Team Ireland at Paris Olympics, Day 4: As it happened
OLYMPIC CHAMPION: Ireland’s Daniel Wiffen celebrates winning a gold medal in the 800m freestyle at the Olympic Games. Picture: ©INPHO/Morgan Treacy
Daniel Wiffen has won Ireland’s first gold medal of the 2024 Paris Games with a perfectly-executed Olympic record time of a swim in the final of the men’s 800m freestyle on Tuesday evening.
The Magheralin man was third through the opening 200, moved up to second for the next quarter and took the lead for the halfway mark ahead of the USA’s Bobby Finke and Gregorio Paltrinieri of Italy.
He held it for four lengths of the 50m pool before Paltrinieri made his move, the man from Modena at one point having 0.78 seconds on one of Ireland’s great hopes for these Olympics, but Wiffen timed his closing 100m to absolute perfection.
He had 0.56 to spare in the end, not on the Italian who faded to third, but on Finke.
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The Armagh man came into this race as the reigning world champion, and as the fastest swimmer across two heats of eight on the Monday, and he was full of confidence that he could claim the top step while insisting any of the three would be reason to cheer.
Wiffen had spoken of his desire to win gold and break world records from a long way out. His twin brother Nathan, an international swimmer at this event in his own right, had reflected that preternatural expectation in the hours beforehand.
“I don’t think it’s going to be a race but, who knows, we’ll see, anything can happen,” said Nathan.
It was a race, at least to the naked eye, but maybe the Wiffens would say different.
The Irish Examiner's Maurice Brosnan was in attendance at Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry's press conference ahead of the Olympic golf tournament teeing off on Thursday.
Asked if the rough was as thick at Le Golf National this week as it was for the 2018 Ryder Cup, Rory McIlroy replied: “Ask the Americans. I wasn't in it much that week.” Read the full piece.
Daniel Wiffen's twin brother Nathan, himself a top class swimmer, is predicting his sibling will win gold for Ireland in the 800m freestyle at the Olympic Games on Tuesday evening. He spoke to Brendan O'Brien in Paris.
The Irish women's sevens team lost 28-12 to Great Britain in the 7th/8th place playoff.
Down in Marseille, Robert Dickson and Sean Waddilove are holding second place in the men's skiff. Spain lead while New Zealand are in third. There are three more races on Wednesday. The top 10 qualify for Thursday's medal race.
Michaela Corcoran missed out on the canoe slalom semi-final after finishing 21st overall in the heats. The top 18 progressed.
Kildare's Noel Hendrick has reached the semi-finals of the men's K1 in the canoe slalom. His second run of 90.68 was good enough for 19th place, qualifying him as one of the top 20. The top 12 from the semi-final will progress to the final.
There was disappointment for Rachael Darragh in her Olympic badminton debut. She lost 21-13, 22-24, 15-21 to Switzerland's Jenjira Stadelmaan.
The Irish women's sevens team suffered a 19-7 defeat to France in the 5th - 8th place semi-final. They will play Great Britain at 5pm to decide which teams finish 7th and 8th.
In Equestrian, Abigail Lyle made her Olympic debut in the dressage individual Grand Prix on board Giraldo, at the Palace of Versailles. She scored ba 69.441% but unfortunately it was not enough to progress as one of the 18 to make the final.
The Irish men's hockey team lost 2-0 to India. It is their third defeat of the group stage, having previously lost to Australia and Belgium.
Ashbourne's Jenny Lehane has been eliminated from the 54kg class in the boxing ring after a convincing loss to China’s more experienced Yuan Chang at the Arena Paris Nord.
Chang is a vastly experienced operator who was winning gold at Youth Olympic level in 2014, five years before Lehane turned to boxing from taekwondo. The Chinese eighth seed actually made the same crossover but at a much earlier age.
A Tokyo Olympian, and a medallist at Asian Games level, she won all three rounds on all five judging cards. Lehane is the fourth Irish fighter to be eliminated in their first bout here with Kellie Harrington and Jack Marley the only two to progress so far.
Four more Irish fighters have still to take to the ring.
“Do you know, when we came here I honestly thought that she would get a medal and I’m so delighted for her that she did,” said her father. “She worked so hard for so many years so to get a medal is very special, for everybody.”
Brendan O'Brien caught up with the McSharry family after last night's drama in the pool.
Emily Hegarty, Natalie Long, Eimear Lambe and Imogen came up short of qualification for the A final, finishing fourth in their repechage in 6:38.10 with China taking victory in 6:32.48 and the US second in 6:33.60.
Philip Doyle and Daire Lynch turned in a statement performance in their semi-finals of the men’s double sculls at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium in Paris this morning, powering to victory and marking themselves out as huge medal contenders.
There was no joy for Zoe Hyde and Alison Bergin in the women’s double sculls semi-final, the duo coming up four seconds short of a place in the A final, finishing fifth in 6:55.08. The race was won by New Zealand in 6:49.49, with Hyde and Bergin now slated for the B final on Thursday morning. Cathal Dennehy
Get the feet up. Here's your plan for the day.
9.50am Rowing, Women’s Double Sculls (W2-) semi-final 1 of 2, Zoe Hyde & Alison Bergin
10.20am Rowing, Men’s Double Sculls (M2x) semi-final 2 of 2, Philip Doyle & Daire Lynch
10.30am Rowing, Women’s Four (W4-) repechage 1 of 2, Emily Hegarty, Natalie Long, Eimear Lambe & Imogen Magner
11.36am Boxing, Women’s 54kg, Round of 16, Jenny Lehane V Yuan Chang (CHN)
12.15pm Men’s Hockey, Men’s Pool B, Ireland V India
1.38pm Equestrian, Individual Dressage Grand Prix qualifier, Abigail Lyle
2.00pm Canoe Slalom, Women’s C1 1st run, Michaela Corcoran
2.00pm Women's Rugby Sevens: Ireland v France
3.00pm Canoe Slalom, Men’s K1 1st run, Noel Hendrick 3.35pm Sailing, Men’s Skiff, Race 7, Robert Dickson and Seán Waddilove
4.10pm Canoe Slalom, Women’s C1 2nd run, Michaela Corcoran
4.27pm Sailing, Men’s Skiff, Race 8, Robert Dickson and Seán Waddilove
4.30pm or later Badminton, Women’s Singles, Rachael Darragh V Jenjira Stadelmann (SUI)
5.10pm Canoe Slalom, Men’s K1 2nd run, Noel Hendrick
5.19pm Sailing, Men’s Skiff, Race 9, Robert Dickson and Seán Waddilove
8.02pm Swimming, Men’s 800m Freestyle final, Daniel Wiffen
Cathal Dennehy and Maurice Brosnan dialled in earlier for this chat about yesterday's events and to preview Tuesday.
Mona McSharry got Ireland on the board last night with a superb performance in the pool.
Brendan O'Brien was there and captured these scenes of the McSharry family celebrating afterwards:
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