A kind of Hesh all over the world stage

ATHLETICS:"AND IN lane four, the 25 year-old medical student from Athenry . . . " If he is introduced like that, chances are nearly all 91,000 inside the Bird's Nest will be thinking, "who?" At any point in Ireland's long tradition of athletics, the prospect of an Irish sprinter making the Olympic 200 metres final would have sounded impossible.

Suddenly, impossible is nothing.

If Paul Hession gets up to top speed in today's semi-final - and on the basis of his qualification there's nothing to suggest he won't - then a place amongst the eight best 200-metre sprinters in the world looks entirely possible.

If he does make it, he'll probably be the only white man.

Oh, and he'll have one Usain Bolt for company.

Given the fate of most other Irish athletes in Beijing, there's an obvious cap on the expectation. The higher they go, the greater the fall. Hession, more than anyone, has the belief to finally turn hopes into reality.

"Well what do you think?" he asked us in the mixed zone, just as the American Wallace Spearmon passed by and patted him on the shoulders. Hession had beaten Spearmon, the fourth fastest of all-time, to win his quarter-final in 20.32 - just shy of his 20.30 Irish record.

Later, Hession was drawn in the first of two semi-finals, set for 9.25pm in Beijing (2.25pm Irish time). He'll start in lane five (perfect), avoided Bolt (advantage), drew only one American Walter Dix (lucky) and knows the top four will make it (reality). He qualified as seventh fastest. What does he think?

"It won't be easy, but it's definitely possible. I'm not going to get completely carried away. But I'm in the mix. And I'll be in the middle with the big boys. Where you want to be. I'm not under any illusions. They're going to come back strong again tomorrow, so I'll just have to respond.

"But I'm a bit of a stat-o. And last year, 20.33 made the final. I didn't think it would be any quicker this year, and if it was, only a few hundreds. So I think if I run a personal best I'll make the final."

Spearmon, who has a best of 19.65, was left in his wake. How about that?

"This year, I am competing with them a lot more, so they know who I am. I'm not ignored any more. And that's a great feeling."

Earlier in the morning, he'd run 20.39 to ease through the first round. All season, he said he was going to peak for Beijing, that all his training was geared towards running three hard rounds in two days. So far, so perfect.

"Well, I wouldn't say it was comfortable," he added. "But I did exactly what I intended to do. This morning I took it relatively easy, and hoped that would pay off this evening, and it has. I felt very fresh, ready to go, and so up for it. I probably could have run a bit easier. But it doesn't do you any harm to win. It does your confidence a load of good.

"It's amazing, the minute you cross the line, you want to go mad. But you can't. Instantly, my mind was on the next race. And right now, I'm thinking of massage, getting sleep tonight. So I'm buzzing, but keeping it under control. The minute I leave here I'm back in the bubble.

"But I'm absolutely delighted that I got it right. That's what I've worked on and have been sprouting on so much about it, I would have looked stupid if I'd messed it up. But I knew I was getting it right.

"And tonight was proof. Now I have 25 hours to recover. And I've worked hard this winter on being able to recover, so we'll see. One race . . . but I'll be in the mix."

Before he left, we asked him if he felt extra pressure given the apparent ease with which his team-mates were falling around him. "The Hesh", as he's known, sounded insulted.

"No. I'm here for me. I'm here for me first, and Ireland second. I'm very proud of my country, but this is all about my hard work for the past 10 years.

"Finally, hopefully, tomorrow will be the best day of my life, and really pays dividends."

Although he's rooming with David Gillick, Hession slept alone last night. Gillick moved into another room, and just as well, as earlier yesterday he'd crashed out of his 400-metre heat by running 45.83 seconds to finish fourth - well down on his best of 45.12, and five places short of qualification.

Eileen O'Keeffe, nursing a well-documented knee injury, threw 67.66 metres in her hammer qualification group, not bad given the circumstances, yet 2.5 metres short of making the final.