An eight-year-old schoolgirl is in class, looking out the window, miffed.

OLIVE LOUGHNANE, silver medallist in the 20k walk at the world championships in Berlin, was named Ireland’s ‘Athlete of the Year’ at an awards ceremony in the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Santry, on Saturday night.

IT is easy to forget that only two years ago, Olive Loughnane was the 12th fastest female race-walker in the world over 20k. But the statistic seemed to get lost in the hysteria after her team-mate and friend Gillian O’Sullivan claimed a world championship silver in Paris.

Ireland won the match, England won the Six Nations trophy - now all eyes