Olympic Medal Presentation for Rob Heffernan on Thurs 3rd November

On Wednesday the 3rd November 2016 (7pm), Rob Heffernan will finally be presented with his London 2012 Olympic Bronze Medal in the Concert Hall, City Hall, Cork.

This follows on from the disqualification of a Russian athlete who was originally awarded Gold. See this previous post for more details... http://corkrunning.blogspot.ie/2016/03/rob-heffernan-to-be-awarded-olympic.html

The event will be hosted by the Lord Mayor of Cork Cllr Des Cahill and the medal will be presented by Acting President of the Olympic Council of Ireland William O’Brien.

Lord Mayor of Cork Cllr Des Cahill: “ As Lord Mayor of Cork, I am honoured on behalf of the people of Cork to facilitate the Presentation of an Olympic Bronze Medal by the Olympic Council of Ireland  to one of our own Rob Heffernan, a proud Corkonian and a model and inspiration to the youth of today. It is only right and fitting that we recognise the tenacious efforts by Rob in representing his country on an international stage. We all take pride in his achieving this most coveted Olympic Bronze Medal and I look forward to welcoming you to City Hall on the 3rd November.”

Rob Heffernan: “This is always what I dreamt about, being presented with an Olympic Medal. It would of course have been wonderful to have received it in London but now to receive it on Irish soil in my home City of Cork, with my own family, friends, supporters on the 100 year anniversary of 1916, is a fitting and very special way for Irish people to celebrate Irish Olympic Sporting success”.

It will be a ticket only event and you can apply for tickets by forwarding your name, full address and contact telephone number to the following portal:  robsmedal@corkcity.ie . The first 400 applications will receive a ticket admitting two to the Presentation Ceremony.

Rob Heffernan to be awarded Olympic Bronze medal after appeal

Back in the 2012 Olympics in London, Rob Heffernan finished in an agonising fourth place in the mens 50km race walk. The winner of that race was Sergey Kirdyapkin from Russia who would later fail a drugs test.

RUSADA...the Russian Doping Agency...banned Kirdyapkin for three years and two months from 15.10.2012, with the cancellation of the results of the July 20, 2009 - September 20, 2009, June 29, 2010 - August 29, 2010 December 17, 2011 - June 11, 2012. In other words, he was somehow clean for the Olympic Games which of course was a farce.

Today...the 24th of March 2016.....the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) have decided the following...

"Sergey Kirdyapkin...All competitive results obtained by Mr Sergey Kirdyapkin from 20 August 2009 to 15 October 2012 are disqualified".

This should mean that Rob Hefferan will be retrospectively awarded the bronze medal from the 50km walk at the London 2012 Games.

Of course, medal or no medal Rob is still straining hard for Rio as seen in the Mardyke today...

What do you do if you've just been awarded an Olympic bronze? Go training! Congrats @RM_Heffernan !!! pic.twitter.com/NtQygHtUUb

— RTERoadToRio (@RTERoadToRio) March 24, 2016

Will Rob Heffernan be upgraded to Olympic Bronze after another Russian is suspended???

At the 2012 Olympics in London, Sergei Kirdyapkin of Russia won the Gold medal in the 50km walk while Rob Heffernan from Ireland finished 4th.

It has been announced earlier today that the Russian has been suspended while he is being investigated for irregularities in his biological passport. According to media sources, this could  endanger the walkers results at the 2012 Olympics if he is deemed to have competed with blood values associated with doping. Achievements from the 2008 Olympics will not be affected, since the biological passport system was introduced by the IAAF in 2009.

If Kirdyapkin is stripped of his Olympic Gold medal then Rob Heffernan will be upgraded to an Olympic Bronze.

Following the German documentary on doping in Russia recently, the true scale of cheating in the country has come to light. Here is one simple statistic.....Out of the 17 gold medals won by Russian walkers at the Olympics and world championships in the last decade, 16 were won by athletes who have been banned for doping at some stage of their careers or who are currently under investigation.

Another Russian who has been investigated is Olga Kaniskina who won gold in the Women's 20km Race Walk in World Championships inBerlin in August 2009. In that race, Olive  Loughnane finished second for Silver. If the Russian is eventually suspended then the Irish woman will be getting a World Championship Gold medal.

IAAF interview with Irish Coach Br.Colm O'Connell...

In the London Olympics in 2012, David Rudisha produced one of the best performances of the Games when he ran from the front in the mens 800m to set a new world record and winning Olympic Gold in the process. His coach is Br. Colm O'Connell who is originally from Mallow and moved to Kenya to teach back in the late 70's. Following the Games which marked him out as one of the Worlds finest athletes, David Rudisha along with Br. Colm visited Mallow last October.

In a recent interview with the IAAF, Br. Colm talks about his coaching career and his approach to athletes. Just to give you some idea of what it is like for an elite athlete at this level..........and especially for those of you who are constantly racing! ;o) .........Br. Colm said the following........."This time David had a three-month rest after his last race on 29 August, in Zurich. Three months without any kind of training. He needed this long break for charging his batteries – physically and mentally. When he resumed training, we had to be very careful. You could easily catch an injury. Basic conditioning, easy runs, about 60km a week, some gym work, exercises. Slowly but surely we increased the quality, the weekly mileage remained the same. In March, we started adding the track workouts."

On the subject of whether anyone will break 1:40 for 800m, Br.Colm said..."I don’t think 1:40 or below is going to be possible soon. 1:40 cannot be broken in the next two or three years. It will take time: 1:40.9, 1:40.8, etc."

Back in October, I asked Br.Colm the exact same question when he was in Mallow.......Will 1:40 be ever broken? Br. Colm gave the same answer then....i.e. the record may go in small increments but he did say that it was likely that only one person would set those new records and that would be David Rudisha.

The full interview can be seen HERE

Five Minute Interview with Jessica Ennis...

Olympic champion Jessica Ennis talks to Matthew Stadlen about what attracted her to the heptathlon, the importance of winning gold at London 2012, whether she will defend her title in Rio, and the difficulty of cold mornings.

The 5 minute interview can be seen on the BBC website HERE

Newstalk interview with top Irish race walker Rob Heffernan

Following on from Rob Heffernan finishing 4th in the mens 50k walking race at the London Olympics, Newstalk radio interviewed him this evening on it's Off the Ball sports programme. In it, Rob talks about the Olympics, his training, his immediate plans and what needs to be done if Irish athletes are going to perform at the top level on the world stage.

The piece on Rob starts at 25:35 and lasts until 39:45.

Photos of the Olympic Mens and Womens Marathon, womens 20k walk and mens 50k walk

As many of you know, Joe Murphy is a regular at many of the local races and when he's not running, he often takes photos and puts them up on the net. Joe was recently in London for the Olympics and these are his photo galleries from there...

1) Womens Marathon......Sun 5th Aug 2012....Slideshow

2) Womens 20k Race Walk...Sat 11th Aug 2012...Slideshow

3) Mens 50k Race Walk...Sat 11th Aug...Slideshow

4) Mens Marathon...Sun 12th Aug 2012.....Slideshow

(Updated 16th Aug 2012)

Review of the London 2012 Olympics....

With the conclusion of the mens Marathon and the athetics programme in the London Olympics, it's time to have a look back at the last eight days and some of the International and Irish performances.

In terms of athetics as a whole, these are the performances that stood out for me.....

Usain Bolt of Jamaica...100m / 200m / 4x100m.....The games were dominated by the presence of Usain Blot as he set a new Olympic record in the 100m with a time of 9.63 seconds, five one hundredths faster than his own record of 9.68 seconds set in Berlin. In the 200m, Bolt won in 19.32 seconds as the Jamaicans took the top three places. In the mens 4 x 100m relay, the Jamaican team set a new world record in a time of 36.84 seconds. Bolt is quite simply the superstar of athletics and this  Olympics have even further enhanced his reputation.

David Rudisha of Kenya.....800m........In terms of middle distance running, David Rudisha is simply one of the best ever. Coached by Brother Colm O'Connell from Mallow in Cork, Rudisha led from gun to tape to set a new world record in the 800m in a time of 1m 40.91s. At just 23 years old, he has already ran 6 of the top 10 fastest times in the 800m ever.

Galen Rupp of the USA.....10,000m.....Even though his time of 27:30.90 was nothing special, Galen Rupp finishing second in the 10,000m final was for me a major suprise. The conventional wisedom was that Africans or at least people of African extraction would dominate all of the medals in the middle and long distance events. His performance suggests that non-Africans with fast finishing speeds can compete with the Africans in tactical track races.

Mo Farah of Great Britain....5,000m and 10,000m....Winning the 10,000m was an achievement in itself but winning the 5,000m race just five days later was really something special.

Irish Performances in Athletic events.....

In most cases, we can just hope Irish athletes can get through the various heats and success is measured in terms of being able to make a semi-final or final. What's obvious from the London Olympics is that Ireland has only one world class athlete and that is Rob Heffernan. Finishing a very credible 9th in the 20k walk and an amazing 4th in the 50k walk, his performance was in a different league in comparison to the other Irish athletes. Not only did Rob take 7m 36s off his own 50k national record but he was over 21 minutes inside the Olympic 'A' standard that was required to be there.

Other noteable Irish performances were...

Brendan Boyce.....50k race walk.......Finished in 29th position in a time of 3:55:01, almost 4 minutes inside the 'A' standard.

Laura Reynolds...20k race walk.......Finished 23rd in a personal best time of 1:31:02, well inside the 'A' standard of 1:33:30.

Fionnuala Britton.....5,000m Round 1......Although she didn't proceed through to the final, Fionnuala's time of 15:12.97 was a personal best.

Linda Byrne and Ava Hutchinson....Womens Marathon....Linda finished in 66th position in 2:37:13, Ava in 68th in 2:37:17, both within seconds of the 'A' standard of 2:37.

Derval O'Rourke......100m Hurdles........Derval pulled out two season's best times of 12.91 seconds to make it through to the semi-finals. It was obvious though that Derval doesn't have the speed in the last 50 metres to compete against the best. However, when it comes to getting out of the blocks and over the first hurdle, she is world class. Her best chance of getting a medal in future must surely be over 60m in an indoor championships.

All of the Irish performances weren't great of course. It's all very well waving the Green flag but leaving aside those with injuries, many did not come close to personal or seasonal best times or even get near the 'A' standard which is poor.

Outside of Athletics, the star Irish performance was of course Katie Taylor who won an Olympic Gold in boxing.

In overall terms, the 2012 London Olympics were probably one of the best ever. Superbly organised with a fantastic atmosphere. Rio in 2016 will have to do something really special to beat it.

That's my take on the 2012 Games. Which performances did you think were the highlight of the Games???

Click on the 'Comment' tag below...

Mo Farah and Usain Bolt...double champions of the 2012 Olympics

Rob Heffernan finishes 4th in the Olympic 50k race walk

Rob Heffernan finished an impressive 4th today in the mens Olympic 50k race walk in London. Not only was this a new personal best time for him but it bettered his own Irish national record of 3:45:30 set in Barcelona back in 2010. As you can see from the splits below, Rob picked it up in the later stages of the race while those ahead who went off too fast got disqualified and tired.

After the race, Rob said that he was heartbroken to come so close to an Olympic medal. He said the  crowd was amazing but there was nothing more he could do.

“I wanted to win an Olympic medal and I did everything I could. It’s hard to finish fourth after I dreamed all year about winning a medal in the Olympics. It’s tough coming away with fourth, but I’ll be happy with it. The crowd was unbelievable, even at the end, to hold off that Russian, I did not want to let anyone down.”

Also taking part in the race were Brendan Boyce and Colin Griffin.

Brendan set a new personal best time of 3:55:01 to finish in a very credible 25th place. His previous best time was 3:57:58 set in 2011.

Colin was disqualified after the 35 km mark after picking up his third red card. In a previous interview, Colin had mentioned that his slightly different walking style seems to make him stand out from other race walkers and the race officials pick up on this this. Alas, that seems to have been the case today despite the fact that he was putting in some fine splits during the race.

Just to put the time of Rob and Brendan in perspective, the Olympic 'A' standard for the 50k race walk is 3:59:00.

The Irish women are up next in the 20k.

Irish women finish 66th, 68th and 107th in Olympic Marathon

The Olympic Women's Marathon was held on Sunday, the 5th of August and three Irish women took part. The first Irish woman home was Linda Byrne in a time of 2:37:13 in 66th place. Just behind was Ava Hutchinson in 28th place in a time of 2:37:13. Both were very close to the 'A' standard of 2:37 which was used to qualify for the Olympics. The third Irish woman home was Caitriona Jennings who obviously had a tough time with a foot injury finishing well back in last place in a time of 3:22:11.

The split times for the three Irish women are shown below. Just to put into context how fast they are actually running, look at the 5k, 10k and Half-Marathon splits. The full results can be see HERE

Linda Byrne
Km    Ranking    Time    Time Behind Leader
5    86    18:00    +0:40
10    86    36:18    +1:32
15    85    54:39    +2:29
20    82    1:13:20    +3:54
Half    82    1:17:27    +4:14
25    75    1:32:02    +5:39
30    72    1:50:42    +7:58
35    71    2:09:53    +10:24
40    68    2:29:16    +13:06
Finish    66    2:37:13    +14:06

Ava Hutchinson
Km    Rk    Time    TBL
5    89    18:01    +0:41
10    87    36:18    +1:32
15    86    54:39    +2:29
20    84    1:13:20    +3:54
Half    83    1:17:27    +4:14
25    76    1:32:02    +5:39
30    70    1:50:41    +7:57
35    68    2:09:31    +10:02
40    67    2:28:42    +12:32
Finish    68    2:37:17    +14:10

Caitriona Jennings
Km    Rk    Time    TBL
5    107    18:36    +1:16
10    108    37:27    +2:41
15    110    56:35    +4:25
20    113    1:18:38    +9:12
Half    113    1:23:51    +10:38
25    110    1:43:24    +17:01
30    108    2:09:55    +27:11
35    108    2:39:22    +39:53
40    107    3:09:33    +53:23
Finish    107    3:22:11    +59:04

Interview with Ciarán Ó Lionáird on NewsTalk radio...Sat 4th Aug 2012

In this 17 minutes interview on NewsTalk radio, Ciarán Ó Lionáird talks about his performance in the heats of the mens 1500m in London, how his injury has hampered his performance and talks about his future in the sport.

The interview starts at 14:25 and lasts until 31:40.

Olympic Racewalking events and rules...

During the Olympics, there are three race walking events with an Irish interest in each one...

Saturday 4th August
Evening...M 20k Walk Final...17.00 Rob Heffernan

Saturday 11th
Morning...M 50k Walk Final...9.00 Brendan Boyce, Colin Griffin, Rob Heffernan
Evening...W 20k Walk Final...17.00 Olive Loughnane, Laura Reynolds

While most people know the basic rule that one leg must be in contact with the ground at all times, some of the other rules may not be so clear. The IAAF have produced this simple document which helps explain some of the finer points of race walking.

By the way, the person who helped write it was Jane Saville from Australia. She was leading the 20k walk in the Sydney Olympics in 2000 and was disqualified just as she entered the stadium.

Julius Yego...the 'YouTube' athlete from Kenya

Mention the words 'Kenya' and 'Olympics' and visions of world class medium and long distance runners spring to mind. It therefore comes as a suprise that Julius Yego will be representing Kenya in the Javelin for the very first time at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

While being the first Kenyan Olympic javelin thrower might seem a novelty in itself, what is really unusual is how he came to qualify. Having started the javelin as a youth and having no coach capable of training him in the technique, Yego turned to watching YouTube clips in Cyber Cafes to improve his style. He watched clips of world record holder, Czech Republic’s Jan Zelezny, Olympic titleholder and two-time champion, Andreas Thorkildsen (Norway) and former world titleholder, Tero Pitkamaki.

In 2003, he competed in the high school regional championships. In 2006, he won the national junior title and broke the Kenyan junior record with a throw of 67 metres. He won his first national title in the javelin at the age of nineteen in 2008 and defended it in both 2009 and 2010. He earned his first national call up in 2010 and threw a personal best of 74.51 m to take the bronze medal at the 2010 African Championships in Athletics, which was held in Nairobi. In 2011, he still did not have a throwing coach and despite this, he won a fourth straight Kenyan title and then went to the 2011 All-Africa Games and became Kenya's first ever champion in the event, throwing a Kenyan national record mark of 78.34 m.



In respect of this achievement, the IAAF (the sport's governing body) gave Yego a six-month scholarship to train alongside elite javelin coaches in Finland, with the aim of preparing him for the 2012 London Olympics. After two months of training at the IAAF-accredited centre in Kuortane, Finland, Yego returned to Kenya in April 2012 and threw a new record of 79.95 m. This was within the Olympic "B" standard for the event and he will become the first Kenyan person to compete in the javelin at the Olympics. On Sunday, the 22nd of July, he improved the Kenyan record again at Finnish Elite Games Series event in Kuortane by throwing 81.12 metres. In a post competition interview, he said..."I must admit that this kind of a result was a surprise for me, too. I’ve thrown so far only a couple of times in training. It’s been a good time here in Finland and I enjoyed a lot this atmosphere today. I feel very good, just going to London to participate in the Olympics feels very good. Being my first time, I do not want to say I expect a lot of things there. Just being a participant in the Olympics is good for me. If I make the finals, I will be very happy.”

The qualifying round for the final is on the 8th of August at 7:05pm.

Schedule for the Irish competitors at the London Olympics...

With the Olympics opening ceremony coming up on Friday, the 27th of July, it's time to look ahead to the Irish competitors taking part in the games.

A full list of Irish competitors in ALL sports can be seen HERE

Listed below are the athletics events  

Friday 3rd August 

Athletics Joanne Cuddihy 400m 03-Aug 10:00 Heat

Athletics Ciaran O’Lionard 1500m 03-Aug 19:00 Heat

Athletics Fionnula Britton 10,000m 03-Aug 19:00 Final

Saturday 4th August

Athletics Fionnula Britton Steeplechase 04-Aug 10:00 Heat

Athletics Stephanie O’Reilly Steeplechase 04-Aug 10:00 Heat 

Athletics Tori Pena Pole Vault 04-Aug 10:00 Round 1

Athletics Rob Heffernan 20km Walk 04-Aug 17:00 Final

Athletics Joanne Cuddihy 400m 04-Aug 18:50 Semi Finals

Sunday 5th August

Athletics Linda Byrne Marathon 05-Aug 11:00 Final

Athletics Catriona Jennings Marathon 05-Aug 11:00 Final

Athletics Ava Hutchinson Marathon 05-Aug 11:00 Final

Athletics Ciaran O’Lionard 1500m 05-Aug 18:50 Semi Final

Athletics Joanne Cuddihy 400m 05-Aug 18:50 Finals 

Monday 6th August 
Athletics Derval O’Rourke 100m Hurdles 06-Aug 10:00 Heat

Athletics Stephanie O’Reilly Steeplechase 06-Aug 18:50 Final

Athletics Fionnula Britton Steeplechase 06-Aug 18:50 Final

Athletics Tori Pena Pole Vault 06-Aug 18:50 Final 

Tuesday 7th August
Athletics Paul Hession 200m 07-Aug 10:00 Heat
Athletics Fionnula Britton 5000m 07-Aug 10:00 Heat

Athletics Ciaran O’Lionard 1500m 07-Aug 18:50 Final

Athletics Derval O’Rourke 100m Hurdles 07-Aug 18:50 Semi Final

Wednesday 8th August
Athletics Alistair Cragg 5000m 08-Aug 10:00 Heat
Athletics Paul Hession 200m 08-Aug 18:00 Semi Final 

Thursday 9th August
Athletics Deirdre Ryan High Jump 09-Aug 09:00 Heat
Athletics Paul Hession 200m 09-Aug 18:30 Final
Athletics Women’s Relay 4 x 400m 09-Aug 18:30 Round 1

Friday 10th August
Athletics Women’s Relay 4 x 400m 10-Aug 19:00 Final
Athletics Fionnula Britton 5000m 10-Aug 19:00 Final

Saturday 11th August
Athletics Brendan Boyce 50km Walk 11-Aug 09:00 Final
Athletics Rob Heffernan 50km Walk 11-Aug 09:00 Final
Athletics Colin Griffin 50km Walk 11-Aug 09:00 Final 
Athletics Olive Loughnane 20km Walk 11-Aug 17:00 Final
Athletics Laura Reynolds 20km Walk 11-Aug 17:00 Final
Athletics Alistair Cragg 5000m 11-Aug 18:45 Final
Athletics Deirdre Ryan High Jump 11-Aug 18:45 Final

Sunday 12th August 
Athletics Mark Kenneally Marathon 12-Aug 11:00 Final

Interview with the official starter of the Olympic 100m final

The Guardian had a recent interview with Alan Bell, the official starter of the sprint events in the upcoming Olympics. It offers an interesting insight to what goes on behind the scenes in what is one of the biggest races of the games. The article is HERE while the video clip can be seen below...

Fifth Episode of London Calling now on the RTE Player

In the fifth episode of 'London Calling' on RTE television, they follow Brian Gregan from Dublin and Rob and Marian Heffernan as they aim to qualify for the London Olympics.

Description..."Brian Gregan is a full time athlete and student. Balancing studies and training, Brian must forgo many of the 'perks' of being a student. Drinking and frozen pizzas are definitely not on the menu, as he sticks to a meticulously planned diet. Having been crowned National Champion at the 2011 National Indoor Championships, Brian heads to Paris for the European Indoors to make his mark on the international stage. But nothing goes to plan, and after finishing his only race a medical drama ensues. Will he be able to race again?

Rob and Marian Heffernan from Douglas, Co Cork, are the full time parents, husband and wife team looking to qualify for the London Games. Rob qualified for London in Episode 1, but now Marian's campaign to join him starts in earnest. However tragedy strikes as the death of Rob's mother just before the 2011 World Championships means that they both have to return from Daegu, South Korea. However Rob convinces Marian to return and she lines up with the Irish Women's 4 X 400m as they break the national record. But the drama does not end there. As Marian continues her preparations she is injured in the National Indoors in Belfast- will all these setbacks derail her Olympic dream?"

Brian is on 6:35 to 12:30
Rob and Marian are on from 18:03 to 24:00

The programme can be seen HERE  (Available until the 7th of August)

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.

Largest Olympic rings unveiled in London...

For anyone flying to London for the Olympic Games, you may well notice a set of Olympic Rings mown into the grass in Richmond Park which lies under the flight path of Heathrow Airport.

London 2012 Organising Committee Chair Seb Coe said: 'The Olympic Rings are an iconic symbol, inspiring athletes and uniting people around the world. To athletes they represent the culmination of thousands of hours of training and reaching the highest level in sport. These Rings will excite and inspire visitors coming to London.’

Travelling around London during the Games?

For anyone going to London for the Olympics, this video clip from CNN shows some of the options for getting around and the prices....

Second Episode of London calling now on RTE Player

The  TV series London Calling continued last Tuesday evening on RTE television with a behind the scenes look at Irish Marathon runner Mark Kenneally. The programme looks at his battle to achieve the Olympic 'A' standard of 2:15.

The second episode is available now on the RTE Player Service until the 17th of July. The piece on Mark starts around 10:00.