Good day in general for the Irish

There were some good results for the Irish today but as usual some disappointment's to add.

Robert Heffernan got the day off to a positive start early this morning in the 20k walk. As I predicted yesterday, Heffernan started the race strongly and led the pack after 13km. However, after the 15km stage, Jefferson Perez of Ecuador injected a burst of pace and Heffernan was dropped from the leading pack. The Togher athlete kept up a steady pace to finish inside the top ten in eighth place, clocking a time of 1 hour 20.36 minutes. Russia's Valeriy Borchin won the Olympic gold medal after shaking off former champion Perez of Ecuador to win in a time of 1 hour 19:01 minutes. It was a very credible performance by Heffernan as he proved that he is one of the best race walkers in the world.

The other Irish track and field athlete Joanne Cuddihy did not fare so well in the 400 metre heats. Cuddihy finished sixth in heat four, in a time of 53.32 seconds.
Only the top three finishers in each heat and the three fastest losers make the semi-finals.
Cuddihy started in the difficult lane number eight and held her own for the opening 100 metres. However, on the first bend she began to loose ground. As Cuddihy entered the final straight her lack of race fitness began to tell. This was Cuddihy's first race since June due to a knee injury and in truth she looked well of the pace.

It was a great day for the Irish boxing team as two more boxers booked their place in the quarter-finals on a day where history was made, when Paddy Barnes became the 100th Irish boxer in the Olympics. Darren Sutherland started proceedings and won his Middleweight 78kg round of 16 bout with Nabil Kassel of Algeria 21-14. Despite going behind early on, Sutherland looked in great form and won with ease forcing Kassel to take three standing counts. Afterwards Sutherland, who had a bye in the first round, revealed his long wait in the Olympic Village had helped him get over the star-struck early days and get down to business. Sutherland said: 'It dragged and the aura of the Olympic Village died out. You had Tyson Gay or Rafael Nadal walking past you but you just thought, so what, I'm here to do a job. He faces Alfonso Blanco Parra of Venezuela in the quarter-finals.

Paddy Barnes produced a magnificent display of controlled boxing to reach the quarter-finals of the light-flyweight division by beating Jose Luiz Meza 14-8. After a nervous first round, Barnes won the second 4-0 and the result never looked in doubt and this showed as Meza began avoiding Barnes, as if we was trying to keep a lead. The Ecuadorian knew he has been beaten and wanted no more but Barnes kept going until the bell.

In Rowing ,Ireland have finished fourth in the Men's Lightweight Four B final. Gearoid Towey was replaced by Richard Coakley for the race as he got sick and the crew finish 10th overall, equalling the heavyweight teams achievement.

It was a mixed day for the Irish sailors today. The hopes of Ireland's Ger Owens and Philip Lawton featuring in the Olympic medal race disintegrated today as finishes of 15th, 13th and 24th pushed them down the 470 fleet. They finished 16th overall and Owens, together with Ross Killian, also finished 16th overall in the same class at the Athens Olympics four years ago. Lawton is a first-time Olympian.

Dubliner Ciara Peelo has made a solid start to today's rescheduled programme of Olympic sailing races, claiming 13th place in race five of the Laser Radial class. Although lying 14th overall at the half way stage of the Laser Radial competition, Peelo is just 12 points behind Argentina in 10th place, and is definitely still in the hunt for a place in the top ten Final Medal Race.
The remaining 5 races are scheduled over the next two days and it is in Peelo's interest that a full schedule be completed in this Opening Series if she is to make up the necessary ground.

Peter O'Leary and Stephen Milne remain in medal race contention after scoring 12th and 7th place finishes in their Star class races earlier today. Lying sixth overnight, are currently in ninth position overall with race four still to come in Qingdao. Another strong finish saw the Irish boat shoot from 15th to 12th in the final stretch of race two, which was sailed in light five-knot conditions. O'Leary and Milne, with seven races remaining in the opening series, have 25 race points. They are just three points off the eighth-placed British crew of Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson.