And away we go!
Rio 2016 is officially underway and Irish athletes can begin their medal haul on Saturday.
Dan Martin won’t have stayed up too late taking in the pomp and circumstances of the opening ceremony at the Maracanã as he’s got one of the biggest days of his life on the horizon.
Birmingham-born Martin finished in the top-10 of last month’s Tour de France and will be optimistic of building on that momentum to medal in the Men’s Road Race.
The 29-year-old is 12-1 to cross the line first, making him fifth favourite for the 240 km race along the Brazilian coast.
He is the top Ireland representative in the race, with his cousin Nicolas Roche also taking part.
Kieran Behan is something of a miracle.
Having been told as a child that he would never walk again after being confined to a wheelchair, he’s rebounded to become one of the best gymnasts in the world.
It’s been a career of almosts for the 27-year-old who failed to qualify for the finals at London 2012 and just missed out on an individual medal at the European Games last June.
London-born Behan qualified for these Games at a Rio Test Event in April at the HSBC Barra Olympic Arena and will be hoping to put his near-misses to bed with success on Saturday afternoon.
The Irish men’s hockey team will certainly have to earn their progress from Group B and into the quarter-finals as they will come up against the likes of reigning Olympic champions Germany and silver medalists the Netherlands.
They get their campaign started against India, who are ranked fifth best in the world in the FIH World Rankings, on Saturday at 3pm Irish time.
Head coach Craig Fulton’s 16-man squad was named at the start of June and they will be captained by goalkeeper David Harte.
Ireland hockey squad: Jonny Bell (Lisnagarvey) defender, Chris Cargo (Racing) midfield, Peter Caruth (Annadale) forward, Mitch Darling (Rotterdam) forward, Paul Gleghorne (Lisnagarvey) defender, Kyle Good (Monkstown) forward, Ronan Gormley (Krefeld) defender, David Harte (Captain, Kampong) goalkeeper, Conor Harte (Racing) defender, John Jackson (Reading) defender, John Jermyn (Cork C of I) midfield, Eugene Magee (Banbridge) midfield, Shane O’Donoghue (Dragons) midfield, Alan Sothern (Pembroke) forward, Kirk Shimmins (Pembroke) midfield, Michael Watt (Lisnagarvey) forward.
Travelling Reserves:Tim Cockram (Lisnagarvey) forward, Michael Robson (Annadale) midfield, David Fitzgerald, (Monkstown) goalkeeper
