Description..."Jamie Costin is a 50km race walker who has qualified for three previous Olympics but only competed in two. He broke his back in a car crash just before the Athens Games and his return to competition and qualifying for the Beijing Olympics was a story of triumph against the odds in the face of adversity. This episode focuses on his return to fitness, despite doctor's advice. He then travels to Saransk in Russia for the Race Walking World Cup, the final chance for this three time Olympic warrior to make it four. But all is not well back at the farm....
Orla Barry is a 22-year-old discus thrower from Ladysbridge, Co Cork, who was born without kneecaps and lower leg bone. Her parents made the difficult decision to amputate both her legs above the knee when she was 11 months, but this traumatic early life did not hold Orla back. She broke onto the international scene aged just 18 finishing fifth in the final of the F57 discus at Beijing in 2008. She is now the European record holder in her class and will be hoping to win a medal in London. However despite her international pedigree, her inclusion in the Irish team is not a foregone conclusion and she faces the acid test trying to make the distance at the Irish Wheelchair Association National Championships in Santry.
Ciarán Ó Lionáird is often better known by his nicknames- 'Mad Len' and 'The Bullet with the Mullet'. From West Cork he showed a talent for running from an early age. Upon joining Lee Vale Athletics Club in Cork City he realised he could use his ability to gain a college athletics scholarship in the USA. Leaving Ireland at 18, much of his career went unnoticed back home as a series of injuries stinted his progress. But he burst on the scene last year achieving the Olympic qualifying time, reaching the World Championships 1,500m final and being signed to run full time for Nike. The episode joins Ciarán on one of his few, but much cherished, trips home to see his mother and brothers. The series then jets stateside to see how this boy who grew up on a dairy farm in Cork mixes it with the world's elite athletes in Nike's state of the art world headquarters in Portland, Oregon. We then return to reflect with Angela, his mother, on her mix of emotions about her eldest son - her pride in his achievements while missing him dearly."
Ciarán is on from the start until 9:50
Orla is on from 14:50 to 20:45
Jamie is on from 9:50 to 14:50 and 20:45 to 22:50
The programme can be seen HERE (Available until the 31st of July)
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