Olympics - Athletics: Ranked eighth in the world going into this morning's 20km Walk, that's exactly where Robert Heffernan finished in today's race in Beijing.
Valeriy Borchin of Russia claimed gold after shaking the chasing pack two kilometres from the finish with 1996 Olympic champion Jefferson Perez taking silver while the bronze went to Jared Tallent of Australia.
Heffernan, who had lead just after the halfway mark, was unable to keep pace with the leaders at the 15 kilometres mark and came home in a time of 1 hour 20.36 minutes, over a minute outside Borchin's winning mark.
Joanne Cuddihy, meanwhile, was unable to make the semi-finals of the 400m after this morning's heats at the Bird's Nest stadium.
Hampered by a knee injury coming into the Games, Cuddy trailed home in sixth in heat four to bow out of the event.
Later tonight the world's fastest men face off in the 100m sprint in front of more than 90,000 people and a vast global television audience.
Jamaica's Usain Bolt, who seized the world record by running 9.72 seconds in May, looked ominously fast in qualifying heats for the showcase event of the Games.
His main rivals, former world record holder Asafa Powell and American world champion Tyson Gay, have been put in the shade by the tall 21-year-old's 100m performances in the last year.
Formerly a 200m specialist, Bolt hopes to be the first man to win the 100m and 200m Olympic double since Carl Lewis in 1984.
Despite their tradition of producing world class sprinters, Jamaica have yet to win a men's 100m gold and the Caribbean islanders will be watching tensely at 3.30pm Irish time.