously with all the caveats that still apply with boxing and LA. So for comparison at the this point in the previous cycle Kelyn Cassidy wasn’t even on the radar, Martin McDonagh had only just started boxing and Jude Gallagher, Dean Clancy, Jennifer Lehane and Grainne Walsh were all firmly down the pecking order with the likes of Adam Hession and Brandon McCarthy looking like likely future Olympians. Just age wise for reference Jude Gallagher, Dean Clancy, Jack Marley, Martin McDonagh and Daina Moorehouse were all 21 or 22 for Paris so 17/18 year olds are very much potentially in play for this LA and would expect a number of them to end up being first choice by 2028, 15/16 year olds though (ie John Donoghue) maybe not so much at least for us, other countries absolutely do pick 18/19 year olds for the Olympics. I should caveat that this is more of a projection of who we try to qualify with and I'm not yet worrying about who/ how many would qualify. Oh and while world boxing has already been tinkering with weightclasses (don’t get me started on that), for now I’m just sticking with the ones from Paris. Mostly this is just for me to look back on in 1/2/3 years to see how this hypothethical squad has evolved. I list boxers roughly (emphasis on roughly) in order of my own preference/ expectation but I like some of these will absolutely look dumb in a year or two. I’m going to put question marks next to boxers who could end up in a different weightclass and brackets around boxers who may or may not be available for selection. (I know that technically could be all of them but you know what I mean.) And I definitely have forgotten someone. M51kg- Patsy Joyce, Louis Rooney, Scott Thompson, Jamie Collins, Clepson dos Santos, Sean Mari. So its funny how we spent the entirety of the last Olympic cycle looking for someone to usurp Sean Mari or Mari himself to take a leap and then a couple of months after the Olympics we get European under 22 champions at 48kg and 54kg albeit neither came against particularly impressive fields. Patsy Joyce is an interesting one regarding the last cycle. He lost a bout review to the eventual champion (Vishvaneth Suresh ) at the youth worlds in 2022 from a bracket that produced 3 Paris Olympians including bronze medallist Junior Alcantara but we never really give anyone a look until they produce at under 22 level. I don’t know how close to qualifying Joyce would have gotten but it would have been interesting had he been given a shot at the extended squad and not Ricky (has never won a fight at a major tournament) Nesbitt. Joyce could end up following Dylan Eagleson lead of trying to be an undersized counterpunching featherweight rather than go down in weight but he is even smaller than Eagleson. I think Joyce could end up being world class but at this point the range of outcomes for him is very wide. Rooney doesn’t have the same underage pedigree mostly because he was stuck behind Joyce but is quite talented in his own right and doesn’t come with any questions about potential weight classes. Both Scott Thompson and Jamie Collins come out of the youth ranks with some pedigree but lets wait and see how they evolve. Clepson dos Santos finally got himself on a European under 22 podium at the third attempt last year and won nationals in Mari’s absence and while I did think he looked better last year is still an uninspiring option. This particular weight class is still Sean Mari’s this year with Rooney and Joyce above and below him but the younger lads should ultimately surpass him by 2028. M57kg- Dylan Eagleson, Jude Gallagher, Jamie Graham, Adam Hession, Rhys Owens?, Gavin Ryan. The most interesting development here is that despite speculation about all 3 of Eagleson, Gallagher and Hession turning pro at least for now they all remain in the amateur ranks. I still think Eagleson has the highest ceiling despite his return after a year out with various injuries resulting in a loss against Rhys Owens at Ulster elites albeit at 60kg. Gallagher is absolutely good enough to make it to multiple Olympics but it remains to be seen if he can take that next step to make global podiums or if his career tracks more like someone like Brendan Irvine. Adam Hession is still the same technically sound but ultimately underwhelming boxer he has been for the last 3 years or so. Moved up to 60kg for nationals presumably to ensure he got picked for the world championships but then promptly lost to the internationally unproven Rhys Owens. Gavin Ryan and Jamie Graham both very nearly medalled at the world youth championships in 2022 and 2024 respectively, Ryan is now national champion in Gallagher’s absence. Graham impressed me at lot at world youths only losing to eventual champion Samandar Olimov who Adam Hession will presumably lose to in his fight against him at Strandja tomorrow. M63.5kg- Lee McEvoy, Roy Colgan, Dean Clancy, Martin McDonagh, Jason Nevin,. This is the most wide open of the divisions both in the short term and from an LA Olympics perspective. Dean Clancy has gone backwards since his impressive run to qualify at European games in 2023 and then became the poster child of why so many Olympians didn’t compete at nationals by losing to Roy Colgan another who went close to medalling at world youths in 2022. Colgan doesn’t have the medals his talent deserves and threw away a medal against an inferior but more physical opponent at European under 22s and failed to back up a spectacular performance to beat Clancy at nationals losing the final to Jason Nevin but I like him and think he has serious potential. Nevin himself is similar to Rhys Owens (listed at 57kg) in that he has some impressive results and performances domestically but has to this point done nothing internationally. Martin McDonagh comes out of the youth ranks this year without the medals his talent deserves having withdrawn injured from European youths and then ran into a tank in eventual champion Platon Kozlov at world youths. My favourite at this point is Lee McEvoy who medalled at world youths in 2022, He is rail thin and does need to get stronger but height and reach advantages proved very effective during the last Olympic cycle and he picks some great punches. M71kg- Bobbi Flood, Aidan Walsh, (John Donoghue?). Ryan Jenkins?, Jon McConnell, Tadhg O’Donnell?, Eugene McKeever Quite possibly could take the title from 57kg for the highest quality division over the course of this Olympic cycle. Bobbi Flood has been the most hyped up boxer in the country for the last few years, notable given that there is no lack of talent coming through. Only managed bronze at his first European under 22s but put up an admirable fight against Yurii Zakharieiev . Definitely has the potential to be a strong medal contender by the time LA comes around so his development is probably more important than most others. How long Aidan Walsh sticks around really depends on where his head is at but despite a disappointing outcome at the Olympics he did prove he is still up there with the best pure counterpunchers in the world. He would be 32 by the time LA comes around. Jon McConnell is national champion and could end up with this spot in some national selections over the next couple of years but something will have gone wrong if he is in the mix for LA selection. Then there are Ryan Jenkins and Tadhg O’Donnell who both leave the youth ranks after disappointing world champs at 63.5kg and 71 kg respectively after both taking bronze at Europeans. O’Donnell is very skilled and looks great until you put him under pressure at which point he just crumbles entirely, Jenkins has less underage pedigree but I am higher on his potential, a soft chin cost him at worlds but he is technically sound punch picker who carries some serious power. And finally there is John Donoghue who followed up his 2023 junior world championships by absolutely dominating Europeans last year. He will only hit the senior ranks in 2027 and likely at a weight class (a growth spurt could maybe push him to a higher division.) that isn’t going to be lacking for good options. I think circumstances could mean LA is just too soon but if he continues to develop at the rate he currently is, he absolutely should ultimately win Ireland an Olympic medal. M80kg- Kelyn Cassidy, Gavin Rafferty?, Josh Olaniyan?, James Whelan At this point this looks like Kelyn Cassidy or burst so if he decides he is better off in the pro ranks then we are in trouble and at 27 trying to win a world medal this year and then turn pro could make sense for him. Rafferty and Olaniyan are both currently battling for selection at 75kg so probably represent the most logical potential competition. In terms of youngsters coming through I guess Tadhg O’Donnell could end up here but he struggled mightily with physicality at 71kg and I’m not sure there is an easy way to reconcile that other than to compete at a lower weight division. Whelan is the current number 2 but I don’t think is good enough to do anything internationally. If Cassidy goes pro and no one else steps up though he could end up with the selection nod. M92kg- Jack Marley, Nathan Ojo, Shay O’Dowd?, Brian Kennedy?. Jack Marley was one of the few Olympians to compete at nationals and really impressed while beating Nathan Ojo. Ojo won bronze at world youths a couple of years ago and is similar enough stylistically to Kelyn Cassidy (backfoot counterpuncher). He apparently missed under 22s last year because he had holidays booked so despite his talent I’m not sure he quite has the dedication coaches like to see but his style has been the one that so many boxers had success with in this division in Paris. (Loren Alfonso Dominguez , Davlat Boltaev , Victor Schelstraete ) Shay O’Dowd was one of the youth boxers who medalled for the IBA- neutral team at world youths. To be somewhat fair to the selectors that was his first time competing internationally and it was a soft enough draw. Pretty sure he has another year at youth level so should be interesting to see how he develops. M92kg+- Adam Olaniyan, Martin McDonagh There is a buses analogy that definitely applies here. European and world youth champion Adam Olaniyan is well ye know very talented and unlike other weight classes which were diluted by the IBA and world boxing running parallel championships, he beat everyone there was to beat. My one concern with him was his willingness to allow physical opponents to push him back to the ropes and then unload which oh so nearly cost him against Oleksandr Sliesariev in the European semi-final. I just wonder if better, stronger more experienced senior opponents would punish that in the senior ranks. Obviously with a super heavyweight, they will probably take Olaniyan's development slowly and probably rightly so. McDonagh was unlucky to only take bronze at European under 22s losing a fight I thought he had done enough to win against Stylianos Roulias with a boxer he had beaten before waiting in the final. It will be interesting to see what kind of level McDonagh settles out after his rapid development over the last year. McDonagh probably needs some silverware over the next couple of years if he wants any chance of ultimately holding off Olaniyan. W50kg- Daina Moorehouse, Shannon Sweeney, Carleigh Irving, Tiffany Spencer, Caitlin Fryers. Lets not bring up Moorehouse’s Olympics but she has the chance truly establish herself at the top of this division globally over the next couple of years. Assuming the training squad of 8 that went on a camp to China is the world champs selection then Shannon Sweeney is a bizarre omission given that 52kg is vacant. Carleigh Irving is the only interesting selection for worlds as while she did take silver at European under 22s a few months ago, I wasn’t that impressed with her performance but ye know 48kg isn’t that strong so maybe she can be competitive. Of the omitted squad for world youth championships, despite not ultimately medalling I thought Tiffany Spencer was the most egregious non selection. She lost a quarter final to Ruby White at Europeans who won all her other fights by stoppage and subsequently won world boxing’s youth world championships comfortably. Spencer did lose a very narrow split decision that cost her a medal at worlds but it was bizarre that she wasn’t in the actual squad. W54kg- Jennifer Lehane, Carlagh Peake?, Robyn Kelly, Chloe Gabriel, Nicole Kinsella. Not the most inspiring weight class at the moment. Lehane is what she is, solid but wouldn’t really expect her to trouble the podium at worlds. Carlagh Peake ended up being the most notable non selection by winning 3 fights including beating a Russian on her way to silver at world youths. That said she did get stopped in her opening round at Europeans and like that world final which was her only fight against truly world class opposition would have been stopped if it was earlier in the competition. Its not that she shouldn’t have been selected just that a different draw and her non selection would have looked justified. She is a quality counterpuncher and though she competed at 50kg last year given her height, I’d expect her to move up a bit over the next few years. Robyn Kelly is fine and has a couple of European under 22 bronzes but lost to Chloe Gabriel at nationals, Gabriel had some success underage but hasn’t really had any success at senior level. W57kg- Niamh Fay, Michaela Walsh, Grace Conway? So despite Michaela Walsh being clearly past her peak she still refuses to lose at national championships easily dispatching Niamh Fay last November. So we now have the issue that Fay is proabably the better boxer but Walsh stylistically has the advantage so until Walsh steps aside or Fay figures out how to beat counterpunchers Walsh will keep this spot. Niamh Fay does have some very impressive wins and I do think her footwork has improved to the level that she would be my pick right now with the caveat that she will always be inconsistent and encounter matchups that just don’t suit her. Grace Conway has European junior and youth silver medals and has a ton of potential. She is very tall so while she was boxing at 52kg last year, she has already moved up to 57kg while still at youth level this year so could end up at 60kg rather than here. Massive talent either way but might not quite be physically ready in time for LA. W60kg- Ava Henry?, (Amy Broadhurst), ((Kellie Harrington)), Kellie McLoughlin. We have plenty of talent coming through in and around this weightclass but its unclear if there is anyone actually at it. Kellie McLoughlin moved up from featherweight to take the national title last year but she is doing anything noteworthy internationally. There are a few names that could end up giving us a real shot at winning this title for the 4th/5 time but no name that quite fits perfectly. While we did have 3 youth world champions last year I would make it very clear that Ava Henry was by far the most talented youth boxer in Ireland last year, and one of the best if not the best in the world. Stylistically and physically she reminds me a lot of Amy Broadhurst. The issue for Henry though is that she was boxing at 63kg last year and it is a tough ask to go down in weight from the youth ranks to senior level especially if she thinks that she is better off and would get picked at 66kg. I would expect her to stay at 63kg for the next year or two and then potentially move up/down for Olympic selection. Also, I mentioned it earlier how Ireland doesn’t really pick boxers straight out of the youth ranks but Henry this year is one of those cases which I find strange as to why we wouldn’t select her at every opportunity, there is a massive hole in our worlds squad at her weight class, she is absolutely good enough, why not send her?, for the experience if nothing else. Kellie Harrington was included in the the national squad list in January and is apparently still training. She is definitely retired but would it actually shock any of us if half way through 2026 she decided she wanted to give it one more go? I kind of sorta maybe called that Amy Broadhurst wouldn’t turn pro and would stick around for LA. In her statement though she didn’t specify what country she would attempt to qualify for LA. I don’t know if she would want to switch back to Ireland (although Eoin Pluck seems to be back in the good books.), if it is possible to switch back (given how easy it was to switch in the first place, I assume it is.) or if we would want her back but maybe. Anyway she is well pregnant at the moment so there is no point in speculating about this for another while anyway I mentioned Grace Conway above as potentially a name to watch here, the last name I would mention is Niamh Fay who while it would be a big jump to go from 54kg to 60kg, her style does suit being undersized and being able to get inside her opponents so if she remains stuck behind Michaela Walsh, I’d consider this if I were her. Basically there is enough talent in and around this weight class that it is likely someone will ultimately seize it and put us back in medal contention, who that is and when that will be though I’m not sure. I guess it is possible that we get a situation like 66kg last time where everyone above and below it eyed it up only for Grainne Walsh to ultimately end up with the nod. W66kg- Lisa O’Rourke, Siofra Lawless, Kyla Doyle, Grainne Walsh. This weight ended up being stacked from nowhere during the last Olympic cycle but looks likely to be stacked from the off this time around albeit for now Grainne Walsh is in the short term unthreatened. Look I was critical of this selection and I‘ve never been her biggest fan but the Olympics themselves were ultimately harsh on Grainne Walsh losing a stylistic mismatch in her opening fight and then watching two opponents Amy Broadhurst beat meet in the final and one Lisa O’Rourke beat win bronze. I kind of hope she gets a bit of redemption at worlds because she has been an excellent servant to Irish boxing. Lisa O’Rourke has had an inconsistent and injury riddled few years since becoming world champion but will likely start as one of the favourites to retake that 70kg title next month. If there is an overarching lesson for me from the last Olympics it was that size and reach is crucial and Lisa O’Rourke fits that bill. Then there are the two youth world champions. Look, Make no mistake Siofra Lawless is an immense talent but I don’t think she is quite as good as Junior and Youth world titles in back to back years makes it sound and take nothing away from it but I don’t think it was the strongest field that she had to beat. Unlike Ava Henry, I don’t think Siofra Lawless would be potentially able to move down to the potentially empty 60kg. Add in that she still has another year at youth level and I’m not sure she will be quite ready for LA. She could very easily prove me wrong though. Kyla Doyle went from absolutely no pedigree to European and World youth champion in a year which is remarkable. My one criticism of her would be that she does get drawn into physical scraps quite easily but when she gets in lets her hands go and then gets out again she is a joy to watch. Definitely has a fair bit of development still to do particularly compared to someone like Lawless who is a year younger but so much more refined but Doyle’s ceiling is sky high. I really don’t know how this weight class will ultimately shake out. W75kg- Aoife O’Rourke, Evelyn Igharo?, Nell Mcloughlin, Laura Moran. It is absolutely crazy that Aoife O’Rourke still doesn’t have a global medal given her performances and results at every other tournament and as such these upcoming world championships are more important for her than anyone else. Evelyn Igharo’s career has been one case of what might have been after another but she is still very talented. Nell McLaughlin and Laura Moran have both medalled at the last two world youth championships albeit the heavier women’s weights tend to not be that strong/ have many entries. That said McLaughlin’s performance to outwork and outlast Dilara Sak who had given Kyla Doyle trouble at Europeans (Yeah I don’t know why Sak moved up 2 weightclasses) was probably my favourite fight of that tournament. I know we won 3 world titles but there was something poetic about watching an overlooked boxer who only made the semis because of a walkover come through against a much more decorated, fancied and skilled opponent. Anyway that was a lot longer than I thought it would be. I feel like I left a lot of detail out as well. And yeah I know this is gauranteed to look stupid in a year or two but sure look.

Ireland claim 4 medals at 2024 World Rowing Championships Ireland wrapped up a successful week in the water at the 2024 World Rowing Championships in St.Catherine's, Canada with a haul of 4 medals including 2 golds and 2 bronze. The highlight of the performances came from double Olympic champion, Paul O'Donovan, who claimed his third world title in the men's senior lightweight singles category. Reigning champion Siobhán McCrohan claimed another medal in the women's senior lightweight single sculls, this time having to settle for the bronze medal behind 2022 champion and Olympic medalist, Ionela Cozmiuc of Romania. In the Under 23 category, Ireland's Ciaran Purdy and Donnacha Keeley carried on the fantastic success of Irish men's lightweight rowing by claiming gold in the lightweight double sculls. Meanwhile Brian Colsh partnered with Adam Murphy to claim the bronze in the men's heavyweight doubles sculls. There were no medals for Ireland in the under 19 categories, but they did have a few creditable results, including a 4th place finish for the junior men's quadruple sculls squad. Overall a good championships for Ireland with plenty of young blood to keep the success and momentum going into the future. World Senior Championships: Gold Men's Lightweight Single Sculls Paul O'Donovan (30) Bronze Women's Lightweight Single Sculls Siobhán McCrohan (37) World U23 Championships: Gold Men's Lightweight Double Sculls Ciaran Purdy (22), Donnacha Keeley (20) Bronze Men's Double Sculls Adam Murphy (21), Brian Colsh (22) 6th Place Men's Single Sculls Andrew Sheehan (21) 6th Place Women's Lightweight Double Sculls Sophia Monahan (19), Aine O'Mahony (22) 7th Place Men's Quadruple Sculls Shane Rafferty (19), Fergus Bryce (20), Donagh Claffey (20), Fionn O'Reilly (21) B Final (DNS) Women's Double Sculls Holly Davis (19), Grace Healy (21) 14th Place Men's Four Andrew O'Leary (19), Luke Dunleavy (21), Liam Walter (19), Rory Buckley (20) World U19 Championships: 4th Place Men's Quadruple Sculls Michael McGrath (17), Jack Rafferty (17), Rian Claffey (18), Sean Morris (18) 5th Place Men's Coxed Four Dominic Casey (18), Mattias Cogan (16), Michael Daniel Lucey (18), Evan O'Byrne (16), Luke Fitzgerald (Cox) (17) 7th Place Women's Double Sculls Anna Brennan (18), Moya Knowles (18) https://twitter.com/KieranMcC_SS/status/1827437214831140958?ref_src=twsrc^tfw|twcamp^tweetembed|twterm^1827437214831140958|twgr^9b75ba1c2576db766cd12bc22890ba27a127c529|twcon^s1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.independent.ie%2Fsport%2Fother-sports%2Fpaul-odonovan-passionately-sings-national-anthem-after-winning-lightweight-single-sculls-final-at-world-rowing-championships%2Fa2127035969.htmlhttps://x.com/KieranMcC_SS/status/1827437214831140958 https://x.com/KieranMcC_SS/status/1827437214831140958

Israel Olatunde breaks Irish 100m National Record Israel Olatunde set a new Irish NR in the 100m at the NEB Open meeting in London this afternoon. His time of 10.12 secs (+1.7 m/s) carved 0.05 secs off his current Irish record which he set at the European Championships in Munich in 2022. Great start to the LA 2028 Olympic cycle by Olatunde . As a reminder, the automatic qualification standard for the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo is 10.00 secs so he still has a little bit to go to reach that but this is an encouraging result in what has been a difficult 2 years for Israel.

I have opened a new thread for us to track our athletes' journey in this new Olympic cycle. This week we have a chance to see some of our up and coming stars in the sport of rowing as the 2024 World Senior, U23 and U19 Championships gets underway in St.Catharine's, Canada. You can watch coverage of all the races here: https://worldrowing.com/event/2024-world-rowing-senior-under-23-under-19-championships/ Irish entries: World Senior Championships Lightweight Men's Single Sculls Paul O'Donovan World Senior Championships Lightweight Women's Single Sculls Siobhan McCrohan World U19 Championships Men's Coxed Fours Dominic Casey, Mattias Cogan, Michael Daniel Lucey, Evan O'Byrne, Luke Fitzgerald (Cox) World U19 Championships Men's Quadruple Sculls Michael McGrath, Jack Rafferty, Rian Claffey, Sean Morris World U19 Championships Women's Double Sculls Anna Brennan, Moya Knowles World U23 Championships Men's Lightweight Double Sculls Ciaran Purdy, Donnacha Keeley World U23 Championships Men's Single Sculls Andrew Sheehan World U23 Championships Men's Double Sculls Adam Murphy, Brian Colsh World U23 Championships Men's Four Andrew O'Leary, Luke Dunleavy, Liam Walter, Rory Buckley World U23 Championships Men's Quadruple Sculls Shane Rafferty, Fergus Bryce, Donagh Claffey, Fionn O'Reilly World U23 Championships Women's Lightweight Double Sculls Sophia Monahan, Aine O'Mahony World U23 Championships Women's Double Sculls Holly Davis, Grace Healy Irish Schedule today, Sunday 18th August (all time in Irish time): 14:57 U23 Women's Double Sculls Heats Holly Davis, Grace Healy 15:02 U23 Men's Double Sculls Heats Adam Murphy, Brian Colsh 15:37 U23 Men's Four Heats Andrew O'Leary, Luke Dunleavy, Liam Walter, Rory Buckley 19:45 Senior Men's LW Single Sculls Heats Paul O'Donovan 19:52 U23 Women's LW Double Sculls Heats Sophia Monahan, Aine O'Mahony 20:12 U23 Men's Quadruple Sculls Heats Shane Rafferty, Fergus Bryce, Donagh Claffey, Fionn O'Reilly 20:22 U23 Men's LW Double Sculls Heats Ciaran Purdy, Donnacha Keeley 20:39 U23 Men's Single Sculls Heats Andrew Sheehan

This thread will be our general space to discuss and post news about Team Ireland on the long road to Los Angeles 2028!

I get the impression the Government have twigged somewhat that the benefits of funding elite Olympic sport go beyond simple performance. In GB, it is no exaggeration to say it was the only good news story for several weeks, and at least on some level had a unifying effect to help counter the mob. Ireland is having a 'moment' at the moment - the visuals often spoke of a better Ireland than the one we can feel we're in. Sport has the capacity to be a rather unifying experience, especially when we have plenty of impressive Irish athletes. It's no panacea, and there are, arguably, more urgent uses for major public funds, but elite olympic sports funding is never going to be more than a drop in the overall ocean even if it's generous, and we get unifying national moments from it money can barely buy.

Well, I think there are few enough events left that we can confirm our final position on the medal table - 19th. A few wrestling finals involving Iran and Georgia fell our way this morning to keep us in the top 20. The four gold medals keeping us ahead of some countries we would normally be well behind, including Brazil as well as European countries such as Belgium, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark and Switzerland (also spare a thought for Finland who have just suffered their first ever blank at the Olympics in terms of medals). The final medal total of seven was broadly in line with what a few of us thought coming in to the games, but I know, for me anyway, the four golds was a massive overshoot. To beat our previous best in terms of both total medals and total golds in the same games is a great achievement by the team. We also had consistently strong results throughout the team outside the medal positions, with 21 Top 8 finishes and 30 Top 10 finishes. And yet, at least in terms of total medals, there's a new target there that we should absolutely be aiming to surpass again next time. On that score there seems to be rumblings of some significant funding announcements coming up. Hopefully they come to pass and we see an even better funded and prepared team in 2028. While we've made huge progress on that side of things, there's clearly so much more that needs to be done in terms of facilities, coaching and ensuring that all of our best competitors are sufficiently funded to allow them to be full time professional athletes for the next olympic cycle. 🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪

If you ignore the Americans, that race for silver and bronze between the three European teams was one for the ages. So well matches, so many brilliant young athletes in each team. heartbreaking, but it'll come, I'm sure of it. PS I think you are right about Amber, a suddenly very, very serious contender at Euro and global level going forward - I imagine Rhasidat, Amber and Femke will come to see a lot of each other over the next years!

We definitely haven't gotten any breaks in the athletics this week. All sorts of records being run in front of us to deny us medals. I felt after the second leg of the relay we just weren't far enough ahead of the Brits to hold on. The difference is the emergence of Amber Anning as an athlete capable of challenging for individual medals. She neutralises the advantage Adeleke previously gave us and their depth across the rest of their team was just enough to keep them ahead of us.

My position remains unchanged...

Some mention tonight of her getting treatment after the race as well. Officially it was put down to nothing more than tiredness, but then they would say something like that whether it was true or not. Wonder if she's maybe caught the bug that's been going around the games or whatever Ciara McGing had that nearly caused her to pull out of her event. I'm not expecting much from Wiffen in the open water, he's a pool swimmer and he'll be up against open water specialists who are targeting this as their only Olympic event, whereas it's more of an add-on for him. Better to take it as an outside shot of a bonus medal rather than coming from a position of expecting anything. And then there's the Omnium on the track on Sunday and that's really it for us as far as outside medal chances go. We're down to our last 15 or so competitors in total.

Has Wiffen any chance of medaling in the open water swim? Not hearing much about his chances?

You could be right. The RTE crowd were all saying on Monday that she was looking around because she was so comfortable but to me it seemed more like she was worried. Maybe the false start made her anxious or maybe nerves got to her and in the final she can run free. She could get the bronze or she could end up 5th. On tonight’s show Naser will get gold.

I think there's two possibilities with Adeleke here - one is that she just didn't execute that race correctly at all and there's much better in her if she can nail it tomorrow. The other, and I fear possibly the more likely situation, is that it's just not there this week - either through a recent training injury or not peaking at the right time - that she hasn't got a PB in her legs right now. Her last 200 race before the games wasn't great, so she hasn't put in a fast time in a little while. Her last 100 tonight was really leggy. It might just not be there at the moment, there might also be an injury setback that we don't know about. We'll know by Friday night. Anyway, it's the Wednesday night of the final week of the games and we are still somehow twelfth on the medal table, and we'll be there until tomorrow at least.

The NCAA season has finally caught up with Pryce. Was initially certain it would, but then less confident after her recent Diamond League run. One of the "big five" gone. Just a pity about Naser.

If she finishes fourth you wouldn't rule out her getting upgraded at some point, put it that way...

No chance of a medal on that run for Adeleke. 5th at best

Well mission accomplished for Adeleke to get into the Olympic final. But she doesn’t look in great form. And it’s doubtful she’s keeping anything in store for the final, she didn’t have much in those legs to bring her to the line. Only thing can hope is that she didn’t execute well. But tall order as we all knew to get on that podium but that race really brings it home how big the task is. But she is in the final so the first step is done

Looks like Jack Woolley will be back in business and fight in repechage, this Magomedov dude is tearing through all opposition. Awful start in the ladies golf, Jaysus

With Lavin and English avoiding the repechage and Healy and O'Sullivan bowing out today it looks like we will only have three Irish competitors in the whole of the Olympics tomorrow - the two female golfers and Kate O'Connor in the Heptathlon.

Very good runs from Mark English and Sarah Lavin this morning to progress to the semis, English looked really strong, would be amazing if he could get to the final. Defeat for Jack Woolley in the first round of the taekwondo unfortunately

Could be a case to be made for just giving the team award to the entire Olympic team at this point but that might be a bit of a cop out!

I would hope McCarthy and O’Donovan get the team award but the mixed relay European champions may get the nod. Or God forbid they give it to Armagh GAA or something

RTE sports person of the year is going to be some decision this year. O'Donovan/McCarthy should be a safe enough bet for the team award ahead of the 6 Nations winning rugby team ans the European winning mixed relay team, but how do you choose between Harrington, McClenaghan and Wiffen for the individual one? Harrington maybe just gets the nod for going back to back. Ciara Mageean's European gold medal would have her there or thereabouts most years, but this year the competition is on another level.