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.