Harry McNulty: The Irish crowd in Paris, Keenan’s return, a nine-year odyssey

'He is a total professional. His attitude to the whole thing was that he wanted to learn, wanted to get stuck in and give everything that he could to the programme.'

NO FUNNY BUSINESS: The Ireland Men's Rugby Sevens Squad, back row, from left, Jordan Conroy, Billy Dardis, Bryan Mollen, Chay Mullins, Zac Ward, Terry Kennedy and Mark Roche, with, front row, from left, Gavin Mullin, Andrew Smith, Hugo Lennox, Harry McNulty, Hugo Keenan, Niall Comerford and Sean Cribbin. Pic: Ramsey Cardy/ Sportsfile

By the start of July, there was 60,000 Olympic Games tickets sold to Ireland. That is the biggest variation from Tokyo. The official Paris slogan drives that point home: Ouvrons Grand les Jeux. Games wide open.

It starts with the Ireland men’s rugby sevens team who kick off their medal hunt on Wednesday with Pool A games against South Africa and Japan.