Although competitive action has already taken place in the 33rd Olympiad of games in Paris the opening ceremony will be held this evening and will be staged over a series of barges on the River Seine. Sarah Lavin and Shane Lowry are to carry the Irish Flag in tonight’s ceremony beginning at 6.30pm Irish time. The games will run until August 11th amid tight security.
Ireland has several medal prospects including Tipperary’s Daire Lynch in rowing, Aimee Lee Murphy Crowe in women’s rugby and Sharlene Mawdsley in athletics.
Daire Lynch is first into action in the qualifying heats of the Men’s Double Sculls rowing event alongside his teammate Philp Doyle at 10.30am on Saturday morning. The pair won gold at the World Cup regatta event last month.
The women’s rugby team will be hoping to do better than the men’s 7s team who were eliminated in last night’s quarter final against Fiji. Amee Leigh Murphy Crowe from Lattin and a Clanwilliam RFC member and her teammates take on Team GB at 2.30pm and South Africa at 6pm on Sunday in their pool matches. Local roads, schools and businesses are displaying signs wishing Amee and the entire Irish team well.
Sharlene Mawdsley hopes to take part in 3 Olympic events – the women’s 4x400m Relay, the mixed 400m Relay event and the individual 400m event. Sharlene who began her running with Newport AC will see her first action on Friday August 2nd in the Mixed 4x400m relay heats.
