Rhasidat Adeleke back in action at Paris Olympics - Team Ireland Day 12 updates
Rhasidat Adeleke of Team Ireland, left, in action against Salwa Eid Naser of Team Bahrain. Pic: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile
Rhasidat Adeleke finished second in her 400m semi-final at the Stade de France in Paris on Wednesday evening, the 21-year-old Dubliner clocking 49.95 behind 2019 world champion Salwa Eid Naser of Bahrain (49.08).
Drawn in lane eight, Adeleke got off to a strong start, just as she did in her heat, and was swiftly closing down the stagger on Jamaica’s Junelle Bromfield in the lane outside her.
She passed Bromfield down the back straight and hit the final bend in close contention with Naser, but was no match for the 2019 world champion down the home straight and tied up over the last 50m.
By finishing second, Adeleke secured one of two automatic spots in Friday’s final, with Norway’s Henriette Jaeger third in 50.17.
Adeleke becomes the first Irish athlete ever to make an Olympic final in a flat sprint event, and the first Irishwoman ever to reach an Olympic sprint final. The final takes place at 7pm Irish time on Friday.
Jack Woolley’s Olympic medal hopes are over – for 2024 – after the Tallaght man lost a brilliantly entertaining and savagely close repechage match to Spain’s Adrian Vicente Yunta at the Grand Palais in the centre of the French capital.
Just like Stephanie Meadow, Leona Maguire finished +6 for her opening round at Le Golf National.
Magomedov reaching the final means Jack Woolley, who had to wait hours in purgatory waiting for events to unfold, now faces Adrian Vicente Yunta in his next fight. Win that and he would be fighting for a bronze medal and with the possibility that Tunisia’s top seed could be his opponent there.
It’s still a daunting path for the Tallaght man and maybe the hardest part of it will be in wrapping his head around his second chance as his demeanour and his words after the initial defeat suggested a man all but resigned to his fate.
Brendan O'Brien reports from Paris.
Ireland's Jack Woolley is through to through the 58kg Taekwando repechage after the man who defeated him this morning, Gashim Magomeov of Azerbaijan, reached the final. Magomedov just beat Italy's Vito Dell'Aquila, the reigning Olympic champion, 2-0 in their semi-final. Woolley will fight Spain's Adrian Vicente Yunta at 7:06pm Irish time.
Finn Lynch finished eighth in the men's dinghy medal race and 10th overall.
Leona Maguire is now +6 thru 13.
The men's dinghy medal race, which was abandoned earlier, is about to get underway.
Though he lost his round of 16 contest this morning to Gashim Magomedov, Woolley will enter the repechage if the Azerbaijani reaches tonight's final. Magomedov just won his quarter-final against number two seed Adrian Vicente Yunta of Spain.
Leona Maguire is now +7 thru ten holes at Le Golf National.
The men's dinghy medal race has been abandoned.
The medal race is about to get underway in the men's dinghy. Ireland's Finn Lynch is competing. There's no chance of a medal for Lynch as the highest he can finish is eighth.
Ireland's chances of a medal in the women's golf tournament are already looking unlikely. Stephanie Meadow finished +6 for the first round while Leona Maguire is +3 thru seven. American Lilia Vu leads on +4.
“There are no more mountains, that is it. I’m done now. The next chapter is going to be my life chapter. It is for me and Mandy now to do what we’re doing.
“Who knows what that’s going to be? But I can’t wait to just live my life, not that I’m not living my life, that is like, ‘What are you talking about?’
“But to not be looking at the scales every morning and all boxers are the same: to be able to train the way we want to train, because everything is like, ‘You can’t do that because you might get injured.’
"Or, ‘You can’t do that because you’ve training tomorrow, and if you do that you’ll be tired tomorrow and you won’t have anything to be able to spar.’ "I want to just do whatever type of training I want to do. Stuff like that, so no more mountains.”
Read more from Kellie Harrington.
“I don’t think anybody comes to the Olympics to not get a medal. I’m obviously very devastated but if you’d told me six months ago that I’d be here in the first place I’d laugh at you.
“To go out against an opponent who I know is really tough because we’ve fought each other… That’s the third time now. It was 1-1 going into that and unfortunately today it didn’t go according to plan.
“The fact that he is a good opponent is good for me because if he makes it to the final I can get back in and go for a bronze medal but that’s out of my hands now. I don’t want to dwell on that too much. I’ll be ready to go back into the ring when I have to.”
Read more from Jack Woolley.
“Thank God I was asleep for that because I would’ve been in bits before I went to sleep, bawling crying – it would’ve been the worst prep ever,” she said.
“It’s so special. Those seven medals are incredible and so well deserved. As well as being amazing athletes, they are such good people. It’s such an honour and a privilege to be on the same team as them.”
Read more from Sarah Lavin and Mark English.
"I didn't feel like myself out there. I just didn't feel right. Something's not right. The last few rounds, it didn't feel like me out there. It's really frustrating."
"I really thought I could make it there. I didn't have the extra gear."
Sarah Healy also misses out by one place in the 1500m repechage.
So close for Sophie O'Sullivan. She finishes fourth in the first repechage heat, one place outside the qualifying spots.
Sophie O'Sullivan is up in the first 1500m repechage heat. The top three progress to the semi-final.
Sophie O'Sullivan and Sarah Healy are up soon in the 1500m repechage.
"I knew I had to be in contention and thankfully the tactic paid off. It's about producing my best in the semi-final now."
Woolley would go into the repechage if Magomedov progresses to the final.
Magomedov takes the second round. It's victory for the Azerbaijani.
Magomedov takes the first round 7-4.
Jack Woolley fights shortly in his 58kg round of 16 taekwando contest against Azerbaijan's Gashim Magomedov. Jack is seeded number seven while teh Azerbaijani is seeded ten.
Super run by the Donegal man. He finished second in the heat running 1:45.15 behind France's Gabrial Tual who won in 1:45.13.
Mark English is going now in the second heat of the 800m. Only the top three from each heat qualify for the semi-finals. Everyone else goes in to the repechage.
Brian Fay finishes 13th in the second heat of the 5000m. Only the top eight from each of the heats progressed to the final.
Last night's Olympic final between Kellie Harrington and Yang Wenlu had a peak audience of 1.37m, an 83% share of those watch TV at the time. There were also 369k streams on the RTÉ Player.
Brian Fay is up shortly in the second heat of the 5000m.
"That's a really scary round. I definitely need to be more aggressive in the next round. The next one is the most difficult. You need to be clean but go for it. The brave will be rewarded."
Sarah Lavin finishes second in her 100m hurdles heat. She has qualified automatically for the semi-final. The Limerick sprinter finished behind Jamaica's Danielle Williams and ahead of Switzerland's Ditaji Kambundji. The top three from each heat, along with the next three fastest, automatically progressed.
Stephanie Meadow is now +3 thru five.
The familiarisation session for the marathon swim went ahead on Wednesday morning. A session scheduled for Tuesday was cancelled due to concerns about water quality in the River Seine. Ireland's Daniel Wiffen is set to swim in the event on Friday morning.
Brendan O'Brien, Maurice Brosnan and Cathal Dennehy celebrate the monumental achievement of Kellie Harrington in retaining her Olympic gold medal, reflect on one of the greatest ever 1500m finals, and preview Rhasidat Adeleke's 400m semi-final.
You can listen here.
Ireland's Stephanie Meadow is one-over thru three holes at Le Golf National.
Golf, Women’s Individual, Round 1, Stephanie Meadow
Athletics, Women’s 100m Hurdles, heat 4/5, Sarah Lavin
Athletics, Men’s 5000m, heat2/2, Brian Fay
Taekwondo, Men’s 58kg, Last 16, Jack Woolley V Gashim Magomedov (AZE)
Athletics, Men’s 800m, heat 2/6, Mark English
Athletics, Women’s 1500m, Repechage 1/2, Sophie O’Sullivan
Athletics, Women’s 1500m, Repechage 2/2, Sarah Healy
Sailing, Men’s Dinghy, Finn Lynch – Rescheduled Medal Race
Golf, Women’s Individual, Round 1, Leona Maguire
Taekwondo, Men’s 58kg, Quarter-final, Jack Woolley *dependent on progression
Taekwondo, Men’s 58kg, Semi-final, Jack Woolley *dependent on progression
Athletics, Women’s 400m, semi-final 1/3, Rhasidat Adeleke
Taekwondo, Men’s 58kg, Gold Medal contest, Jack Wooley *dependent on progression
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