What we learned today
- Oscar Pistorius is still an incredible athlete. He may have lost his titles over one and two hundred metres. But as all behind him were drained of power, his thighs kept on pumping.
- James Scully and Darragh McDonald will be forces to be reckoned with in Rio. The teenage swimmers were our last competitors and they ended as they started, by giving it all they had. McDonald could not add to his early gold at this meet, but both have shown tremendous pedigree.
- Michael McKillop sums up the spirit of the Games. I should probably have put that in quotes, because that’s the view of the IPC who will award McKillop and Kenya’s Mary Nakhumicha Zakayo honorary gold medals at tomorrow’s closing ceremony.
Chris Radburn/PA Wire/Press Association Images
Other news from Team Ireland
After a historic week for Irish cycling where a medal haul of five included two golds, James Brown and Damien Shaw were forced to withdraw from their final event, the Men’s Individual B Road Race.
They endured enough frustration for each of them as they suffered a puncture followed by a mechanical problem in the first 32km of the 104km race.
Brown though, was philosophical saying: “The Road Race is a bit of a lottery, we had a plan but you can’t predict what will happen out there. We are lucky we didn’t puncture in the Time Trial (when they won bronze)”.
Hero of the day
We had to go searching for his name, but it has to be Germany’s David Behre in the men’s T44 400m.
Almost five seconds after Pistorius had reinstated himself as the greatest athlete on blades, Behre was catching up fast on 200m champ Alan Oliveira. The German seen Oliveira begin a dip for the finish and so, gave it one last push to send himself hurtling towards the line.
He crossed the line in a heap. He didn’t manage to beat Oliveira, but he does take fifth… and our respect.
YouTube video of the day
We’d like to extend a sincere thank you to Channel Four for putting this Public Enemy song back on our radar.
Here’s the inimitable Flavor Flav and Chuck D with ‘Harder than you think’ - a song that will now forever be associated with outstanding human endeavour.
YouTube credit: publicenemyvideos
Medal table
No need to cut anyone out of this one. We’re right up there. (As of 22:40)
