The day began with a familiar air of valiant losers, as Sanita Puspure's fourth place in the single skulls saw her relegated to the C final. In truth, the B final would have been the target - medals were never really in the equation - so it wasn't as disappointing as it may seem. Significant disappointment had come before that, though, in the form of Grainne Murphy's withdrawal from the 800m freestyle on Thursday. Murphy (left) picked a woeful time to come down with glandular fever, and after her performance in the 400m, where she posted a time 10 seconds outside her qualifying mark, she chose to leave London 2012 behind. Which is a reasonable decision really - most people struggle to scratch their own arses when suffering from mono, never mind swim the best part of a kilometre.
Thank God, then, for another Murphy, as Annalise (pictured right) continued her complete dominance of the Women's Laser Radial, another two wins to go with her two from yesterday. As previously discussed, it's a pretty long event, so there's no chicken counting going on quite yet, but her 12 point lead is certainly not to be sneezed at - especially considering the incredible form she is in. Elsewhere on the water, Peter O'Leary and David Burrows slipped to ninth in the standings after 11th and 12th place finishes, while Ryan Seaton and Matthew McGovern had a second place finish in the latter of today's races to thank in helping them retain their sixth position. James Epsey, meanwhile, is clearly unaware that it's actually a race, and has presumably brought a six-pack of lager and a fishing rod out in his Laser. After four races, he lies in 40th, and has still caught nothing.
Chloe Magee's badminton adventure came to an end, beaten after giving France's Pi Hongyan a proper battle in the deciding match of their round-robin group. Magee won the first 21-16, but scores of 21-18 and 21-14 were enough to see the former world number 4 through, and enough to allow me to not have to watch badminton for at least another 4 years. I don't know what it is, I just can't warm to its dynamics. It's a bit like Wayne Rooney - really fast and really slow at the same time.
And as for the horses? Well, what a finish!! After losing Camilla Speirs and Michael Ryan, it looked like Ireland had no hope, but suddenly Bill Murray came out to make up the numbers!! With the odds completely stacked against them and the abilities of Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewi...oh, hang on, that was actually the ending to Space Jam. Instead, some horses jumped over some fences and we placed in 5th. Aoife Clarke (right) was the best individually, finishing 12th.
No comments:
Post a Comment