Mark Rohan shut his eyes tightly and exhaled the deepest of breaths as the first bars of Amhrán na bhFiann swept through the home straight in Brands Hatch and the tricolour was raised in his honour for the second time in three days.

IRELAND’S Jason Smyth was yesterday crowned the ‘Usain Bolt’ of the Paralympic Games in Beijing.

SPRINTER Jason Smyth broke his own world record when qualifying for the 200m final at the Paralympics yesterday.

Irish sprinter Jason Smyth ran a new Paralympic world record time of 10.81sec in qualifying for tonight's final of the T13 100m (Visually Impaired category) in Beijing's Bird's Nest Stadium his morning.