ATHLETICS:Irish athletes have only ever won six medals on the Olympic stage, and most of those came when least expected.

Pat O’Callaghan went to Amsterdam in 1928 for the experience, and ended up winning the gold medal, in the hammer. He was fancied to defend that title in Los Angeles 1932, which he did, but when Bob Tisdall won the 400 metres hurdles in the same Olympics he surprised absolutely everyone.

Ronnie Delany was just 21 when he won his 1,500 metres gold medal in Melbourne in 1956, and when John Treacy ended the long wait for the next Irish medal, winning silver in the marathon in Los Angeles in 1984, he produced of the greatest marathon debuts in Olympic history.

So to Sydney 2000, where Sonia O’Sullivan finally won her Olympic medal, silver in the 5,000 metres, although many people assumed her time had come and gone, given she’d been hotly fancied to win gold in Atlanta four years previous.

The big difficulty in London, not just for Irish athletes but the majority of others too, is simply trying to compete against the all-conquering Jamaican and the American sprinters, and the East African distance runners, who have an advance booking on practically all the podium positions.

Ian O’Riordan

VERDICT– Should be competitive

Few medal chances, unless Rob Heffernan (50km walk) and Olive Loughnane (20km walk) produce something very special. Deirdre Ryan (high jump) and Alistair Cragg (5,000 metres) offer the best chance of making finals, with Fionnuala Britton capable of chasing the east Africans in a straight run 10,000 metres final.