Jack Hanratty will be pinching himself for a while yet.
“Still trying to process,” he tweeted in reference to Canada’s women’s Sevens side, who the Skerries man coaches, winning silver in Paris. They did it the hard way too, beating France in the quarter-finals and Australia in the last four, before losing to defending champions New Zealand in the final.
The win over Australia was a stunner, Canada coming back from 12-0 down to win 21-12, Charity Williams charging through to get the try that brought them back in to the game.
“It was just so open,” she said of the gap she saw ahead of her. “I looked up and I saw the gates of heaven.” Nice.
Irish women on top of the sporting world
The top 25 women’s sporting moments of the year: 25-6 revealed with Mona McSharry, Rachael Blackmore and relay team featuring
Mona McSharry enjoying the scenic route after realising her Olympic dream
From missing out on the Olympics to winning an AFLW title, nobody had a year like Vikki Wall
Italians cry foul as Hong Kong snatch gold
There was a controversial ending to the Olympic fencing’s men’s foil event when Hong Kong’s Cheung Ka-long beat Italy’s Filippo Macchi 15-14 in the final, becoming the first person to win two gold medals for his country having also triumphed in Tokyo.
The Italian Fencing Federation said they would file a complaint about what it suggested was “unacceptable” refereeing, their Olympic Committee president Giovanni Malagò pointing out, possibly with an eyebrow wiggle, that “the two judges were from Taipei and Korea in a final between Italy and Hong Kong”.
The final point in the match was awarded to Cheung after a video review, the two competitors registering scores around the same time, the Italians disputing that decision. “Never saw anything like this,” said federation president Paolo Azzi. “Filippo Macchi is the real winner and he was denied a gold he deserved.”
As if the Italians weren’t incensed enough, Pizza Hut in Hong Kong only went and offered free pineapple toppings to their customers on Tuesday and Wednesday, pineapple on pizza being regarded by Italians as close enough to a mortal sin. As trolling goes, that takes the biscuit.
Forgetful Nigerian Olympic Committee do sprinter no Favour
Back in 2021, Favour Ofili was one of 10 Nigerian athletes who were ruled out of the Tokyo Games because, the athletes claimed, their federation had failed to provide funding for drug testing ahead of the event.
Ofili was, then, already feeling aggrieved, but, as she put it herself on Instagram, “Now THIS ... I have just been told I will not be competing in the 100m at this Olympic Games. I qualified, but those with the AFN [Athletics Federation of Nigeria] and NOC [Nigerian Olympic Committee] failed to enter me. I have worked for four years to earn this opportunity. For what?”
Strewth. She is, though, due to compete in the 200m and 4x100m. “I hope I’m entered,” she said.
Biles and US gymnasts have last laugh
A few weeks back former US gymnast MyKayla Skinner created a bit of a stir when she questioned the quality of the women’s team the country was sending to the Olympics.
“Besides Simone [Biles], I feel like the talent and the depth just isn’t what it used to be,” she said. “A lot of girls just don’t work as hard. The girls just don’t have the work ethic.”
Come Tuesday evening, Biles posted a photo on Instagram of the team celebrating their gold medal. Her caption? “Lack of talent, lazy, Olympic champions.” Touché.
In words
“When Daniel won my contact lens fell out. I couldn’t see a thing, but I could definitely hear it.” – Rachel Wiffen on being in the Paris La Défense Arena on Tuesday night, but not quite witnessing her son Daniel’s success.
In numbers: 37
That’s how many Olympic medals Ireland has now won since independence, Mona and Daniel topping us up.
