Ireland's golden future

HAS Irish athletics taken a dramatic turn for the better? That was the question on everyone's mind - if not lips - in the Spanish capital yesterday as the ramifications of Saturday's golden track double begin to sink in.

Few will forget the Palacio de Deportes Comunidad de Madrid when David Gillick swept to victory in the men's 400m final at the European indoor championships. While he was being presented with his gold medal, Alistair Cragg, draped in the Tricolour, was doing his lap of honour after a runaway victory in the 3,000m final. There have been double gold medal performances at major championships in the past - Marcus O'Sullivan and Frank O'Mara did it at the world indoor championships in Indianapolis in 1987 and Sonia O'Sullivan did it back to back at the world cross-country championships in Marrakech and the European track and field championships in Budapest in 1998.

But never before was there such a raid on the bullion on the same day, and the fans who travelled enjoyed it as much as the athletes themselves.