No regrets as Derval bows out with head held high

The fairytale ending may not have materialised but Derval O’Rourke had few regrets as she bade farewell to her third and final Olympic Games in London last night.

O’Rourke’s relationship with the global showpiece has been a fractured one with illness derailing her chances in Athens and poor form in Beijing four years ago.

Now 31, the sunny shores of Brazil in 2016 is a hurdle even she would struggle to negotiate.

On a cool English evening, one of Ireland’s most successful female sprinting talents equalled her season best with a 12.91 to finish 5th in her 100m semi-final. It left her 15th overall, some way off the stunning pace set by Australian Sally Pearson in 12.39.

But the Cork woman refused to beat herself up over the outcome.

“It would have been a nice fairytale ending to be in the final,” she admitted.

“The Olympics are the only major championship I feel I had some unfinished business with. But I still think I represented myself relatively well.”

And despite all she has achieved with glory at national and international level, the performances at the Games of 2004 and 2008 still grate and gnaw at her.

So in a sense these past few days have been about laying a few Olympic ghosts to rest.

She agreed: “Up to this point I would see the Olympic rings and it would fill me with nothing but negativity.

“Now I have really enjoyed this experience. I will definitely walk away and be relatively happy about the Olympics. I think on a different day I could have done more but I also think this is top class athletics. How many people year in, year out, make championship finals? Not a whole heap. So I have to be realistic and not too disappointed. I can’t see myself going to Rio (in 2016). And that is why I would like to have finished the Olympics on a personal best because it would be the only championship where I haven’t pb’d or run a national record. But I still have run two season bests so I can’t be too hard on myself.”

The former world indoor champion had a perfect start, bursting from the blocks but began to drift around halfway as hot favourite Pearson along with Jessica Zelinka took the automatic final spots with Lolo Jones sneaking through in 12.71 as one of two fastest losers.

O’Rourke had no complaints: “The middle hurdles were just not good enough. I needed to be stronger in the middle and I wasn’t and that is all really.”

“My start was good. They were so bad indoors that we worked quite hard on it. But then the middle went a little bit. I am actually sprinting way quicker on the flat so maybe I struggled to convert it a little bit to the hurdles. It is two seasons best in two days and I couldn’t run sub 13 three weeks ago so I have to be satisfied.”

She also insisted that the injury scare from the last month’s National Championships had not impacted on her level of performance. “We were just being cautious,” she said of the back spasm that caused her to withdraw from the event at Santry. “The nationals were on a Sunday and I was back running on the Tuesday so had Monday off, and that is not very much.”

O’Rourke’s Olympic career may be over but don’t be fooled into thinking her running spikes are set for the nearest bin.

“I want the European Indoors now; that is my immediate thought. I wish it was on tomorrow.”

And she was equally bullish about again facing those who were setting the track alight last night with some ‘seriously fast times’.

“For me that is a good thing, I relish in that I am not scared of anybody.”

Once again the home crowd displayed tremendous support for an Irish athlete, cheering O’Rourke when she appeared on the stadium’s giant screens.

“I think the Brits love the Irish. It is kind of nice to be out there,” she smiled looking towards the track. “I’d like to go back out there in an hour.”