Enda McEvoy: Why did it take us so long to get good at Games? 

But here’s a question there’s no harm in posing amid the loud cheers and tobacco spits. How did it take us this long to get good at the Olympics? And here’s another. Why did it take us this long?

GETTING THERE: Ireland’s Rhasidat Adeleke on her way to finishing fourth. Pic: Morgan Treacy, Inpho

Rhasidat Adeleke takes her mark and once more a nation holds its breath, as it has several times over the past fortnight. And she’s got this far, which is good, but she’s playing senior hurling now.

There’s Natalia Kaczmarek, the fastest in the field this year. There’s Marileidy Paulino, the world champion and so impressive in her semi-final. There’s Salwa Eid Naser, back from a two-year suspension following what Greg Allen terms a “whereabouts failure”. Here’s a dark horse who’s no longer a dark horse, even if that ban inevitably prompts one to wonder what kind of oats she may have been eating.