Silver lining for Egan as the Olympics come to an end

The symbolic handover of the Olympic flag to London took place during a celebratory closing ceremony in Beijing. The Beijing Olympics began as they finished, in a spectacular fusion of colour, light, fireworks, music, dance and technology.

But earlier in the day, there were still some medals to be decided and Irish eyes were focused on Kenny Egan who fought Xiaoping Zhang in the light heavyweight division. In his heart of hearts Egan believed he should be Olympic champion but there was no golden ending as he had to settle for silver. The eight time Irish national champion put up a brave effort but some controversial judging made it very difficult for the 26-year-old, and he never got back on terms after going behind early.

Zhang took a two point lead in the first round as Egan struggled to make an impact. The next round was level, but whenever the Irishman got a point back, Zhang quickly responded. In round three there was jeering in the Workers Gymnasium as some of Egan's apparently clean shots were not given by the judges, while most of the punches Zhang threw were scored with some of the Clondalkin fighter's shots looking certain points. Zhang's tactics were spot on however, as he counter punched well, but without much force which made the final score so unreal. It ended 11-7 and Egan collapsed to the ground inconsolably when the fight was over although the medal ceremony soon after was some consolation.

Afterwards Egan said: 'The score's the score and I still get a medal. The whole games have been great and a silver is still brilliant. Over the past two weeks I don't think anyone has appreciated how hard it's been. Shoulder slaps get scored, All I could do was get in there and box.'

Despite the end result, Egan did himself and Ireland proud and has a big decision to make with regard to becoming a professional or staying amateur, no matter what his future looks bright.

Even earlier in the morning, Martin Fagan dropped out of the

Men's Marathon in Beijing early this morning. Fagan pulled out just before the 35km mark. The event was won by Kenya's Samuel Wanjiru in a time of 2 hours, 6 minutes, and 32 seconds, a new Olympic record. The difficult conditions proved to be too much for Fagan and many others who pulled out over the course of the race, this puts the winner Wanjiru's victory in the war of attrition into perspective.

Overview

The last two weeks have really flown by and all in all, I think that it has been a successful games for Ireland in a fortnight which has seen the most remarkable performances by the likes of Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt to name a couple. Despite some disappointments, there has been some brilliant performances by the Irish, with some athletes punching above their weight and over performing, which is what you want to see at the Olympics.

This is not the end of this blog, over the next few days I will be highlighting some of the best and worst performances from the Irish and the rest of the World at these Olympics.

Bad day today but the final day could bring gold at last

The penultimate day of the 2008 Olympics was not a good one for Ireland as coincidentally both competitors dropped out during their events.

Robin Seymour was in the Men's mountain biking and although he was not considered to be a medal threat he failed to even finish the race. Seymour dropped out on lap two France's Julien Absalon took his mountain bike status to new heights when he became the first rider to defend the men's Olympic cross country title.

At the Birds Nest Alistair Cragg couldn't finish the final of the 5000m because of injury. Cragg began the race near the head of affairs but after a couple of slow laps, struggled to cope with the stiff pace set by Bekele, who dictated the final virtually from the gun. Cragg said "If I could have physically finished the whole race, I would have. I was hurt the whole way," he said afterwards."My hip got tighter and tighter and I was running like a crab." Kenenisa Bekele matched the feats of the great Miruts Yifter in 1980 and his countrywoman Tirunesh Dibaba at this Olympics by adding the 5,000 metres to the 10,000 metre crown he won six days ago.

Whats on Tomorrow?

Tomorrow is the final day and Ireland has only two athletes left and one is on the verge of creating history.

First up is Martin Fagan in the men's marathon on Sunday morning, the marathon begins at half past midnight tonight Irish time. Fagan has no realistic chance of a medal but he will have his personal goals in mind.


Ken Egan's gold medal fight in the Light-Heavyweight division is scheduled for 8.50am. Egan was the only Irishman to emerge from the bronze medal fights last Friday. Irish champion for eight years running, the 26-year-old will look to seal his place as one of the most successful Irish boxers ever. He defeated Great Britain's Tony Jefferies by a score of 10-3 in the semi-final and now faces Xiaoping Zhang. Egan will have to face a boisterous home support, the Chinese boxers have been passionately supported in their matches so far. Zhang won his semi-final on a count back.
Egan has a great chance but may be fighting handicapped against the Chinese, it may depend on a previous fight where another Chinese fighter is going for gold, if China don't get a gold in that fight the chances of a gold for China in Egan's fight will increase, if you know what I mean.

Tomorrow also sees the climax of the Men's Basketball and Handball events. The finals of the two most exciting team sports at these games are not to be missed and in particular, the US basketball team who have been exceptional as I expected and I can't see anything changing as they are so close to the gold that the have worked so hard for, not to say that Spain have not but there is no way Spain will win, they may get close but the US are too good and want it too much.

Mixed fortunes for the Irish today

The day started early for the Irish as Jamie Costin and Colin Griffin as they participated in the 50k walk, the longest event in the track and field program. Colin Griffin was disqualified early in the race, he was forced to stop at the 20 kilometre mark. Jamie Costin finished 44th in a time of 4 hours, 15 minutes, 16 seconds in very difficult conditions at 35 degrees and high humidity. Gold went to Italy's Alex Schwazer.

Middleweight Darren Sutherland was the first of the Irish boxers into the ring. He had beaten Britain’s James Degale in four of their five previous meetings but not today. DeGale had got his slap and run tactics spot on, using his long arms to effect. It wasn't boxing but it worked and afterwards Sutherland, who will now turn professional, was not too despondent and was delighted to have won a medal.

Next up was Light flyweight Paddy Barnes lost to Shiming Zou of China 15-0, the score did not reflect Barnes' performance as he should have gotten a few points at least but was outclassed by the Chinese who is considered to be one of the best pound for pound fighters in the world.

There was finally some good news for the Irish when Light heavyweight Ken Egan beat Great Britain's Tony Jeffries by 10-3 and progresses to the Olympic Final. Egan led from the front as he reached Sunday's final, comfortably beating Jeffries to guarantee himself at least a silver medal. Egan took the lead after a scrappy first round and the result never looked in doubt afterwards. He’ll take on China’s Zhang Xiaoping at the Workers Stadium, the decider scheduled for 8.50am Irish time.

Irish in action tomorrow

There will be two Irish athletes in action tomorrow.

At 08:00 Robin Seymour competes in the Mountain Bike cycling event. Seymour is not expected to be in contention for medals as he is ranked 97 in the world so a well placed finish will be the aim.

Alastair Cragg competes in the 5000 metres final at 13:10 tomorrow. Cragg was the sixth fastest qualifier but as he was in the first heat, he thought that his time was not quick enough but as it turned out, his time was faster than any of the other two heat winners. A medal is not likely but if the race is run to his liking, a top ten finish is a possibility.

Brilliant performace by Olive but is marred by doping scandal

Ireland woke up to shock news this morning as four horses were banned from competing in the Olympic jumping competition for doping, the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) announced on Thursday. Denis Lynch's mount Latinus is one of those banned. Lynch was considered to be a real contender for a medal, he and his mount Latinus having qualified with just six faults from their qualifying rounds. The doping scandal, which broke just hours before the final of the individual jumping contest, also puts show jumping under the microscope once more. In Athens 2004, Ireland's Cian O'Connor won an individual showjumping gold medal with his horse Waterford Crystal which was later stripped from him due to drug offences. It seems quite odd that four horses tested positive for the one substance, I will be waiting to see the result of the B sample is before I make any judgement

There was some good news for Ireland today when Olive Loughnane finished in seventh place in the women's 20 kilometres walk, as world champion Olga Kaniskina of Russia led from gun to tape to win the gold medal on Thursday. Olive finished strongly in atrocious conditions and could have gotten a medal if she did not run out of track. Loughnane's result is the best Irish Track and field result so far.

Irish in action tomorrow

Ireland's medal prospects may improve greatly tomorrow, especially in the Boxing where Ireland's remaining fighters take centre stage once again.

12.30am: Athletics - 50k Walk Final
First up is Colin Griffin and Jamie Costin who will be taking part in the longest event in the Olympics in a few hours, will be looking to perhaps sneak a medal. With such a long event and the strict rules, anything is possible.

A massive day for Irish boxing begins at 8.01am when Darren Sutherland fight in his Middleweight Semi-Final against Great Britain's James DeGale. The two have fought five times before with Sutherland posting four wins, including victories at the 2007 and 2008 European Union finals in Dublin and Poland respectively. But DeGale, who shocked 2004 Olympic welterweight champion Artayer Bakhtiyar 8-3 in today's quarter-finals, won their most recent meeting. He edged out the three-time Irish champion 23-22 when they clashed in an Olympic qualifier in Italy in February. It is sure to be a tough fight but on current form I can only see Sutherland coming out on top.

At 12pm, Paddy Barnes is the next Irishman in the ring as he faces Shiming Zou from China on Friday for a place in the gold medal match in the Light Flyweight Semi-Final. World champion, Shiming beat Barnes 22-8 in November of last year and the Irishman will be a big outsider, but after Wednesday's showing he will be full of confidence. It will be a very difficult prospect for Barnes but he is sure to give it a good go.

The final Irisman in the ring tomorrow at 2.01pm is Kenny Egan in the Light Heavyweight Semi-Final. Egan also faces a British opponent, Tony Jefferies. Egan looked fantastic in his last three bouts, only conceding 4 points to the 40 he has scored and Jeffries doesn't look like much of a challenge, but this competition has proven that shock results do happen, let's hope there will be no surprises in this fight.

Another succesful day for the Irish

Ireland secured their third medal of these games as boxer Darren Sutherland won his quarter-final fight over Venezuelan Alfonso Blanco. Sutherland wad beaten by Blanco in the World championships last year by seven points but came out with a game plan which didn't allow Blanco to box with any style and it showed as he only managed to score a single point. Darren on the other hand, picked his punches and was very powerful and accurate. After the second round, the result never looked in doubt as Sutherland kept piling on the points. Sutherland will now fight English boxer James Degale in the semi-finals on Friday morning. Darren has beaten Degale in four of their five previous meetings and on current form he should win again.

There were two track and field athletes in action today. Alistair Cragg finished sixth in his 5000 metre heat and qualified for Saturday's final.
Cragg advances to the final as he is one of the fastest losers, his time was actually faster than the winner of the two other heats. Cragg was distraught after the race as he thought that his time would not be quick enough but as it turned out, his heat was the fastest and he was the sixth fastest qualifier overall.

Thomas Chamney was not so lucky as he finished fifth in his 800m heat in a time of 1.47.66.
The Irish athlete has failed to progress as only the top two automatically qualify. Chamney's time was not fast enough to get into the next round as a fastest loser. It was a missed opportunity for Chamney to get a personal best and beat some quicker runners in the slow heat so he will be disappointed.

Irish Star Class sailors Peter O'Leary and Stephen Milne have failed to progress to the medal race following the final qualifying this morning. The duo finished 10th in race eight, 11th in race nine and 12th in race 10 at the Olympic Sailing venue at Qingdao. They finished the qualifying series in 13th place overall on a net total of 91 points, with the top 10 boats after the 10 qualifying races going into the medal race. After a good start to the series, they will be disappointed not to make the medal race but it was still a decent performance overall.

Irish in action tomorrow

There is only two Irish athletes in action tomorrow and both are outside medal chances.

Denis Lynch takes part in the individual show jumping final at 12:15. The pairing of Lynch and his horse Latinus have comfortably come through the qualifying rounds earlier this week, but it is thought a gold medal could be just beyond Lynch's reach with Germany's Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum is the clear favourite for the gold medal. But a medal won't come easy and two superb rounds are necessary if he is to be in with a chance.

Olive Loughnane takes part in the 20k walk at 02:00. Loughnane will be competing in her third Olympics and will be hoping for a much better performance than the last two. Olive should be up there and although a medal is a long shot, anything can happen such a technical event

Success at last!!! and more tomorrow?

Finally, Ireland have secured their first medals of these games and they came in the form of boxers Paddy Barnes and Kenny Egan.

Paddy Barnes was the first boxer in the ring today and has secured at least a bronze medal after beating Lukasz Maszczyk 11-5 in the light-flyweight quarter-final. The 21-year-old from Belfast came out on top in a scrappy contest, frustrating the Polish fighter and cleverly picking his shots. After the even first round, Barnes took control and the victory was never in doubt as he was just too quick, smart and accurate for the pole to handle.
Paddy has now secured a fight with Shiming Zou from China on Friday for a place in the gold medal match. The world champion beat Barnes 22-8 in November of last year and the Irishman will be a big outsider, but after today's showing he will be full of confidence. Barnes admitted: 'My aim coming here was just to get a fight, to compete at the Olympics. I've achieved that. I've got a medal now and gone beyond my achievements, he also admitted that the fight was the most nervous he has ever been and it's great to see that he can handle the pressure.

Kenny Egan guaranteed Ireland's second bronze medal after beating Washington Silva in a one-sided contest in the Light-Heavyweight division. Egan started the fight strongly and was never troubled by the Brazilian who barely touched Egan and it showed on the scorecard as Silva failed to register a single point in the entire contest. Kenny's punches were well timed and could be seen clearly as he battered the Brazilian.

Egan has only conceded four points in his three bouts and has scored a very impressive forty. Egan also looks very confident in his ability and showed this in showing off to the camera after the fight which is great to see in an Irish athlete. He will face Britain's Tony Jefferies in the semi-final and all of Ireland will be anticipating this one eagerly.

Paul Hession came fifth in his semi-final of the men's 200m, with a time of 20.38, not enough to take him through to the final. Despite not reaching the final, Hession has performed brilliantly and Ireland should be extremely proud to have a sprinter of his calibre who has proved to be in the top 10 over this distance and the fastest white man in the world. Hession still has many years left and he looks like he is capable of getting even better.

In Sailing, Peter O'Leary & Stephen Milne were not in action in the Star class as conditions dictated that their races were not able to go ahead. The duo were to compete in two races but they have now been rescheduled for tomorrow, in addition to the final race. The top ten boats form the Opening Series can compete in the final medal race, which is scheduled for Thursday.
Currently the Irish Star sailors are 14th overall, just eight points off Italy in 10th place and are naturally eager to count all three races tomorrow.

Also in action tomorrow, is the ever impressive boxer Darren Sutherland, who also will be fighting for a guaranteed bronze medal tomorrow at 13:01 GMT. Sutherland faces Alfonso Blanco Parra of Venezuela in the quarter-final, it will not be an easy contest and Parra may be a slight favorite but Darren has bombs in his fists and if he works well and defends well, the rest should take care of itself and we may well be celebrating another medal.

Two Irish Track and Field athletes are also in action tomorrow.

Alastair Cragg takes part in the heats of his specialist event, the 5000 metres at 13:15. Cragg should reach the final if he repeats the form he has shown this season but after that it will be impossible for Cragg to get a medal in an East African dominated event and he will merely be looking to finish in the top 10 if possible.

Thomas Chamney is one of my favorite athletes, he is a real character and has quite a cult following after a comedic online training diary he did while at University in the US. Chamney has only made the Olympics on a B standard but looks to be near to peaking at the right time. Chamney races in the 800 metres at 12:00 and getting through the heats is Tom's goal but a PB is needed if he is to do so.

Day 11 Preview

Day 11 is full of possibilities for Ireland. We only have five athletes in action today but there are two real medal chances in the form of the boxing team, two of the remaining three fight their quarter-final bouts and Ireland's fastest man is taking on the superpowers of sprinting.

06:00 Sailing Star class races 8 and 9
Stephen Milne and Peter O'Leary near the end of their campaign and desperately need two good performances if they are to get into the top 10 and book a place in the medal race.

12:00 Boxing Light flyweight quarter-final
Paddy Barnes could provide Ireland with their first medal against Lukasz Maszczyk of Poland. The Pole beat Barnes in his very first international bout so he wants to put one over on him and he is confident of delivering a medal after quarter-final appearances in the World Championships last year and the Commonwealth games two years ago.

14:16 Boxing Light heavyweight quarter-final
Just over two hours later, Kenny Egan will also be fighting for a medal against Washington Silva from Brazil. The Irish captain will be a favorite in my opinion as he has been brilliant in his two bouts so far and Silva will be nothing special. I have full faith that both men will guarantee themselves a medal tomorrow and after that, they will be going for gold!

14:25 Athletics Men's 200m semi-final
And minutes after that, Paul Hession goes in lane 5 in what will be the biggest race of his life. After a blistering performance in the last round, Hession will be buzzing and if he can deliver the best performance of his life, a place in the final will not be too far off. The fastest man in Europe will be looking to step up and confirm himself as one of the fastest men in the world and certainly the worlds fastest white man over this distance. All of Ireland will be behind Paul and the rest of the boys on what might be the most exciting day for Ireland at the Olympics.