Harrington defeated Brazil’s Beatriz Fereira by unanimous decision to earn Team Ireland’s second gold medal at Tokyo 2020 and conclude a fantastic run for the 2018 World Amateur Lightweight Champion.

The boxer has not been able to take in her achievement due to sleepless nights after her win and the increase in media attention compared to her World Championship victory.

“I think it will take for me to realize what’s actually going on, it will take me a couple of weeks, to not be around the team, to not be in that environment, to actually realize what has happened, and what I have achieved,” said the Olympic gold medallist.

A large amount of her family and friends greeted Kellie when she returned from New Delhi with gold in 2018 following her win over Olympic semi-final opponent Sudaporn Seesondee.

However, there was a smaller group waiting for her at the airport because of the restrictions in place and a large media presence wanting to hear from her as soon as she touched down.

The media have had a huge interest in Harrington since her victory and the fighter did not get back to her room in Tokyo until 9 pm JST on the day of the fight because of a press conference and an RTÉ interview.

“This is the first time speaking to me Ma and Da [since the win] because I haven’t been ringing people or anything like that because I’m just so exhausted.”

The only person she spoke to before returning home was her partner, Mandy Loughlin, via Bernard Dunne’s phone for only ten minutes.

Harrington hopes to relax for the coming weeks after being on a strict diet since she began preparing for the Olympics.

She is also thinking about getting a replica medal made as the original one already has a scratch on it.

However, Harrington did not seem too bothered about the scratch and the boxer is excited to watch some television, listen to the radio and eat whatever she wants over the coming days.

“I just want to sit down on me sofa, watch some telly, or not watch telly – listen to the radio…It’s gonna be brilliant to just eat whatever I want.”

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Coyle goes into day two lying in joint third position on the overall leaderboard with a total of 238 points.

Over the course of 17 rounds, the athletes competed in one-minute bouts against each other, with the total victories and defeats resulting in points that are accumulated and contribute to the overall total – Coyle’s final points reflect a total of 23 victories/12 defeats.

The Meath athlete took to the piste in confident style, immediately moving towards the top of the leaderboard, maintaining her place in consistent fashion throughout the bouts, with a really strong showing in the first half of the competition.

Keeping her composure over the course of the session, Coyle said that she enjoyed her competition opener.

“It was really good,” Coyle said. “I don’t even know the results yet, I don’t think I’ll look, because Pentathlon is one out of five. I know it started off really well, and I just feel really happy. I’m really glad to have done all the training and my coaches justice, so I’m really happy with that anyway.”

Coyle started strong and kept the pressure on throughout the round.

For the first time the fencing event was held on a different day to the remaining swim, horse ride, and laser run, something she took advantage of: “I was very pumped the whole way through there.

“Normally I try to conserve some energy, but we have more time, so I was pretty excited for each hit. It’s a long time where there’s a lot of mental energy expended. I think it’s three hours, but it flies by, I can’t believe it’s over.”

Fencing is a discipline that Coyle has done specific work on over the past few years, and that work was evident with today’s performance.

“I was really lucky in the Team Ireland holding camp in Fukuroi that I could bring some good fencers, and I think it showed out there in the piste today, it definitely helped.

“It’s the Olympics, the pinnacle of every sport, so you’re pretty much up for every fight.

“I think the big thing is to not ride every loss and normally say don’t ride the highs, but I think I rode them pretty well in the arena. Normally I try to stay calm in between rounds and just let it out on the piste.”

Tomorrow, Coyle will contest the 200m Freestyle Swimming, Fencing Bonus Round, Show Jumping and the Laser Run, and the athlete with the highest number of points at the end of all disciplines is deemed the winner.

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He followed in the footsteps of his father Seamus who competed at the 1984 LA Games.

The gruelling four-event Omnium was the first event on Downey’s race schedule at the Games, as he also teams up with Felix English on Saturday for their preferred event, the Madison, which is raced over 50-kilometers or 200-laps.

After four rounds – the Scratch Race, Tempo Race, Elimination Race and Points Race – Downey finished in 17^th position with a haul of 18 points.

Downey started with a 16^th place finish in the Scratch race, which is a classic first-across-the-line race over 15km for men. Five riders gained a lap on the field, while Downey sprinted with a large bunch all fighting for places.

There was disappointment for Downey in the Tempo race though, as he was pipped for a point mid-way through the race.

The all-out effort saw him drop the wheel and lose a lap along with Andreas Mueller of Austria and David Maree of South Africa.

That resulted in a 20-point deduction which put Downey in 19^th place. The Elimination race followed, which sees the last rider to cross the line at each intermediate sprint eliminated.

Selections are made every two laps, and with speeds averaging 55kph, Downey suffered an early elimination finishing 19^th.

With Downey out of contention going into the Points Race it was a case of keeping out of trouble and keeping the legs fresh for Team Ireland’s target event on Saturday, and he climbed the overall rankings to finish 17^th overall.

Speaking after the race Downey said: “Yeah, I didn’t really know what to expect… I’m an athlete, I like to compete, but look it’s my first Omnium at this level. I threw the kitchen sink at it. It’s not a banging result, it is what it is.”

“We got this race off the back of the Madison, so I’m looking forward to going again with Felix. He’s super motivated back in the hotel so I’m not too disappointed with the result. The level we know is really, really high here so I can’t be too disappointed, and we’ll move forward again.”

Team Ireland track cycling head coach and 2012 Olympian Martyn Irvine added: “Not the race we wanted but it shows we haven’t focused on it in preparation and training. Given the year that’s in it, we were just happy to get a start on the race. It has set us up to build from here, the level has raised, it’s amazing to see what people have actually done through Covid.”

“We have shifted our focus to the main event of this week for us, the last two years we have focused on the Men’s Madison and that’s the main goal on our side.”

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The Team Ireland member ran close to his personal best, coming across the line with a time of 3:35.84 in 10th, just outside his best time of 3:35.66.

The Balbriggan athlete posted the second-fastest time of his career, and with just the top 5 advancing to the final (plus two time-qualifiers), his Olympic Games finishes with a 20^th place ranking overall.

A quick opening lap set the tone of the race, with the Irishman needing to have his wits about him from the gun to stay in contention.

Coscoran stayed connected to the race throughout, sitting at the back of the main pack and hoping to produce a fast final 100m like in his heat, but ultimately those ahead of him held on.

Noting the fast early pace and his plan for the race, Coscoran said: “A 56-second flat first lap will take the steam out of you fairly quickly…The plan was to stay connected to the pack. No matter where the pack was…in the heats, I let a little bit of a gap open so the plan was to not let that happen.”

Proud of his two races in his Olympic Games debut he added; “It was a good race, it was good for me. The heats was probably the best race of my life, and then that was the best race of my life…I think I did better than what I was expected to do and I think that’s because of all the race experience I’ve had in the entire season”.

The second semi-final was won in an Olympic record by Abel Kipsang of Kenya, and a time qualifier position would have required an Irish record or three-second PB from the Irishman.

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Kenny crossed the line in a time of 1:26.54 to seal an impressive Olympic debut in the Japanese capital city.

The racewalker finished one second ahead of his closest opponent, Jose Oswaldo Calel of Guatemala, and was under six minutes behind the winner, Italian Massimo Stano.

The 22-year-old’s result comes less than a month after he picked up silver at the European U-23 Championships.

Kenny finished that race with a time of 1:25.50 to earn the silver medal in Tallinn at the beginning of July.

The Kerryman is also a two-time national champion in the sport, following in the footsteps of his coach, world champion and Team Ireland Olympic bronze medalist Rob Heffernan.

The Olympians have put similar times at the same age and the five-time Olympian also earned a late-twenties finish in his first Olympic Games in Sydney.

Heffernan has gone on record to say that the rising star in race walking is “better than [he] was at that age.”

The Farranfore-Maine Valley athlete has added to an already fantastic season and is expected to move up the world rankings, where he currently resides in 92nd.

To add to his silver medal in Tallinn and the impressive Olympic debut, Kenny has achieved his personal best in the 20km race walk this year.

A strong performance in Dudince, Slovakia in the middle of March saw David Kenny clock a time of 1:23.06.

His selection for the Olympics complimented the achievements he has managed in his career so far and the performance only does so further.

The man who got him into racewalking, Michael O’Connor, was impressed with his performance and gave his thoughts to Radio Kerry.

“Given the conditions, he put up a mighty performance altogether,” O’Connor exclaimed. “A British fella there, Tom Bosworth, he’d be the white hope really of the British – he was 25th, David was 29th – and he was really expected to do pretty well.

“And I think that puts it into context for a young fella. There was seven of them around 22 years of age…it was a mighty performance altogether.”

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The lightweight took the win – and a minimum silver medal – on a 3-2 split decision.

They were neck-and-neck throughout, with Kellie taking a 3-2 edge in the opening two rounds, leaving a big closing round ahead.

Patience was key for Harrington though, and it paid off in the third, as she kept her composure against the tricky southpaw, to maintain her 3-2 lead and take the win.

Kellie has now secured a minimum of an Olympic silver medal for Team Ireland and will box for gold this coming Sunday in the Women’s Light (57-60kg) Olympic final.

“It’s fantastic,” she said afterwards. “Olympic silver medallist. That’s the stuff that people dream about.”

Harrington described the bout as a chess match and says her previous fight with Seesondee at the 2018 AIBA Amateur World Championships was like one too.

“It was patience that was key, I kept my patience and she didn’t. And that’s what won me the fight. The coaches were in the corner telling me, ‘stay patient’ and giving me tactics to throw and it worked.”

Reflecting on how it feels to be through to an Olympic final and have a silver medal secured she added that many have tried to get there, many don’t have what it takes to succeed because they don’t have the willpower, the determination, the focus, the dedication.

“I eat, sleep and breathe boxing. I’ve had heartbreak. I know what it is to fail and I know how hard it is to pick yourself back up after that. This is why I am who I am, and why I am here today – because I’m not afraid of failure. I know what it is. I’m Kellie Harrington. I’m myself and I make my own pathway.”

Kellie will face off against Beatriz Ferreira of Brazil in the Women’s Light Olympic final at 6 am Irish time on Sunday.

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Watson is the first female diver to represent Team Ireland at an Olympic Games.

The 19-year-old faced 29 of the world’s best in the preliminaries on Wednesday morning but dived well throughout the round to score a total of 289.40 points across her five dives, which saw her finish 16^th overall.

Watson posted scores around the 60 mark with each of her dives and was rewarded with a semi-final position for her work.

Her first dive, a back two-and-a-half somersault, earned the diver her highest marks with a score of 62.40.

The divers with the top 18 scores in this round progress to Thursday morning’s semi-finals, and the top 12 scorers in those semi-finals will compete for the Olympic medals in the Final later that day.

Watson will have the opportunity to be one of those 12 in her first appearance at the Olympic Games.

“I feel great, and just excited to go out there again and do my dives and get through again tomorrow,” Watson said.

“My first dive was pretty good for me, everything was consistent, so all my dives were on the head. My plan into the semi-finals is that I personally want to enjoy it again.

“I did really good diving today, so I’m really excited to find that again. Also tomorrow, I want to work on my entries into the water.”

Damian Ball, National Head Coach for Diving, was impressed with Tanya’s performance and praised her consistency.

“Consistency is key in these moments and that’s exactly what Tanya showed today, she competed with a cool head with solid dives,” Ball exclaimed.

“Today’s score was 18 points higher than the score Tanya achieved to qualify for the Olympic Games.  We are looking forward to tomorrow’s semi-final and will fight for a spot in the finals .”

The semi-finals begin at 2 am Irish time at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre.

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Haughey, the grandniece of former Irish Taoiseach Charles Haughey, broke the Asian 200m Freestyle record with a time of 1:53.92.

Haughey’s mother is from Hong Kong and her father is Irish and the swimmer was born in and has grown up in the former British colony.

The swimmer’s previous best time was 1:54.89, which she had set in April of this year.

The 23-year-old was already the first swimmer from Hong Kong to reach an Olympic final and solidified her mane in Olympics history with her performance.

The two-time Olympian dominated proceedings for much of the race, leading the way up until the final 50m when Australian Ariarne Titmus edged her out to take gold in the event.

Ariarne Titmus won gold in the women’s 200-meter freestyle, setting a new Olympic record.

Siobhan Bernadette Haughey won silver after becoming the first swimmer from Hong Kong to make it to an Olympic final.https://t.co/8MovOvdunU pic.twitter.com/lqMf5WHOp2

— NYT Graphics (@nytgraphics) July 28, 2021

The silver medal makes the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Hong Kong’s most successful Olympics ever.

Fencer Edgar Cheung Ka-Long had previously won gold for the Olympic team on Tuesday – Hong Kong’s first gold since Atlanta 1996.

“My achievement, coupled with Cheung Ka-Long in fencing, can inspire other Hong Kong athletes who are here in Tokyo, and ‘add oil’ to them,” she said after her race.

The phrase is a motivational one that means to keep drawing strength.

She has shown massive improvement since her Olympic debut in Rio where she made the semis of the event and swam a time of 1:57.56.

Haughey had stated before she made her Olympic debut in 2016 that she had been approached to represent Ireland but “chose to represent Hong Kong because I was born there, raised there, and feel connected and proud to represent Hong Kong”.

Haughey raced in the Women’s 100m Freestyle Heats later on in the same day, coming second overall across all heats, behind only new Olympic record holder Emma McKeon by half a second.

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