A gold medal and one bronze for Ireland at time of going to print. Hopefully more to come…
Big congratulations to Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy who won Ireland’s first gold medal of the Tokyo Olympics in the early morning of July 29th last with a stunning victory in the lightweight men’s double sculls at the Sea Forest Waterway. It was Ireland’s first Olympic gold medal since 2012, its 10th in total, and its first in rowing.
Equal congratulations to Aifric Keogh, Eimear Lambe, Fiona Murtagh and Emily Hegarty who will bring home their Bronze Medal in the Women’s Coxless Four Rowing event. A valiant effort.
In other news from the first week of Ireland’s participation in the games Shane Ryan returned to the Tokyo Aquatics Centre in style on Day Six, setting a new Irish Senior Record in the Men’s 100m Butterfly. Ryan finished 4th in Heat 3, clocking a time of 52.52, to break Brendan Hyland’s previous best of 52.58. His time gave him an overall finishing position of 37th – 11 places above his pre-race ranking.
Also on Day 6 sailor Annalise Murphy finished in 1st and 2nd place in Race 7 and 8 respectively to move her into 14th position overall ahead of her final two fleet races.
In golf both Shane Lowry and Rory McIlroy got their endeavours off to a good start.
In rowing it was with regret that Sanita Puspure had to withdraw from the B Final of the Women’s Single, due to her being unwell. Until then she had performed so well.
Puspure said:
“Over the past few days I have not been well, and I had to make the difficult decision to withdraw from the Olympic Regatta. This is really disappointing, as I had been going well over the past few months and had hoped to continue this good form. The Olympics is always a big goal so it’s heartbreaking to have to pull out in this manner.”
Well done to all our Amazing Irish athletes who participated in these games. We are so proud of you all.
