EVERY MORNING, WE bring you all of the info you need to make sure you don’t miss a second of Olympic gold.
Irish people would be forgiven for focusing purely on John Joe Nevin’s fight this evening, but there genuinely is so much more to look forward to today.
Indeed, in case you haven’t heard, there’s also several Irish athletes competing in the walking events, including Olive Loughnane and Robert Heffernan.
And not forgetting the plethora of other questions left to be answered: can Usain Bolt maintain his extraordinary form in the 4x100m? Are Mexico capable of shocking Brazil in the Men’s football? Can the Dutch Men’s hockey team emulate their female counterparts and claim gold by defeating Germany?
Stay with us throughout the day to find out the answers.
Top of the bill
Boxing
It’s almost needless to mention John Joe Nevin, who fights Luke Campbell at 8.45pm, but that’s not the only important bout taking place. Indeed, there are four other Finals on tonight, including a match featuring Paddy Barnes’ conqueror, Shiming Zou, who takes on Kaeo Pongprayoon of Thailand at 8.30pm.
Football
Brazil play Mexico at 3pm in the Gold Medal match, and while the former are most definitely the heavy favourites for this contest, there have already been a number of shock results over the course of the tournament. Moreover, even if Brazil win comfortably, it’s never anything other than entertaining when watching players of the immense talent of Leandro Damiao and Neymar at the top of their game.
Athletics
There are number of hugely intriguing events taking place throughout the day, including the Women’s High Jump Final (7pm), the Women’s 800m Final (8pm), the Men’s 4 x 100m Relay Final (9pm) and of course, the Men’s 50km Race Walk (9am) and the Women’s 20km Race Walk (5pm), both of which feature Irish athletes.
Who’s flying the flag?
Robert Heffernan, Brendan Boyce and Colin Griffin will all be taking part in the Men’s 50km Race Walk, which is due to begin at 9am.
Similarly, in the Women’s 20km walk, which gets underway at 5pm, Olive Loughnane and Laura Reynolds are both set to feature.
Meanwhile, Andrzej Jezierski will be representing Ireland in the Men’s Canoe Single (C1) 200m Final B at approximately 9.47am.
In addition, Arthur Lanigan-O’Keeffe competes in the Men’s Modern Pentathlon Swimming Heat 4 at 1.20pm.
And of course, there’s the small matter of the Men’s Bantam (56kg) Finals, in which John Joe Nevin will be fighting Great Britain’s Luke Campbell at 8.45pm.
Do not miss…
Usain Bolt has had a near-perfect Olympic Games so far. Helping Jamaica triumph today in the Men’s 4x100m Relay Final at 9pm will thus represent the icing on the cake for the sprinter widely regarded as the fastest man ever, with most neutrals likely urging him on to complete a phenomenal Olympic hat-trick.And while anything other than a Jamaican victory would be a major surprise, the USA certainly pose a threat, having recorded the fastest overall qualification time.
For those of you needing something to watch after both Usain Bolt’s race and John Joe’s fight have ended, you could do far worse than checking out the Women’s basketball final between USA and France, which begins at 9pm.
Unsurprisingly, as with Jamaica in the 4x100m, the US are odds-on favourites to prevail in this event, having won gold at six of the past seven Olympics. However, they looked decidedly shaky for parts of their semi-final against Australia – they trailed 47-43 at half-time, for instance. Yet while a France victory is still highly unlikely, stranger things have happened at these Games.
And I won’t bother giving John Joe Nevin any further, unnecessary publicity… Okay fine, I will – make sure you’re not doing anything at 8.45pm this evening. If he wins gold, London 2012 will arguably go down as Ireland’s most successful Olympic Games ever. No pressure, John Joe.
