Becker holding down a full time job in Pfizer. Hopefully they direct some of that money they use for horses birthday cakes towards our elite Olympians and athletes. 2028 might be a little bit beyond Phil Healy but the other 3 girls should be purring in the relay in 4 years time.
As someone who can rub sub-20 5kmâs I feel a slight bit of regret that I never really tried athletics. Although apparently youâd want to be doing it in well under 15 minutes to be taken seriously.
That could turn some lads viciously agin her.
To be fair if you had to hold down a full time job as an athlete Pfizer would be the best possible place you could work.
The german Beckenbauer team of 1974 were on anabolic steroids is just thrown in there casually as a fact?
Croatia v Serbia getting underway in the menâs Water Polo final.
On the contrary Iâd say a few anti-vax lads wouldnât mind letting her at their arms
Sub 20 minutes 5ks are phenomenol by any standard. Iâve never tried one. Was always one for shorter runs or sprints but Ive always been curious how Iâd get on. Now that I am in the twilight of my GAA playing days Iâll have more time to find out hopefully.
Denmark looking likely to repeat their Euro '92 final victory over Germany in the menâs handball final, They lead 21-12 at half time.
Italy closing in on victory over the USA in the womenâs volleyball final.
Thereâs an Irish rider doing well in this inexplicable track cycling race which is thankfully the last track cycling race. Sheâs in 5th in an with an outside shout of a medal.
Iâm still gutted for the relay team. .18 of a second away from Irelands greatest sporting achievement is devastating.
https://twitter.com/DanielHussey2/status/1822606049431425159
About a minute in Rob Heffernan states there is no PE in primary schools in Ireland. That cant be true surely?
Lara Gillespie only three points off a medal now in this Omnium event. Thereâs 41 laps left.
No idea whether or not it is in the curriculum but both my kids do PE anywayâŚalbeit hit and miss depending on teacherâŚbut there is an Irelandâs active schools competition which is v good and my lads did a lot of activities all through the year as part of that
Id say he means no pe teachers. Every kid does pe every week but it isnât taught properly in a lot of cases
Heâs probably referring to his own kids experience in school,
PE is on the curriculum but itâs very rare that anybody would be checking if it was getting done, in most cases it would be out to the yard for a game of soccer or whatever youâre having with no skills development or warm up, depends on the teacher.
So what heâs saying is open to interpretation but Iâd be inclined to agree with him, needs more emphasis
This a compelling watch.
Thing is, the Brits won bronze and for a country that size itâs meaningless.
Did it not mean they medaled in every relay?
Thereâs definitely an argument for certain subjects being taught by specialist teachers at primary level. A PE teacher or two for every school surely wouldnât be THAT expensive?
Today at 21:09
Rhasidat Adeleke receives the baton from Sophie Becker during the womenâs 4x400 relay final. Photo: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile
This one hurt. It hurt more than you can possibly imagine. It built them up and then it broke them down. It suckered them in, dangling the biggest dream of their athletic lives right in front of them, tantalisingly within reach, and then it snatched it away again.
Fourth. Forgotten, infuriating fourth.
It was the performance of their collective lives, hands down. Almost three seconds quicker than the Irish record theyâd run to win silver at the Europeans in Rome. How good is 3:19.90? This is the first time ever a team has broken 3:20 in the womenâs 4x400m and not won a medal. Their time would have been enough for silver in every Olympic final apart from 1988.
And of course, crucially, in 2024.
They had come so close. So, so close. They were just 0.18 behind Britain. Thatâs a metre and a half of track in a 1600m race. The difference between everything you wanted and the nothing youâve suddenly been left with. In time, theyâll realise itâs not nothing, but that wonât happen here in Paris.
Some day, all four will be able to excavate immense pride from the initial wreckage. But right now thereâs only a confusing bomb site of emotional rubble that just has to be sifted through. It will take some time.
âIt left the majority of them in tears once theyâd escaped this cavernous arena and made their way down into the bowels of the Stade de France. By then the slow realisation was setting in that they had an unwanted, loutish intruder settling in to cohabit with them, whether they liked it or not. Fourth place wonât define them, not when they performed like they did, but by God it will certainly annoy them.
They had come into the Olympic 4x400m final as underdogs. Fine by them. Most objective observers had them seeded fifth, behind the USA, Dutch, Brits and Jamaicans. But strange things happen in relays. Some athletes unearth a new level. Others crumble. Then there is spooky stuff, the changeover carnage or broken zones or lanes that get stepped on. One of those things happened here.
Becker got them off to a flying start, splitting a blazing 50.90 on the opening leg, just as sheâd done in the heats, and Ireland were a close fourth as Adeleke took the baton. The Dubliner channelled all the fury of her fourth-place finish a night earlier to split a blazing 48.92 and such was the speed with which she overtook Andrenette Knight that the Jamaican didnât see her coming, swinging the baton into Adelekeâs body and dropping it to the track. Ireland suddenly had one less medal contender to worry about.
Adeleke did what Adeleke does, hoisting them up to second, with Healy running the fastest split of her career, 50.94, to keep them there as Sharlene Mawdsley took the baton on her 26th birthday for the most important lap of a track she has ever run.
Her 49.14 split was the fastest of her life, by some distance, right when she, her teammates and her country needed it most. And yet, it wasnât enough. She had made every right move, allowing British star Amber Anning to swoop up to second and drafting, recharging for one big move in the home straight, knowing theyâd be battling for bronze given the irrepressible Femke Bol was about to blow past for silver.
Thatâs what happened, the US coasting to gold in 3:15.27, the Dutch second in 3:19.50, with Amber holding off Mawdsleyâs charge to take bronze in 3:19.72. âHonestly I donât have much words, it hurts so much,â said Mawdsley. âWe wanted that medal so bad and I feel that I fell short.â
Nothing could be further from the truth, but in those immediate, fraught moments, there was little point trying to tell Mawdsley that. The pain was far too raw.
Protocol usually has it that after a final, the medallists do a lap of honour and everyone else gets the hell out of dodge. The Irish didnât follow that. They lingered. They werenât going grabbing any flags or celebrating, just soaking up a moment that will be with them forever, a rare achievement that will be harshly written out of so many history books.
They walked around for several minutes, hugging and chatting with friends and family and some of the Irish fans whoâd come in their thousands to lend their support. They hadnât delivered a medal, the thing they so badly wanted. But theyâd given the superpowers of sprinting one hell of a scare, and given everyone else back home one hell of a ride.
Itâs just galling by any metric. I read that their time of 3.19.90 would have silver medalled in every olympics bar 1988. Hopefully their odyssey will continue on to the Worlds in Tokyo next year and can get that elusive medal.
Iâm not sure the feeling would be as bad if weâd finished a well beaten by 10m into a 4th place but for it to be a single stride is sickening. This monday morning is like the feeling you would have in the aftermath of losing an AI final to Kilkenny by conceding a goal with last puck of the game.