Robert Heffernan is in line to win a retrospective bronze medal in the 20km race walk from the 2010 European Championships in Barcelona after Russian Stanislav Emelyanov was found to have committed an anti-doping violation.

Irish track and field athlete David Gillick has announced his retirement, aged 31

Colin Griffin has no regrets about taking a step back from his athletics career last month. But now he hopes the sport can take a giant leap forward in how it deals with elite competitors.

Olympic walker Colin Griffin believes Irish athletes need some kind of representative body similar to the GPA (Gaelic Players’ Association).

Coaches and teachers who have helped Rob Heffernan since he was a boy paid tribute to an athlete who started out in Togher and went all the way to the top of the world.

Robert Heffernan’s medal chances have been significantly enhanced with the withdrawal of Russian Olympic champion Sergey Kirdyapkin for this morning’s 50km race walk at the World Championships in Moscow and double 50km Olympian Colin Griffin believes the Corkman is on course for a treasured medal.

Two-time Olympic race-walker Colin Griffin believes a lack of, or inappropriate use of funding from the Irish Sports Council and Athletics Ireland, subsequently, is a contributory factor in athletes deciding to retire prematurely.

Olive Loughnane and Robert Heffernan can today lift spirits towards the end of what has been a poor games for Irish athletes.

Jason Smyth’s attempts to become the first individual athlete to compete in the Olympic and Paralympic games came to an end in Santry Stadium today, but it was the extent of a possible injury to Derval O'Rourke that occupied Team Ireland's minds.

‘Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan “press on” has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.’

Maria McCambridge will not appeal the decision which yesterday destroyed her Olympic marathon dream.

The Athletics Ireland Selection Committee has today announced its Olympic selections in the marathon and race-walking events.

Colin Griffin has boosted the Irish track and field team for the Olympic Games to 18 after sailing past the Olympic A standard to qualify for the 50k race walking at London 2012.

Colin Griffin achieved the 50k standard for the Olympic Games at the IAAF World Cup of Race Walking in Saransk, Russia over the weekend.

THE Irish Sports Council last night insisted the country “does not have a particular problem with doping” in the wake of the latest drugs scandal to hit athletics.

ALREADY qualified for the 20k walk at next year’s Olympic Games, Robert Heffernan can fight for a medal on two fronts after posting his qualifying standard for the 50k walk at Naumburg.

RACEWALKERS Robert Heffernan and Brendan Boyce qualified for the 50km final at the London Olympics following tremendous displays at Namburg, Germany on Saturday.

ROBERT HEFFERNAN bids to secure the Olympic 50km walk qualification time in Naumburg, Germany this weekend.

CIARAN Ó LIONAIRD can’t wait to get his preparations for next year’s Olympic Games underway and, after his Daegu odyssey, he can plan for the future with world-class funding from the Irish Sports Council.

Deirdre Ryan hailed a “dream” World Championships after finishing an impressive sixth in the high jump final in Daegu today.

REGARDLESS of the outcome of today’s 1,500m final at the World Championships in Daegu, Ciarán Ó Lionaird’s coach is convinced the 23 year-old Cork man has huge medal potential.

CIARAN Ó LIONAIRD took another giant step forward in his fragmented athletics career yesterday when he finished sixth in his semi-final of the men’s 1,500m at the world championships in Daegu to qualify for tomorrow’s final.

OLIVE LOUGHNANE (Loughrea AC), silver medallist in the women’s 20k walk in Berlin two years ago, will lead the Irish team into the World Championships in Daegu, Korea, at the end of the month.

OLIVE LOUGHNANE expressed satisfaction with preparations for the World Championships in South Korea after covering the 3,000m walk in 12:52.85 — 15 seconds faster than last year.

Francisco ‘Paco’ Javier Fernandez, a multi-medallist at Olympic, World and European level, led home the field in the 3km walk at today's Cork City Sports meeting.

WORLD SILVER medallist, Olive Loughnane, faces her first big assignment of the year when she lines up for the European Cup Race Walking in Olhão on the Algarve on Saturday.

ROBERT HEFFERNAN got 2011 off to a record breaking start on his home turf when he smashed the national 30k walk record with a sizzling 2:07.48 in the Woodies DIY national walk championships around the Monahan Road/Centre Park Road circuit in Cork yesterday.

ROBERT HEFFERNAN entered a new realm at the European Championships last year when he followed up his fourth place in the 20k walk with fourth in the 50k walk, putting himself amongst the medal favourites for next year’s Olympic Games in the process.

ROBERT HEFFERNAN is a warrior and a fighter and he will win a medal at the Olympic Games in London 2012, according to his coach, Ivonne Cassin.

David Gillick's attempt to win Ireland's first medal at the European Championships ended in disappointment tonight as he finished fifth in the 400m final.

Rob Heffernan showed remarkable strength to finish in fourth place in this morning's 50km walk at the European Championships, just three days after claiming fourth in the 20km walk.

Ireland’s Robert Heffernan today set a new national record as he finished fourth for the second time in four days in the European Championships in Barcelona.

IRISH team manager Patsy McGonagle believes David Gillick is ready to win his first European outdoor medal in this evening’s 400m final at the Olympic Stadium in Barcelona.

UNTIL last weekend, Robert Heffernan held every race walking record up to 50k. But along came his old training partner, Jamie Costin, who smashed his 3,000m time before his home fans at Cork City Sports.

CLAIRE BRADY (Celbridge) will be back in action on Irish soil on Sunday when she lines up for the 100m at the Woodies DIY AAI Games, which return to Castleisland after a 10-year absence. The Games will include senior relays as well as Paralympic events and a Masters 3km team event.

PAUL HESSION will open what he has described as his “big year” in an unusual setting for a sprinter when he lines up for the 100m at the Great City Games on a specially laid track on the streets of Manchester’s Deansgate on Sunday week.

PAUL HESSION (Athenry) got exactly what he wanted in the form of a smart 6.75 second victory in the 60m final at the Woodies DIY Indoor Championships of Ireland at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast yesterday.

PATSY McGONAGLE will lead the Irish track and field team into the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

DAVID GILLICK emerged from the old Olympic Stadium in Berlin last night with his head held high, after finishing sixth in the final of the men’s 400m.

Irish athlete David Gillick has finished sixth in the final of the 400 Metres at the World Championships tonight.

Ireland’s 50k race walkers Jamie Costin and Colin Griffin were unable to finish the 50k race walk final at the World Championships this morning.

JIM KIDD, David Gillick’s former coach at Dundrum/South Dublin, predicts he will break the Irish record in the final of the men’s 400m at the world championships in Berlin this evening (8.20 pm Irish time).

Alistair Cragg was unable to relive past glories and secure a place in the Final of the 5,000m at the World Championships in Berlin tonight.

THOMAS CHAMNEY is named on the Irish team in both the 800m and 1,500m for the world athletics championships in Berlin, ruling out arch rival David Campbell, who had been hoping for the 800m berth.