The countdown is on and the transition from Rio 2016 to Tokyo 2020 was marked by a gathering of Olympic Sailing hopefuls in Dublin this week.

With three years to run before the Tokyo Olympics, patience is the watchword as the line-up of Irish sailors in formation start their arduous journey of training and competition against a backdrop of Annalise Murphy’s silver medal success in Rio.

Families were treated as irritants rather than members of the wider Olympic family, writes Michael Clifford.

Michael Clifford says with the Brazilian ‘cast the net wide’ process and the limited Irish probe, it will be a while before we have answers.

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Day Seven of the Olympic Games produced even more history from an Irish point of view, with the medals table reached finally at the end of the opening week.

Here's a full recap on how Team Ireland got on yesterday in Rio.

Light and shifty conditions occasionally gusting fresh saw Ireland’s Annalise Murphy move into the silver position after four races in the early stages of the Olympic Games regatta at Rio yesterday.

Every four years, the eyes of the world are fixed on the five-ring Olympic circus. In my sport of sailing, the Games can be the culmination of four, eight or even 12 long years of hard competing.

Your one-stop guide to all the Olympic action featuring Irish athletes.

The expectations of Ireland’s sailors have been raised by Annalise Murphy’s fourth-place finish at the 2012 Olympics but the Irish Sailing Association’s performance director has described medal hopes at Rio next month as an outside shot.

Conor Phelan’s Jump Juice of the Royal Cork Yacht Club goes into action at Howth YC this afternoon as the eight event Irish Cruiser Racing Association National Championships gets underway.

Ireland’s fortunes could hardly have been more mixed in the two Laser single-handed classes on the opening day of the ISAF Sailing World Championships in Santander yesterday, as the hunt for a place at Rio 2016 heats up.

Just over a year after Dun Laoghaire’s Annalise Murphy spectacularly missed winning a medal at the London 2012 Olympics, she sailed in from her home waters to rapturous applause at the National Yacht Club as the new European champion for her Laser Radial class.

Irish boats are leading two of the three divisions at the Laser European Championships on Dublin Bay as the 330-boat event reaches the end of the qualification rounds this afternoon.

There was no doubting Annalise Murphy’s form yesterday as the National Yacht Club sailor clicked off two race wins in her qualification flight at the Laser European Championships on Dublin Bay.

Strangford Lough sailor Robbie Gilmore held his series long form at the ISA Youth Nationals on Lough Derg yesterday to win the Laser Radial class despite a late run from the defending champion.

An hour before Katie Taylor edged closer to an Olympic dream in the Excel Arena, another Irish woman’s medal hopes were blown out over 144 miles away.

Ireland’s Annalise Murphy made a dream start to her first Olympic regatta when she delivered a confident pair of race wins in the Laser Radial class, sailing in the brisk wind conditions which she prefers.

Carlow’s Finn Lynch delivered the best Irish result in the competition’s 41 years when he won silver at the Four Star Pizza ISAF Youth Sailing World Championships in Dublin Bay yesterday.

Irish crews had a promising day on Dublin Bay yesterday as the Four Star Pizza Youth World Sailing Championship entered its closing phase.

The 350 competitors in the Four Star Pizza Youth Sailing World Championships begin the final phase of the competition on Dublin Bay this afternoon as five races remain in the programme that concludes on Friday.

Yesterday’s forecast of strong and gusting winds on Dublin Bay came good for the 350 competitors in the Four Star Pizza Youth World Sailing Championships — just as racing ended for the day.

The Four Star Pizza ISAF Youth Sailing World Championship got off to a difficult start on Saturday and conditions were even tougher yesterday for the 350 crews of teenagers from 61 nations.

With few changes in Thursday’s overnight standings, Cork Week closed at Crosshaven last night after a spectacular 100-boat race off Roche’s Point and briefly around the inner harbour.

Patrick Crosbie and Grattan Roberts sealed their place in the Irish Sailing Association squad for this Summer’s ISAF Youth World Championships, sponsored by Four Star Pizza, after they placed best of the home fleet in the 420 class national championship at the weekend.

NICHOLAS O’LEARY (Royal Cork Yacht Club) has received the Irish Sailing Association’s prestigious Achievement of the Year Award.

THERE were few changes on the top of the leader-boards after the second day of the ISA Youth National and Junior Pathway Championship in Schull yesterday.