Heats back on for Ó Lionáird
The race will answer a lot of questions for the Corkman who, just a few months ago, decided to forget about London 2012 and rebuild for the future with the Olympics in Rio in 2016 as the target.
He had a big foundation to build on. A sensational personal best of 3:34.46 in Belgium last year qualified him for the Olympics and making the final of the 1500m at the World Championships in Daegu was a monumental step up.
He had entered the London 2012 picture as a possible finalist before it all came apart at the World Indoor Championships in Istanbul in March of this year.
On the back of a 3:57.76 indoor mile, he also brought a legacy of a tough indoor season in the US — in the form of a damaged Achilles tendon — and failed to make the final.
“It progressed a lot quicker and after the first couple of races,” he said. “I raced decently well. I started to go downhill. It came to a head at the world indoors where I could not race at all and I performed really poorly.
“I took April and May off just trying to rest the Achilles and do the rehab stuff but it was not progressing. At that point I said the Olympics is off the radar. I put it out of my mind. I tried to get away from everything. I just said I need to get healthy and get back to running consistently and working out consistently and doing the rehab work I’d been given.
“We’ll concentrate on getting healthy and if it comes along it comes along. We started with the basics and built from the bottom up. We gave respect to the injury and then I found myself in a good spot before I came to Europe at the end of July. We decided we were going to give racing a shot.
“Then we went back to Ireland and got some scans done at the Irish Institute of Sport and we got a programme that included a lot of strengthening exercises for my other muscles.
“Soon I could run faster than a seven-minute mile in training without a lot of pain and things kept progressing doing 400s at 64 pace. That’s five weeks ago now.”
He returned to racing at Cork City Sports where he ran 3:57 behind Ryan Gregson and followed it with another 3:57 in the Morton Mile at Santry. While he felt comfortable, it took him time to get back in the racing mode.
“I had been doing everything solo and now racing was a new experience. I was comfortable but my positioning was poor and that’s why those races were so important.”
When he looks around him on the start line tonight he will feel comfortable among some familiar faces, including New Zealand’s Nick Willis, who ended up with the silver medal after Beijing when the winner was disqualified for doping.
Willis is a former college team mate of Ó Lionáird and after challenging him at Cork City Sports last year he finished in front of the New Zealander in the heats and final at the World Championships last year.
In London, Ó Lionáird just wants to get out of the first round — top six and six fastest losers go through — and then see what happens.
Fionnuala Britton made her Olympic debut in Beijing four years ago when she went out in the heats of the women’s 3,000m steeplechase but tonight she will appear in her first Olympic final when she lines up for the 10,000m.
Since last December she has been in spectacular form, winning the European cross country title and most of the major cross country races and following up with some fine performances on the track.
According to her coach, Chris Jones, she was out of sorts at the European Championships in Helsinki having been on an antibiotic beforehand, but he feels she is back to her best form again, confirming she will double up at 5,000m over the coming week.
Expect defending Olympic champion Tirunesh Dibaba and world champion Vivian Cheruiyot to fight it out tonight.
Joanne Cuddihy will be first Irish athlete in action at the Olympic Stadium when she lines up for the first heat of the women’s 400m (noon) with the first three and three fastest losers to go through. The Irish record holder went to Beijing with an injury but has returned this time stronger than ever, enjoying early-season wins in Australia and Japan.
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