Road to Tokyo 2020 - Irish Olympic News

Yes, Jerry was hugely knowledgeable - you could tell he was doing tons of analysis and knew his stuff inside out.

Eire? Calling him an embarrassment? Very edgy.

When are you competing for gold in the keyboard warrior final?

1932 (2 golds), 1956 (1 Gold, five medals) and 2012 (1 Gold, 6 medals) would all be ahead of 2020+1 as things stand. Statistically 1996 as well of course - but even even if you ignore the asterisk over that one the fact that all medals were won by the same person reduces the overall success of the team somewhat I think.

So I'd say fourth best to date, despite a disappointing day today. Kellie Harrington might still put this one in contention for the top 3 if she wins or makes her final at least.

Meanwhile Tom Barr has run the seventh fastest time in the 400 hurdles semi finals...and hasn't made the final. Sums up our day.

Utterly gutting day today. Nothing went right in boxing, golf, gymnastics and 400m hurdles. I'm absolutely deflated.

Some of the rubbish being spouted here though. Olympic medals are HARD to win. A medal chance does not equate to an expected medal. And even expected medals don't always come good. Its sport. Surprises happen. Look at the men's 100m today.

How anyone can call 2 medals in rowing an underachievement is beyond me.

I think we will end up with 4 medals. If so, that's 15 medals in last 4 Games. In the previous 80 years or so we only won 20.

But five boats reached the semis and the two finalists both medalled.

Sanita and the pair clearly underperformed, but the other four boats fared extremely well.

It would only take one of them being completely off form to drag the other guy down.

Olympic sport is cruel. On a personal level, I'd have sympathy for the likes of Rhys, Sinita (to a certain extent), even Walsh, but the are they only Pop up every 4 years, or 5 in this case, adds to the pressure and stress on everyone, both physically and physiologicaly.

These stresses can manifest in sickness, injuries, and what seem either dumb mistakes or dumb luck. Rhys will do that routine a thousand times and never Fvck up like he did again, why did it happen this time?? Pressure, stresses on the muscular system, that's why. I feel for the guy, its cruel, but it's all a part of the game im afraid.

There are many instances of it this year, eg Biles, Sinita, becoming ill, the likes of Asher Smith with a muscle injury recently, over training or pushing too hard is a common cause for this.....even back to Sydney with Sonia getting 'stomach cramps'.

Elite sport, and Olympic sport, is cruel and high pressure, and being able to deal with the stresses and strains in your body is a big part of that.

It’s an underachievement in comparison to what was expected. RTEs rowing analyst said the same. The doubles and pairs made it to the semis alright but remember 12 teams made the semis out of 13 competing. Of course winning two medals is fantastic but two boats tanking was a little disappointing. That said the performance of Casey and Cremin is a good sign for the future.

It's not that crazy. If you get bad sunstroke it can affect things like sleep, and that affects performance. In Eamonn Coghlan's book he talks about stupidly shaving his body hair for the first time ever the night before the 1976 Olympic final. He was in such agony, he couldn't sleep, and her underperformed in the final. He thought shaving his body would make him faster.

Not saying for sure the sunburn was the reason, but I was told that from somebody over at the Games, and it makes sense seen as no explanation has been given for such a poor showing. If there was an injury we'd be told, but who wants to admit a schoolboy error of not putting on suncream in 34 degree sun?

I agree Michelle Smith is largely forgotten about in 1996 great achievement by her

Sonia`s physical problems happened in Atlanta not Sydney. She won the 5000m silver in 2000.