The Irish in Action: If you’re hell-bent on following the fortunes of each and every Irish athlete on Day One of the Olympic Games then you will be sitting in front of your TV for close enough to 12 hours – starting with monitoring the equestrian eventing team’s progress from around 8.30am in the morning and ending with Nhat Nguyen’s opening badminton group match against Israel’s Misha Zilberman in the evening.
Nguyen became just the fourth Irish badminton player to qualify for the Olympics when he made it to Tokyo as a 19-year-old. It’s been a tough journey since, though, as he told Ian O’Riordan last month. He’s up against it in Paris, but he’s thrilling to watch so tune in if you can.
In between the eventers and Nguyen there’ll be a host of Irish athletes beginning their Olympic campaigns, among them the men’s hockey team who take on Belgium, the third-ranked side in the world. And even before it’s time for your lunch you’ll have seen Ellen Walshe and our women’s 4×100m freestyle relay team take to the pool, as well as rowers Philip Doyle and Daire Lynch and then Zoe Hyde and Alison Bergin take to the water in the double skulls.
After the gut-wrenching disappointment of their quarter-final defeat by Fiji the men’s rugby Sevens side have to pick themselves up for a fifth to eighth place play-off against the United States, with their final match later in the evening against either New Zealand or Argentina.
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Two of our canoe slalom folk, Liam Jegou and Madison Corcoran, will have a busy afternoon with two runs in their events, and in cycling Ryan Mullen will be among the starters in the individual time trial.
Dean Clancy will be the first of our boxing team in action when he takes on Jordan’s Obada Alkasbeh in the 63.5kg category at 4.22pm, and come 7.0pm we’ll see the mighty Rhys McClenaghan take his Paris bow when he takes part in the qualifying round of the pommel horse.
Worth a Watch: Some of us might have been dubious enough about skateboarding being introduced to the Olympic programme in Tokyo, but it proved to be a bit of a must-see – although you’d always have needed a cushion handy to hide behind when the protagonists attempted those death-defying loopy jump thingies (not the technical term). Saturday gives us the men’s street skateboarding event, with all three of the medallists from Tokyo back for more, including gold winner Yuto Horigome. Never a dull moment with this lot. It all starts at 4pm.
Saturday, July 27th - Day One at a glance
Badminton
- Nhat Nguyen (Men’s Singles) v Misha Zilberman, 8.10pm
Rowing
- Philip Doyle, Daire Lynch (Men’s Double Sculls), 10.50am
- Zoe Hyde, Alison Bergin (Women’s Double Sculls), from 11.10am
Swimming
- Ellen Walsh (Women’s 100m butterfly heats), from 10am
- Women’s 4x100m freestyle heats (Danielle Hill, Erin Riordan, Grace Davison & Victoria Catterson), from 11.15am
Equestrian
- Three Day Eventing – Dressage, from 8am: Sarah Ennis (8.48am), Susie Berry (11.42am), Austin O’Connor (3.51pm)
Men’s Hockey
- Ireland v Belgium, 9.30am
Gymnastics
- Rhys McClenaghan (Pommel Horse), from 7pm
Cycling
- Ryan Mullen (Road Race Time Trial), 3.32pm
Men’s Rugby Sevens
- Ireland v United States, 2pm
Canoe Slalom
- Liam Jegou (Men’s C1), from 2pm
- Madison Corcoran (Women’s K1), from 3pm
Boxing
- Dean Clancy (63.5kg, Round of 32), v Obada Alkasbeh, 4.22pm
