Rob Heffernan finishes 6th in Olympic 50k final

Rob Heffernan finished 6th in the final of the 50km race walk in Rio on Friday the 19th of August. At the half way mark, Rob looked as if he might be in the mix for a medal but muscle cramp in the second half forced him out of the back of the leading group.

At first, it looked as if he finished 6th but a Japanese athlete who was in 3rd place was subsequently disqualified after he had been found to obstruct a Canadian competitor. After another appeal, the Japanese athlete was reinstated so Rob was 6th.

The second Irish athlete was Brendan Boyce who finished in 19th position with a time of 3h 53m 59s. This top 20 finish is an improvement on his performance at the London Olympics where he finished in 27th place in a time of 3h 55m 01s.

The third Irish athlete Alex Wright had to pull out after 30km, perhaps a sign that he hadn't fully recovered from the 20k race last weekend.

"I tried to win the Olympic Games and I finished sixth" - another heroic performance from @RM_Heffernan #rterio2016 https://t.co/mhMKuyFJPw

— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) August 19, 2016

Olive Loughnane presented with her World Championship Gold Medal in Amsterdam.

In a ceremony at the European Athletic Championships in Amsterdam today, Olive Loughnane was finally presented with her World Championship Gold Medal. In the World Championships in Berlin in 2009, Olga Kaniskina finished in front of Olive Loughnane in the womens 20k race walk to take Gold. In January of 2015, it was announced that the Russian athlete had been found guilty of doping and that Olive would be upgraded to Gold.

Olive who lives in Coachford was presented the medal by Seb Coe, president of the IAAF. She joins a small group of Irish athletes like Sonia O'Sullivan, Rob Heffernan, Eamonn Coughlan and Derval O'Rourke who have won World Championship Gold medals.

GOLD for @OliveLoughnane - Seven years after the Berlin World Championships, Olive is recognised as the race winnerhttps://t.co/XCCy0AEPTg

— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) July 6, 2016

Post ceremony interview with Will Dowling...



Photo: James Veale