BBC NI at the Olympics

Image source, Getty Images/Inpho

Stephanie Meadow and Leona Maguire both produced their best rounds of the week by some distance on the final day on the Women's Olympic golf but the damage had long been done by the Team Ireland duo in relation to their medal hopes.

Meadow carded a closing two-under-par 70 which left in 39th place on six over par at Le Golf National.

After her horrible 83 on Friday which included quadruple and triple bogeys in successive holes on the back nine, it was revealed that Maguire has been suffering with 'flu symptoms all week which offered an explanation for the Cavan woman's struggles which began with opening rounds of 78 and 79.

The Europe Solheim Cup star regrouped with a 71 on Saturday but was unable to improve her position in the field as she was last of the 59 finishers on 23 over par, with Finland's Noora Komulainen having withdrawn.

Maguire mixed four birdies with three bogeys in her closing round.

Meadow, who had shot previous rounds of 78, 74 and 72, carded five birdies and three bogeys as she played her closing six holes in two under by picking up shots at the 14th and 17th.

New Zealand's former world number one Lydia Ko took the gold medal after a closing 71 left her on 10 under.

Ko and Switzerland's Morgane Metraux led the field on nine under going into the final day but the Swiss player dropped five shots in her opening seven holes which included a triple bogey seven at the seventh and eventually signed for a 79 which left him in a share of 18th place on two under.

Germany's Esther Henseleit finished on eight under to take the silver medal with China's Janet Lin Xiyn earning bronze a further stroke back.

Nigel Ringland
BBC Sport NI Senior Journalist in Paris

Image source, Inpho

The Ireland women’s 4x400m relay team ran strongly to claim an automatic place in Saturday night’s final at the Olympic Games.

Without Rhasidat Adeleke, because of her individual 400m final on Friday, the quartet were led off by Sophie Becker who handed to Phil Healy with a healthy lead.

Healy held on well and gave the baton to Kelly McGrory who kept the lead until the final 100m but still got the baton to Sharlene Mawdsley in a good position.

Mawdsley, who has turned herself into a superb final leg runner, bided her time before passing Canada in the home straight to finish third behind Jamaica and the Netherlands.

Adeleke is expected to come in for the final.

Mark English missed out on the men’s 800m final after finishing sixth in a tough semi-final that included the event favourite Djamel Sedjati from Algeria.

English took the race on with 200m to go but hadn’t the speed or strength to claim one of the top two places needed to qualify as he faded in the closing stages posting a time of 1:45.97.

Sarah Lavin bowed out of the women’s 100m hurdles at the semi-final stage.

The Irish record holder ran 12.69 to finish in sixth place.

Image source, Getty Images

Team Ireland's Kate O'Connor has completed her first Olympic heptathlon in 14th place after a strong final day in Paris.

After entering the second and final day of competition in 19th position, O'Connor put in a strong performance to move up five spots at the Stade de France.

In the opening session on Friday, the 23-year-old had a solid long jump before she was third overall in the javelin.

She finished sixth in her heat in the closing 800m to finish on a score of 6167, which was just outside her Irish record.

O'Connor, a Commonwealth Games silver medallist with Northern Ireland in 2022, was competing in her first Olympics.

Putting it down to pre-race nerves, she made a slow start on Thursday in the 100m hurdles but responded with a strong high jump.

O'Connor put in solid displays in the shot put and 200 metres on Thursday, and her strong final day saw her finish 113 points off the top 10.

Great Britain's Katarina Johnson-Thompson claimed a silver medal after a thrilling final sprint with gold medallist Nafissatou Thiam of Belgium.

Nigel Ringland
BBC Sport NI Senior Journalist in Paris

Image source, Getty Images

Belfast’s Alice Sharpe and Lara Gillespie, representing Team Ireland, finished 11th in the final of the women’s madison.

Raced over 120 laps of the National Velodrome at Saint-Quentin, a distance of 30km, there was a relentless pace set from the start by Great Britain, Netherlands and Italy amongst others.

With a sprint every ten laps for points, twelve in all, the gold was claimed by Italy when they stole a lap on the rest of the field.

Great Britain took silver and the Netherlands the bronze.

Sharpe and Gillespie scored three points but couldn’t compete at the front end of the race.

Andy Gray
BBC Sport NI Journalist in Paris

Image source, Getty Images/Inpho

Time has passed as quickly as Daniel Wiffen in a pool over 800 metres, but day 14 of the Paris Olympics is upon us.

From a Team Ireland perspective, two big names are in action in the River Seine and the Stade de France on Friday as Wiffen and Rhasidat Adeleke conclude their Games.

Fresh off the back of his gold and bronze medals at La Defense Arena, Wiffen is back in action for a third and final time as he swims in an event he has never competed in before - the open water 10km marathon.

Wiffen has said a big motivation for taking on the challenge is the opportunity to swim in the River Seine, and he's joked that he would be as surprised as anyone if he could medal.

However, given the way the Games have gone so far, who knows what could happen?

It's an early start if you want to tune in as the race gets underway at 06:30 BST and takes roughly two hours to complete.

Later on Friday, Adeleke has a shot at a medal in the 400 metres final at 19:00 BST in Paris.

She was fastest in her heat and second in her semi-final, as the 21-year-old became the first Irish athlete to qualify for a sprint final at the Olympics.

Kate O'Connor concludes her heptathlon campaign on Friday, while Mark English goes in the 800m semi-finals.

O'Connor sits 19th overall after the opening day and will compete in the long jump, javelin and 800m on Friday.

Last, but by no means least, Alice Sharpe and Laura Gillespie will race in the women's Madison final at the Velodrome at 17:09 BST, while Stephanie Meadow and Leona Maguire compete in the penultimate round of the women's golf at Le National.

Andy Gray
BBC Sport NI Journalist at the Stade de France

Image source, Getty Images

Team Ireland's Kate O'Connor is 19th overall after the opening four events of the Heptathlon at the Paris Olympics.

The 23-year-old was 19th after the 100 metre hurdles and high jump in the morning session.

In the evening session, O'Connor was eighth in Group B and 14th overall in the shot put, and finished the opening day by finishing fourth in her heat in the 200 metres, and 19th overall.

O'Connor, a silver medallist for Northern Ireland at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, is making her debut at the Olympics and is the last athlete from Northern Ireland to compete in Paris.

"I think I was just a little bit like a rabbit caught in headlights [in the hurdles]," O'Connor told BBC Sport NI.

"I'm really proud of myself of how I managed to pick it up in the high jump.

"I left everything out there so I don't think I could have asked for much more of myself."

She got off to a difficult start as she posted the slowest time in the 100 metre hurdles in 14.08 seconds.

However, she responded in style in the high jump and ranked first in Group A as she set a season's best height of 1.77 metres.

Her opening event of the evening session saw her record a score of 13.79 metres, which saw her place 14th overall and eighth in her group.

After struggling in the morning sprint, O'Connor put in a solid performance in the 200 metres as she finished with a season's best time of 24.77 seconds.

That time left her 19th overall in both the 200m and overall standings as the the other two heats all ran faster times.

Her first Olympic campaign will come to a close on Friday in the long jump, javelin and 800m.

Image source, Getty Images

Team Ireland golfers Stephanie Meadow and Leona Maguire continued to struggle on day two of the Olympic Games women's golf competition at Le Golf National in Paris on Thursday.

Meadow, from Jordanstown in Northern Ireland, added a two-over-par 74 to her opening 78 to sit in a tie for 52nd position on eight over.

She posted birdies at the fifth, sixth, 10th and 15th holes but her round was marred by dropped shots at the first, seventh, 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th.

Maguire is tied for 57th of the 60-strong field on 13 over as she posted a 79 after carding a 78 on Wednesday.

The Cavan woman bogeyed the first, recorded a double bogey at 12, dropped a shot a 13 and then fell to a quadruple bogey at the 18th hole.

The sole high point was a birdie four at the ninth.

Swiss player Morgane Metraux leads on eight under after firing a 66 on Thirsday to move onto eight under.

Yin Ruoning of China trails by one after shooting a seven-under 65, with New Zealand's Lydia Ko two shots further in arrears following a 67.

Image source, Getty Images

It's a big day for Kate O'Connor, who will make her Olympics debut at the Stade de France

O'Connor, the last athlete from Northern Ireland to take part in the Games, will go for Team Ireland in a stacked heptathlon field.

The 23-year-old was a silver medallist behind two-time world champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson at the Commonwealth Games in 2022 and was 13th on her World Championship debut last year.

O'Connor will compete in the 100 metre hurdles and the high jump in the morning session before the shot put and 200 metres in the evening session in Paris.

After disappointing starts in the women's golf at Le National, both Stephanie Meadow and Leona Maguire are in second-round action for Team Ireland.

Andy Gray
BBC Sport NI Journalist at the Stade de France

Image source, Inpho

Ireland's Rhasidat Adeleke has qualified for her first Olympic final after finishing second in her semi-final in the 400 metres at the Stade de France.

In doing so, the 21-year-old becomes the first Irish woman to qualify for a sprint final at the Olympics.

Bahrain's Salwa Nid Naser won the opening heat in a time of 49.08 seconds ahead of Adeleke, who clocked 49.95 seconds.

"It was quite messy, but I'm going to hopefully be able to talk to my coach and fix the things I need to fix for the final," Adeleke told BBC Sport NI.

"I think this is where I've raced my whole life. I'm going to be able to go out there and give my all."

The first start was called off due to a false start by Dutch runner Lieke Klaver, who was shown a warning by officials.

The second start was successful as Adeleke, who comfortably won her heat on Tuesday, went out hard with Naser in the opening 200 metres.

The Bahrain athlete was able to pull away in the final 100 metres, and Adeleke looked to ease off in the closing stages and just held off Norway's Henriette Jaeger, who was third in 50.17 seconds.

"I was looking at the screen the whole time," Adeleke added.

"It wasn't my goal to chase her [Naser] down, just to make sure I was in second place."

The final at the Stade de France takes place on Friday at 19:00 BST.

Image source, Getty Images

Ireland's Jack Woolley missed out on a quarter-final spot in the men's 58kg Taekwondo at the Olympic Games in Paris after defeat by Azerbaijan's Gashim Magomedov.

Magomedov took a 2-0 victory over Woolley in a best-of-three-rounds bout at the Grand Palais, scoring 4-7 in round 1 and 7-12 in round two.

Woolley, 25, who is now a two-time Olympian, was eliminated later in the repechage for a place in the bronze medal match when he lost 2-0 to Spain's Adrian Vincente Yunta.

In 2021, Tallaght man Woolley made history becoming Ireland's first ever Taekwondo Olympian at the Tokyo Games but finished 11th overall after a close first-round encounter with Lucas Gomez of Argentina.

Image source, Inpho

Ireland sailor Finn Lynch finished 10th in the men's dinghy class at the Olympic Games on Wednesday after placing eighth in the concluding medal race in Marseille.

Lynch had squeezed into the concluding double-points race after the previous three races had been cancelled because of insufficient wind in the south of France.

The Irishman was the last of the 10 qualifiers for the medal race but was already too far off the pace to get on the podium.

He did make a valiant attempt to improve his position by leading the medal race before it had to be abandoned as the weather again didn't behave.

Following the re-start, Lynch was unable to repeat that as he remained in 10th place with gold won by Australia's Matt Wearn and silver and bronze going to Cyprus' Pavlos Kontides and Peru's Stefano Peschiera.

On Monday, Lynch's Ireland team-mate Eve McMahon missed out on qualification for the medal race in the women's dinghy class after Race 10 had to be abandoned.

Olympic debutant McMahon had earlier in the day given herself an outside chance of getting into the top 10 when finishing seventh in Race 9.

That moved her up to 13th place overall but the abandonment of Race 10 ended her Olympic campaign.