The I-Really-Needed-One-Day-Away-From-This-Shite Blog - Irish at the Olympics: The Weekend

Sometimes, there's only so much you can take, and by about 8pm Friday, I was all tuckered out. So the laptop was closed, the feet were put up and the weekend's action was watched by a man not frantically checking the latest standings in the men's 470. Surprisingly, the world did not stop, the Games kept on rolling, and the Irish continued the lonely plod of a nation patiently waiting for something to shout about.

The boxers, of course, remain perhaps our best hope, and three more bouts involving Irish fighters occurred over the weekend. Autograph hunters Michael Conlon (above left) and Paddy Barnes safely negotiated their last 16 fights, and now stand one fight away from a guaranteed medal. Less successful was Wexford's Adam Nolan, who followed captain Darren O'Neill out of the tournament, a conclusive defeat at the hands of Andrey Zamkovoy ending his interest. The big story, though, is still to come - in just an hour's time the first Irish medal of the Games could be sealed, as John Joe Nevin takes on tricky Mexican Oscar Valdez.

Another real medal prospect is Annalise Murphy (right), who finished the 10 race series in her Laser Radial in second place. She is, however, just one point off the pace, and with points doubled in the medal race, it basically makes no difference - it is a straight race between four boats, who will finish in the final classifications in the same order they come in on Monday. The other people in boats were out too, but frankly the details are not important: all you need to know is that the open-top bus parades are postponed for another four years at least. The boat of the rowing variety was somewhat more successful, Sanita Puspure showing she is better than C class by destroying the field to finish her Olympic journey on a high.

Aileen Morrison succumbed to a fate that by rights should surely befall triathletes with far more regularity, falling off her bike on the first lap. As a man who struggles to cycle in the rain, I can immediately point out the perils of cycling straight after a swim; how health and safety haven't stepped in I just don't know. On the track, Martyn Irvine has remained firmly upright, but his hopes of an Omnium medal died fairly quickly in a poor time-trial performance. An impressive scratch race, however, put a slightly better spin on things, and he finished the competition in a perfectly ordinary 13th place.


And to the stadium! The athletics programme started, and it didn't take long for Irish interests fade - the delectable Tori Pena (right) showing she's far better at looking pretty than jumping over stuff, failing at her opening height in the pole vault, while Stephanie Reilly managed the jumping bit of the 3000m steeplechase but failed to do the racing, finishing ninth in her heat. Joanne Cuddihy improved on her time from the heats, but was unable to make the final of the 400m. In the marathon, well, I actually didn't pay a lot of attention. Even watching someone run 26 miles makes me tired. We can, however, use the fact that Linda Byrne, the first Irish finisher, was over 15 minutes behind the winner as a useful clue, and decipher that we are unlikely to have got much there. Rob Heffernan was decidedly more successful in the 20k walk, a ninth place finish boding well for his hopes in the 50k later this week.

Shooting and horse-riding sounds like a right laugh - like a John Wayne movie or something - until you realise that they are seperate sports. Cian O'Connor and Billy Twomey began their showjumping events, and O'Connor currently lies in 31st place, Twomey eliminated Sunday. Derek Burnett, meanwhile, is shooting in his fourth Olympics, and lies in 25th after the first day.

While O'Connor and Burnett will go on, the attention turns elsewhere. Nevin can guarantee a medal this evening - tomorrow, Katie Taylor can do the same. Annalise Murphy, meanwhile, has a shot at the big one. Perhaps the biggest 24 hours of Irish Olympic action since Barcelona starts now.