Trevor Walsh interviews World Indoor Gold medalist Derval O'Rourke

During the recent book launch at the Leevale High Performance, Trevor Walsh caught up with Derval O'Rourke for the Hard Knock Sports programme. The interview is just over 25 minutes long.

Notice...Book signing of Derval O'Rourke's new book 'The Fit Foodie' on Sat 5th of Nov

Derval O'Rourke will be signing copies of her new book 'The Fit Foodie' in Waterstones in Cork City on Saturday the 5th of November 2016 from 3pm.

Description from Waterstones..."Derval believes that the secret to being your healthiest happiest self is to eat well and keep moving and her latest book The Fit Foodie is full of simple, delicious and totally doable recipes such as Laid-Back Lamb Tagine, Mediterranean Salmon and Spaghetti, Butternut and Bean Stew, Almond, Hazelnut and Pine Nut Bread and a stunning Chocolate Fondant Cake. Derval also shares smart and inspiring advice on how to get organised so that good food and exercise are a seamless part of your life. "

This is Derval's second book and follows on from the success of 'Food for the Fast Lane' which was released in 2014.

Three new books...Fit Foodie by Derval O'Rourke, Profile of Irish Masters & Rob Heffernan's Autobiography

These three new books that may be of interest. Derval O'Rourke launched her second food book at the start of August. A new book on Irish Masters Athletes is available since the start of Setember and Rob Heffernan's autobiography will be available in November 2016. See the details below...

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The Fit Foodie...by Derval O'Rourke .... Paperback – 4 Aug 2016



Description...The Fit Foodie is full of simple, delicious and totally doable recipes such as Laid-Back Lamb Tagine, Mediterranean Salmon and Spaghetti, Butternut and Bean Stew, Almond, Hazelnut and Pine Nut Bread and a stunning Chocolate Fondant Cake. Derval also shares smart and inspiring advice on how to get organised so that good food and exercise are a seamless part of your life.

Click below to purchase & for more info...



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A Golden Era: Profiles of Irish Masters Athletes ...Paperback – 1 Sep 2016

Description......A Golden Era captures the history, geography, social climate, family fortunes, politics and personal stories of a largely undocumented group of Irish sports stars - Irish Masters athletes.



Click below to purchase & for more info...




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Walking Tall: The Autobiography of World Champion and Olympic Medalist Rob Heffernan 2016 ........Hardcover – Available 3 Nov 2016




Description.....In this no-holds-barred account, Rob describes his battles with injury, depression and abject poverty on his way to the top. Even when at his best, he often found himself cheated out of medals by those who crossed the dark line into doping. He candidly tells for the first time of the confrontations with Athletics Ireland and the Irish Sports Council that raged in the background of his struggle for that prestigious Olympic medal.This is the inside story of how one boy's dream led him from the council flats of his tough upbringing to the winners' podium. It is also a frank chronicle of the sometimes nightmare-ridden journey it takes to make a dream come true.

Click below to order in advance & for more info...

Derval O'Rourke finally to get European Bronze medal...

In the European Indoor Athletics Championships in Gothenburg at the start of March 2013, Nevin Yanit won the Gold in the womens 60m hurdles. Derval O'Rourke finished 4th in that final. Since that time, Yanit failed a drug test and as such, she should be stripped of her Gold medal which would move Derval up into bronze.

After appeals and a long process, Yanit was finally given a 3 year ban today. It is now clears the way for Derval O'Rourke to get her Bronze medal.

The Irish Independent have the story HERE

Derval O'Rourke launches new book in Waterstones in Cork on Tues 9th Sept

Derval O'Rourke has been of the most successful Irish athletes of recent times. In her 12 years at international level, she has won several major medals...

• Gold in the 60m hurdles at the World Indoor Championships in Moscow in 2006
• Silver in the 100m hurdles in the European Championships in Gothenburg in 2006 and Barcelona in 2010.
• Bronze in the 60m hurdles at the European Indoor Championships in Turin in 2009.

She also holds the Irish national records for 60m and 100m hurdles and has represented Ireland at the Olympics on three occasions.

She recently announced her retirement from athletics in June of 2014.

In September, Derval is releasing a new book titled 'Food for the Fast Lane: Recipes to Power Your Body and Mind'.

As you can see from the poster above, the book launch will be in Waterstones in Cork City on Tuesday the 9th of September.

Here is a little bit more about the book......
Want to enjoy delicious food that fuels your body, gives you energy and powers your performance? Derval O'Rourke is one of Ireland's greatest athletes. She likes to eat and train, not diet and exercise. After devising a nutritionally balanced training menu with peak performance in mind, she gained boundless energy and a better ability to focus, both on and off the track. Here she reveals the recipes that helped her reach her professional goals. Everything is intertwined. Cooking and eating well are vital for a happy, healthy life, and what you put into your body determines how you live and feel. So get ready to discover Derval's theory for yourself: goodness in = greatness out. Eat like an athlete; perform for your life.

Derval O'Rourke announces her retirement from athletics

Derval O'Rourke was one of the top athletes in the country and today she has just announced her retirement from athletics. In a statement she said.....
“I’ve had an absolutely amazing career in athletics and for that I am so grateful to all the support I have received along the way.  It’s been a tough decision but it feels like the right time.  I knew I could compete this season, but not in a time to be in medal contention by European Outdoors. Going to a Championships just to be there, isn’t me. 

“The last competitive race I ran was the bronze medal I won last year at European Indoors and I feel like that was a great performance.  I’ve been extremely lucky with the team I’ve had around me, Sean and Terrie Cahill are the rock that my success has been built on.  Together we forged a way to be successful on a world stage and I’m incredibly grateful for their focus, passion and dedication.

“I’ve loved every minute of my athletics career but now I’m going to take some time to reflect what has been a very privileged job for me for the past 12 years and make some decisions for the future”

Derval O'Rourke Achievements
Gold - 60m Hurdles - World Indoor Championships 2006 (Moscow)
Silver - 100m Hurdles - European Championships 2006 (Gothenburg)
Silver - 100m Hurdles - European Championships 2010 (Barcelona)
Bronze - 60m Hurdles - European Indoor Championships 2009 (Turin)
Bronze - 60m Hurdles - European Indoor Championships 2013 (Gothenburg)
Fourth - 100m Hurdles - World Championships 2009 (Berlin)
Three-time Irish Olympian - Athens 2004, Beijing 2008, London 2012
Represented Europe at the IAAF Continental Cup in 2010
Irish Senior Record Holder -
50m Hurdles Indoor (6.80 - Lievin 2006)
60m Hurdles Indoor (7.84 - Moscow 2006)
100m Hurdles Outdoor (12.65 - Barcelona 2010)
She will of course be best remembered for winning the 60m hurdles at the World Indoor Championships in Moscow in 2006...(Derval is in lane 3)


Anyone who has watched Derval O'Rourke in competition will know that when it came to getting out of the starting blocks and over that first hurdle, she was world class. It was this quality that saw her win the 2006 indoor 60m title in a time of 7.84 seconds.

The chart below shows the fastest times by Irish women in the 60m hurdles indoors...

As you can see, Derval O'Rourke's times are in a different league.

This chart shows the fastest Irish times over 100m...

Just as Sarah Lavin and Susan Smith have times noticeably faster than the rest, Derval O'Rourke's times are in another league again.

Derval O'Rourke goes head to head with Athletics Ireland over funding

First a bit of background info to this story.

As outlined in this previous post, the grants to Irish athletes for 2014 were announced in mid February. One of the suprises was that both Derval O'Rourke and Ciarán Ó Lionáird both got just €12k despite winning medals at the European Indoor Championships in 2013. (Derval O'Rourke finished 4th in the womens 60m hurdles but the Turkish athlete Nevin Yanit failed a drugs test later in the year.)

Fionnuala Britton World Class (€20k)....(2013 = €20k, 2012 = €20k)
Ciarán Ó Lionáird International (€12K)...(2013 = €20k, 2012 = €20k).
Derval O’Rourke International (€12K)...(2013 = €12k, 2012 = €40k).

Two interesting articles appeared in the Irish Examiner last week about the funding for Irish athletes.

In the first one dated Tuesday the 25th of February 2014, Derval O'Rourke outlines her point of view that the 11 athletes that are getting grants are only getting a fraction of total grant given to Athletics Ireland.

In the article she says...."What strikes me as unfair, perhaps even hypocritical, is the funding which is allocated directly to athletes is the only part of the €968,000 (€800,000 from the Irish Sports Council) which is accounted for down to the last euro and every recipient is named."

In particular, she focuses on the salary of the three high performance staff who get more than the 11 athletes combined. She writes...."That means the cost of three support staff (High Performance director, team coordinator and athlete services coordinator) far outweighs the 11 athletes’ direct funding and unlike the athletes’ incomes, this information is much more difficult to access and certainly salaries and names are not listed."

The pie charts below help show the relative amounts being discussed. The left one shows the funding that the 11 athletes get relative to the total grant given to Athletics Ireland by the Irish Sports Council. The right one shows the comparison between what the 11 athletes got compared to the three high performance staff.

The reply from Athletics Ireland came on Friday the 28th of February 2014 

In it, the High Performance director Kevin Ankrom says...“An athlete may be given €12,000, but at the end of the day it is just cash in hand. They are getting much more on top of that in travel, services and competition. I had a discussion with Derval in November and December moving forward, I told her I supported her and I wanted to help. I laid out that this is what you have achieved, this is what we will fund you at and then on top of that, €12,000 isn’t €12,000. If you look at the €8,000 for her surgery, that is €20,000 right there alone.”

If you click on the links above, you can read both points of view and make up your own mind.

Derval O’Rourke say drugs cheat Yanit robbed her of European gold

Following on from the news last Wednesday that Turkish athlete Nevin Yanit has been banned for two years for failing a drugs test, Derval O'Rourke gave an interview to the Irish Examiner. In it, she said that she believed that Yanit was most likely to have been using drugs when she won the 100m hurldles final at the European Athletic Championships in Barcelona in 2010. In that competition, Derval finished second and won the silver after setting a new national record of 12.65 seconds.

In the interview, Derval said ......"It’s not as if she was just on drugs this year. In the last two years previous she has been European outdoor [100m hurdles] champion twice [Barcelona in 2010 and Helsinki 2012], fifth in the Olympics [London] and she won indoors [Gothenburg] this year. "

The full interview by Feidhlim Kelly can be seen HERE

Derval O'Rourke to be upgraded to Bronze medal after Turkish athlete fails dope test

This just in!! The Turkish Athletics Federation's (TAF) Disciplinary Board have today banned Nevin Yanit from competitons for two years after she was proved to be positive in use of banned performance-enhancing drugs.

Issuing a statement on its official website, the Turkish Athletics Federation said the result of the urine sample taken from Nevin Yanit during the P.S.D Bank compettiton in Dusseldorf on February 8, 2013 confirmed usage of banned performance-enhancing drugs.

Statement....."The IAAF [International Association of Athletics Federations] had informed us that Nevin Yanıt’s sample taken at the PSD Bank event in Dusseldorf on Feb. 8 tested positive for a banned substance,” the federation said today in a written statement. After her B sample also tested positive, the Disciplinary Board asked for Yanıt’s defense and decided to ban the athlete for two years following deliberations."

Back in March of 2013 at the European Indoor Championships, Derval O'Rourke finished in 4th place in the womens 60m hurdles. Nevin Yanit won that race.

If the two year ban starts from when Yanit failed the drugs test in February then Derval O'Rourke will be upgraded to the bronze medal.

Update...From Athletics Ireland @4pm...Athletics Ireland has contacted European Athletics to establish what procedures will be followed in relation to recent championship results attained by Nevin Yanit. European Athletics has not yet received notification of the official sanction from the IAAF and cannot make an official comment until that occurs.

Athletics Ireland will continue to communicate with European Athletics and the IAAF in order to establish the implications of this development for Derval O’Rourke and will urge the international federations to bring clarity to the situation as soon as possible. 

Derval O'Rourke set for European Indoor bronze...???

Back in March, I had a post up about Turkish athlete Nevin Yanit having been suspected of failing a drugs test. Turkish authorities denied that anything was wrong but today, Yanit was officially charged with doping offences.

The IAAF said in a statement........."The IAAF is now in a position to confirm that both Asli Cakir Alptekin and Nevin Yanit have been charged with anti-doping rule violations by the IAAF. Ms Çakır on the basis of abnormal blood values from her biological passport. Ms Yanit on the basis of multiple positive findings following target tests carried out in-competition and out-of-competition by the IAAF. Both case have been referred to the Turkish Athletic Federation for adjudication as is usual under IAAF Rules and we await a decision from them. Until then, I can confirm that both athletes are now provisionally suspended and cannot compete. Again, as is usual under IAAF rules, we will make no further comment until the cases are concluded."

In the European Indoor Athletics Championships in Gothenburg at the start of March, Nevin Yanit won the Gold in the womens 60m hurdles. Derval O'Rourke finished 4th in that final. If Yanit is found guilty then she could be stripped of her Gold medal which would move Derval up into bronze.

Surely if Yanit is on multiple charges then she must be stripped of her title? Guess we'll have to wait for due process to see.

Turkish athletes suspected of failing drugs tests...

Last Friday, the Guardian newspaper had an article about how Turkish female athlete Cakir Alptekin faces a ban from the sport after blood 'abnormalities' were discovered during testing of her biological passport. Alptekin is the current Olympic champion at 1500m.

Nevin Yanit

In the same article, it says......"Also under suspicion by the IAAF is the European 100m hurdles champion, Nevin Yanit, 27, who finished fifth in the final at London 2012. Yanit, also Turkish, won gold in Helsinki last year and also triumphed at the European Indoor Championships in Gothenburg earlier this month."

Now where this gets interesting is that Derval O'Rourke finished 4th in that final in Gothenburg at the start of March. If Yanit was found to be cheating then she could be stripped of her Gold medal which would move Derval up into bronze. Obviously it's early days yet and there will no doubt be re-tests and appeals but if you read the article in the Guardian then it's obvious that Turkish athletics isn't exactly squeaky clean.

Derval O'Rourke finishes 4th in 60m hurdles at Euro Indoors

A mere one one-hundredth of a second separated Derval O'Rourke from the medals in the final of the womens 60m hurdles at the European Athletics Indoor Championships today. When you consider that it takes the average person 0.2 seconds to blink, i.e. twenty one-hundredths of a second...then it gives some idea of the tiny difference between finishing 4th and 3rd.

From the gun, Derval got a cracking start with the second fastest reaction time of 0.141 seconds although it was slower than the 0.139 and 0.133 starts that she recorded earlier in the day.

In the end, her seasons best time of 7.95 seconds just wasn't enough with the Italian Borsi just pipping her to take the bronze.

In a post race interview with Will Downing, Derval gives her reaction to the race...

In another interview, Derval said..."It’s the most disruptive season I’ve had, Only for Sean, Terry and Martina McCarthy, I wouldn’t have run here. I got a sinus infection in December and I lost 4 kilo’s in a week, I got an injection in my achilles in November. I came here and I believed I had a chance to win it. I got a fantastic start, to be honest I didn’t do much wrong in that race, I am just gutted, I only like getting medals I don’t like finishing fourth. The preparation was the only thing I could change. The shape I’m in I think I can break my Irish outdoor record”

She is without doubt still one of the country's best athletes. 4th best in Europe is still something to be proud of.

Derval O'Rourke wins 60m hurdles race at British Trials...

At the British Trials in Sheffield over the weekend, Derval O'Rourke from Cork won both her first heat and the womens race overall...

14:00 - 60 METRES HURDLES - Women - Heats - Heat 1    OFFICIAL RESULTS
First 1 of each heat (Q) plus the 4 fastest times (q) qualified   
1 Derval O'ROURKE    IRL    8.24        0.156    Q    SB       
2 Karla DREW    SOTON    8.38        0.164    q           
3 Lucy HATTON    CORBY    8.55        0.195    q    SB       
4 Jahisha THOMAS    BLACKHEATH    8.64        0.174        PB       
5 Lauren THOMPSON    HERTS P    8.72        0.220        PB       
6 Danielle ROONEY    SALE    8.86        0.191               
 Zara HOHN    WAKEFIELD    DQ           

15:52 - 60 METRES HURDLES - Women - Final    OFFICIAL RESULTS
1 Derval O'ROURKE    IRL    8.11        0.146        SB       
2 Sarah CLAXTON    WOODFORD G    8.16        0.113               
3 Yasmin MILLER    DERBY AC    8.25        0.193        PB       
4 Serita SOLOMON    BLACKHEATH    8.28        0.236               
5 Kylie ROBILLIARD    CHANNEL IS    8.52        0.186               
6 Louise HAZEL    BIRCHFIELD    8.52        0.219               
7 Lucy HATTON    CORBY    8.64        0.270               
 Karla DREW    SOTON    DQ    0.206               
Derval's time of 8.11 seconds was 4 one-hundreths of a second faster than the 8.15 seconds needed to qualify for selection for the Irish team to go to the European Indoor Track and Field Championships in Gothenbourg, Sweden in March.

Derval O'Rourke goes through to the semi-finals in 100m hurdles

On Monday morning at the Olympics in London, Derval O'Rourke finished 4th in a time of 12.91 seconds in Heat No.4 of the womens 100m hurdles. This was the first time this season that she has run under 13 seconds and she now goes through to the semi-finals. In Beijing four years ago, she went out in the first round.

She will now competing in Heat No.2 on Tuesday evening at 7:23pm. There are three semi-final heats in total with 24 athletes taking part (3 x 8). The first two in each heat and the fastest two losers will go through to the final.

Almost certainly, Derval won't be in the first two finishers as Sally Pearson and LoLo Jones are going in the same heat. Her only hope is probably to go through as one of the fastest losers but she will have to run close to her personal best time of 12.65 set back in 2010 to do it.

Looking ahead to Deval O'Rourke in the Olympic womens 100m hurdles...Mon 6th August

Coming up next Monday, the 6th of August at 10am, Derval O'Rourke starts in the heats of the 100m hurdles in London. Back in Beijing Olympics of 2008, the slowest time to get through the first round was 12.98 seconds. It probably stands to reason so that Derval will need to go under 13 seconds if she hopes to progress through the first round. Just last week, she ran 13.02 so she may well be able to do it.

But what about the event itself?........the womens 100m hurdles? To the ordinary spectator, it may seem easy enough......just run as fast as possible for 100m and jump the hurdles along the way.

It is however a highly technical event where the smallest details can result in fractions of a second being gained or lost. The New York Times has an excellent video clip HERE which gives some basic facts about the event. Well worth watching.

Derval O'Rourke runs 13.02 in Lignano, Italy

Last Tuesday evening at a meet in Lignano Italy, Derval O’Rourke finished second in the womens 100m hurdles in a seasons best time of 13.02 seconds.

100 m hurdles Wind: 0.2
1    Lolo Jones    USA    5 Aug 82 12.85
2    Derval O'Rourke    IRL    28 May 81 13.02 SB  
3    Yvette Lewis    USA    16 Mar 85  13.08
4    Micol Cattaneo    ITA    14 May 82 13.14
5    Veronica Borsi    ITA    13 Jun 87 13.40
6    Rikenette Steenkamp    RSA    16 Oct 92 13.93

Back on the 8th of July, Derval had to pull out of the National track and field championships due to a back spasm. The next day, the Irish Times had headlines like 'O'Rourke injury casts major doubt over Olympic participation'. At the times, that article seemed to be completely at odds with information elsewhere as outlined in an earlier post. Then just 9 days later, a seasons best of 13.02 shows that some elements of the press were way off the mark.

What's possibly more significant though is that the time is close to the sub 13 seconds that Derval will need to run to make a mark in London. At the Beijing Olympics in 2008, she went out in the first round after running 13.22 seconds. The time of the slowest qualifier from those rounds was 12.98 seconds. Therefore, it stands to reason that she will probably have to go sub 13 to get through the first rounds in London.

Irish Athletics News...Derval O'Rourke injured?

Derval O'Rourke...Injured or not?........Derval O'Rourke was supposed to have taken part in the 100m hurdles at the Senior Track and Field Championships in the Morton Stadium in Santry last weekend. Having won the title nine times already, she had to pull out due to an injury concern with her back.

On Monday morning, there was a piece in the Irish Time written by Ian O'Riordan with the following headline.... O'Rourke injury casts major doubt over Olympic participation

The article continued....."Instead of winning a 10th national title in the sprint hurdles O’Rourke never made it out of the warm-up area, her sudden withdrawal due to a back injury now casting a major doubt over her participation in London later this month. For O’Rourke these championships were planned as one of the final, crucial test runs before London, and for things to go crashing so close to the Olympics can’t possibly auger well. 

She was actually a little too distraught to assess the situation herself, leaving her coach, Sean Cahill, to put words on the indescribable. “Derval actually raced twice, in Loughborough, on Saturday, and things went fine, no problems,” said Cahill, somewhat puzzled by the nature of her injury, but visibly concerned about the potential consequences. “Okay she’d two brutal starts, but ran 13:27, and 13:20, and flew back late last night, everything fine, no sign of any injuries whatsoever. She came out here, really looking forward to racing, and after 42 minutes of her 45-minute warm-up, she was just about to go over one last hurdle, flat out, and suddenly her back went into spasm.”

At 31 O’Rourke has taken every precaution to ensure preparations for London remain a healthy balancing act between pushing harder than ever and staying injury free: to miss any period of training at this stage, whatever about missing the last few races, could prove fatal to her chances of impacting on London as planned, and with that might yield the question of whether to even go there.

Coming from one of the main Irish newspapers, this story would have got a wide coverage especially with the general public who may not follow athletics too closely.

Contrast the above with what was written by Derval O'Rourke on her own blog...
I got home last night and felt stiff and tired after two races on a cold, rainy day in Loughborough. When I warmed up today I just wasn't feeling great. I was actually moving pretty fast but was stiff in a few places. This made me a little worried especially as my achilles and groin were both stiff. Sean was with me and decided if I was stiff running then it would be worse hurdling so off I went to see the physio. Paul is the physio and he has seen me many, many times. He had a good look and did loads of work (basically beat the crap out of me!!!). He reckons that my back had gotten quite tight, maybe from racing and a couple of hours later getting on a flight.

The plan is to take some anti-inflammatories, have a few ice baths and let everything settle. After I saw the physio I was feeling quite sad and upset at not running, I really do like to run nationals. It's no major drama and I have a physio check up in the morning. The plan is to race next Saturday.

On Tuesday, the Irish Independent had the following piece titled...O'Rourke injury not as bad as feared.....Derval O'Rourke's back injury should not stop her going to the London Olympics, but it has left her facing a race against time to be fully race-sharp.

Serious fears about the Leevale star's Olympic participation were raised when the golden girl of Irish athletics had to pull out of the national championships last Sunday with a sudden back spasm. Her coach Sean Cahill was more upbeat yesterday but admitted that it was still a "wait-and-see situation" and will cost her some valuable competition experience ahead of the Games. O'Rourke had planned to race in France tonight and was expected to get in several more sharpening races in the coming weeks. But she needed two hours of physiotherapy and acupuncture, yesterday (Monday) and it remains to be seen when she can return to training. "It's not as bad as we first feared, she already had more mobility today," Cahill said. "The good thing is that the medical people are convinced it is neurological and not muscular and will therefore respond quickly to treatment. "But the real test now is how long it will be before she is back running and sprinting full out on it."

Obviously not a good situation to be in so close to the Olympics.

RTE Radio interview with Derval O'Rourke...

On the 3rd of April, RTE Radio had a short six minute interview with Irish 100 metre hurdler Derval O'Rourke from Cork. They discussed her preparation for the Olympic Games in London as well as the possibility of doing the European Championships in Helsinki at the end of June.

The interview can be found HERE .........It starts around 17:00 and lasts until 23:15.

Derval O'Rouke supports Bay Run '12 Half-Marathon...

Press release from the organisers of the Bay Run Half-Marathon...

In this Olympic year in which sports will dominate the agenda this summer, Derval O Rourke is delighted to support Bay Run '12 - Half Marathon in Bantry which will take place on May 6th. The Irish Olympic hopeful believes more and more people should be involved in sports at any level and the idea of challenging yourself to a half marathon which is set amongst some of the best scenery Ireland has to offer is a fantastic opportunity to test yourself at this distance.

Derval added, "we are now lucky in Ireland that the number of events and the level of participation has increased significantly in the last numbers of years. The Bay Run - Half Marathon was recently voted as the best half marathon in Munster in 2011, so this reflects on the level of organisation and management now expected at these events. I'm hoping that this year more people will be encouraged to get out there and challenge themselves and improve their fitness levels and overall health by taking part in such events.'

Follow Derval at the Olympics and prepare yourself for the summer of sport by setting yourself a challenge and registering for the Bay Run '12 - Half Marathon via the website   www.bayrun.ie

Irish athletes at the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Istanbul...March 2012

The major international competition this weekend was the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Istanbul, Turkey this weekend. A small team of just three Irish athletes made the trip with Derval O'Rourke and Ben Reynolds taking part in the 60m hurdles and Ciarán Ó Lionáird in the 1500m.

Despite the fact that it was a major event, some of the sprinting events were marred by poor acoustics. Several athletes complained that the sound coming from the loudspeaker behind the starting blocks was too low and the echo from the gunshot sounded like a second shot to indicate a false start. The American Kristi Castlin was disqualified from her 60-meter hurdles heat after stopping in her tracks as the rest of the pack took off toward the finish line. Sally Pearson, the 100-metre hurdles world champion, won her heat but she also thought there was a problem at the start. "I thought someone had false started. 'Oh crap, that wasn't me, was it?''' Pearson said. "But the girl next to me was starting so I just kept going myself. I don't know what they're going to do about that because it's really confusing.'' The men running the 60 metres also heard the repetitions off the walls, but they had the advantage of running after the women.

From an Irish point of view, it was a mixed bad of performances with just some regret over what might have been.

Derval O'Rourke was in one of the hardest heats of the 60m hurdles running 8.19 for 4th place and qualifying for the semi-finals as one of the fastest losers. In the semi, she finished in a seasons best time of 8.13 and 6th position (see pic) but unfortunately not fast enough to go through to the final.


Audio interview here...


In the 1500m, Ciarán Ó Lionáird had a disappointing run finishing in 11th place in the first heat with a time of 3:50.12 (Ignore the PB next to his time, that was a mistake by the IAAF) . To put that in context, Ciarán ran 3:37 in the final of the World Championships in Daegu, South Korea last year and his personal best outdoors is 3:34.

In an article in the Irish Times, Ian O'Riordan has a piece about his performance and why it was poor. He starts off with "Indeed because I’m not in Istanbul myself I don’t know who he’s blaming, although it’s surely only himself, and the complete breakdown in focus and race execution he so effectively demonstrated at the World Championships last August."....and then goes on to speculate as to what went wrong. You can read it HERE but I'm not sure if you'll be any the wiser as it seems to be mainly conjecture.

Whatever the reason for the poor run, his time of 3:50 says nothing about his current form. As recently as early February, he won a mile race...i.e. 1609 metres...in Boston in 3:56. At that pace, he would have done 1500m in 3:40 which would have easily won the heat in Istanbul on Friday.

It should be remembered that Ciarán is still only 22 years old and still 'learning' the ropes. As he has said in recent interviews, every race is a learning experience and his best years are still ahead. Eamonn Coghlan was 31 years old when he ran 3:49.78 to set a new indoor miles record and won the 5000m in the world championships in 1993.

Ben Reynolds was the third Irish athlete in action in Istanbul. He finished in 5th place in a time of 7.82 in the first heat of the mens 60m hurdles and went into the semi-finals as one of the fastest losers. On Sunday, he ran 7.80 and finished in 7th place and didn't make the finals.