Welcome to the first day of our Olympics coverage from London. The opening ceremony is over and now is when we get down to the serious business of competition. First up for Ireland are our Badminton duo, Scott Evans who has a tough start against the world and Olympic champion Lin Dan of China, and Chloe Magee who plays Beijing quarter-finalist, Pi Hongyan of France. Other highlights include Belfast's Lisa Kearney who is debuting at the Olympics in her quest for gold today in the judo; Kieran Behan's first foray into Olympic gymnastics and boxers, John Joe Nevin and Darren O'Neill.
And so the first official day of competition of the 2012 London Olympic Games is upon us. Why doesn't the Opening Ceremony start before any day of action? I don't know the answer to that and I think it's a shame for those who have had already gotten going. But that's a debate we can have as they day prgresses.
I am giddy with excitement. Sceitimíní is the word as gaeilge. The Greatest Show On Earth, with all due respect to the hurling championship, which is close.
The full list of Irish competing today is as follows (feel free to post any corrections)
The cycling road race kicks off at 10am, with the cousins, Nicolas Roche and Dan Martin, fresh (?) from the Tour de France, joined by 39-year-old David McCann in the green garb.
The eventing gets under way at 10am too, with dressage the first element. Three of the five-person team will be competing today: Michael Ryan and Ballylynch Adventure (10.32am), Aoife Clark on board Master Crusoe (12.54pm) and Joseph Murphy with Electric Cruise (4.04pm)
Lisa Kearney got a bye through to the last 16 of the 48kg weight category in judo. She will hit the mat at 11.01am.
We get a break for a few hours until the two best friends in Ireland's high performance boxing programme, John Joe Nevin (2.15pm) and Darren O'Neill (3.15pm) don the gloves. There's a lot of expectation on the Cubans of Europe.
Barry Murphy is swimming at 11.52am in the 100m breaststroke by the way. Barry has kept a very low profile, having qualified so long ago
But it's not going to drag me down!
Slow morning, not too many up yet obviously...
We're only minutes away now from the start of the cycling
The cycling has started to huge cheers
Mark Cavendish is the hot, hot favourite to win gold here and has a serious team backing him, led by Tour de France winner, Bradley Wiggins. Cav wasn't carrying out domestique duties for the craic of it you know. Payback today. Apart from the likes of TDF green jersey winner, Peter Sagan, most of the competitors will be trying to break this up and make sure it's not a bunch sprint
I've just realised the Irish kit is not green. It's white with a blue diagonal strip. Also blue shorts. And before you ask, I don't know why.
There will be a new Olympic champion this year, with the Beijing winner Samuel Sanchez having broken his collar bone at the Tour de France
Needless to say, it's quite enough early on in the road race. Cork's Michael Ryan will be in action pretty soon though
Greetings from Will Downing, I will be covering the swimming for you at this Olympic Games. That means the Aquatics Centre and Barry Murphy this morning at 11:50am-ish.
Have stopped off at the North Greenwich Arena to spy some gymnastics beforehand though. North Greenwich Arena? Never heard of it? It's the O2... previously known as the Millennium Dome. For some, the world is not enough...
Welcome Will, great to see the sun is out again after yesterday. Not that it will make any difference to you. Or indeed, me.
They are moving out of the city now, into Richmond Park... some riders taking the opportunity to, ummm, relieve themselves. We're only 25 minutes in guys!
Michael Ryan and Ballylynch Adventure have entered the ring, getting Ireland's eventing campaign under way in the dressage. Deep breath....
The dressage has traditionally been the weakest element of the three eventing disciplines for Irish riders, but they have worked very hard on it in recent years, as it is what has stopped us medalling in major championships.
Morning Daragh, at least someone else is up. It was 2:30am when we could finally get a train out of the Olympic Stadium last night.
Generous applause for Michael Ryan and Ballylynch Adventure... just awaiting the score...
60.2 for Ryan - we'll have to wait and see how it develops before we know where that stands but it won't have him among the leaders
There's a break in the cycling but no Irish involved... I haven't seen any of the three lads yet. More than 200km to go yet so no concern about the two-minute advantage the guys up front have.
It will be interesting to see the difference between this and the grand tours, as three-man teams cannot control a race
Quite sorry to hear about the betting scandal at the Olympics. What were the odds on that happening?
Swimming, archery and rowing are ongoing here. Michael Phelps won his heat of the 400 IM but was clearly saving energy. Always liked swimming. Michael Gross of Germany was a particular favourite. Rowing is brilliant too. These are hard, hard men and women. The pain they suffer is something I hope never, ever to experience....
There was nearly huge drama as Michael Phelps only just made the final of the 400m IM, in eighth.... very, very lucky. That would have been a disaster for him. He's clearly saving his energy but very nearly had one less race than expected.
Watching the BBC coverage here and Ian Thorpe is quite an interesting pundit - great insight for a sport that few are experts on.
It's interesting how Thorpe clearly could not stay away from the game. Left it very light to try to return though and is now apparently targeting Rio. To be fair, he knows his swimming and he read the Phelps situation brilliantly.
To be honest, Daragh, I reckon he's nuts to target Rio. He'll be 33 in a sport where competitors seem to reach their peak at a much younger age than in other sports.
I agree Alan, it shows how hard he's finding it to bed into ordinary life.
Anyway, Kieran Behan - THE best Irish story at the Games - is minutes away from taking to the floor
So there are various graded elements of difficulty in the floor and they are scored accordingly. The floor is one of Kieran Behan's strongest suits.
Lisa Kearney next up in the 48kg judo too, five or six minutes. She looks like she wouldn't hurt a fly. But she would. Here's Kieran!
Kieran Behan smiles but a couple of mistakes means he will be deducted points
13.966 for Kieran. You'll be talking 15.5 for medals. The disappointment is that Behan has done 15.2 and was hoping to make the Floor finals. He went for difficulty but didn't pull it off. For a man who was twice told that he'd never walk again though, it'll do for me.
Lisa Kearney was scheduled to take on Shugen Wu of China at 11.01am but isn't on the mat yet. Although she got a bye into the last 16, getting the Asian silver medallist means she faces a very stiff task to advance.
Wow, David McCann severed his thumb earlier this year! Got it sown back on though, which I'd imagine was a relief, and not just because it makes holding onto the handlebars easier.
They've gone through Bushey Park in the cycling. I played a lot of football in Bushy Park. Not the same place.
Lieuwe Vestra (Netherlands), Stuart O'Grady (Australia), Janez Brajkovic (Slovenia), Denis Menchov (Russia), Jurgen Roelandts (Belgium), Marco Pinotti (Italy), Jonathan Castroviejo (Spain), Samuel Sanchez (Spain), Fumiyuki Beppu (Japan), Alexander Kristoff (Norway), Timothy Duggan (USA) and Michael Schar (Switzerland). Their lead has now gone over six minutes. Pace seems to have picked up in the peleton although obviously the countries represented in the breakaway won't be helping the chase.
Friday, May 24, 2013
Welcome to the first day of our Olympics coverage from London. The opening ceremony is over and now is when we get down to the serious business of competition. First up for Ireland are our Badminton duo, Scott Evans who has a tough start against the world and Olympic champion Lin Dan of China, and Chloe Magee who plays Beijing quarter-finalist, Pi Hongyan of France. Other highlights include Belfast's Lisa Kearney who is debuting at the Olympics in her quest for gold today in the judo; Kieran Behan's first foray into Olympic gymnastics and boxers, John Joe Nevin and Darren O'Neill.
And so the first official day of competition of the 2012 London Olympic Games is upon us. Why doesn't the Opening Ceremony start before any day of action? I don't know the answer to that and I think it's a shame for those who have had already gotten going. But that's a debate we can have as they day prgresses.
