Northern Ireland Athlete's Progress

Friday 27th August

Disappointment for Jessica Kuerten

Northern Ireland's Jessica Kuerten who was joint leader with GB's Nick Skelton after first round clears picked up a disappointing 21 points in the second round to finish joint 19th.

However it was her team mate Cian O'Connor who won the gold medal with his faultless clearance in the second round.

Kurten jumps superb clear

Northern Ireland showjumper Jessica Kuerten produced a brilliant clear in the opening round of the individual final in Athens on Friday.

Irish hopeful Kuerten, aboard Castle Forbes Maike, and Britain's Nick Skelton on Arko III were the only riders to go clear in the first round.  That put the Irishwoman in real medal contention ahead of the deceisive second round on Friday evening.

Her team-mate Cian O'Connor was in joint-fourth place on four faults.

Thursday 26th August

Brown finishes 16th

Portaferry man Fraser Brown and his partner Tom Fitzpatrick have finished 16th in the 49er sailing class in Athens. The Irish pair failed to improve their overall position despite coming 12th in Thursday's final race. The race was won by Germany while the gold medal went to Spain.  Britain claimed the bronze medal.

Wednesday 25th August

Kurten makes Athens Final

Northern Ireland show jumper Jessica Kurten safely qualified for the individual final in Athens by jumping a superb clear round on Tuesday night. Kurten will join her Irish team-mates Kevin Babbington and Cian O'Connor in the 45-strong field on Friday.  Kurten qualified joint-17th. Ireland finished seventh in the team competition some 16 faults off the bronze medal position.

Tuesday 24th August

Brizzel bows out in Athens

Ballymena sprinter Paul Brizzel failed to progress from the 200 metres first round heats at the Olympics on Tuesday. Brizzel, hampered by the draw which placed him in lane one of his qualifier, clocked 21.00 seconds which left him in sixth place.  The Irish record holder's inability to progress to the second round was little surprise after an injury-affected year. A top-four position earned automatic qualification and he was outside the last fastest loser's mark of 20.78.

Monday 23rd August

Brown back down to 16th

Ireland sailors Fraser Brown and Tom Fitzpatrick finished 14th in the 12th race of the 49ers class on Monday.  The mid-fleet finish sees the Irish duo drop back to 16th overall with four races remaining. 

Sunday 22nd August

Irish rowers last in final

Ireland's lightweight men's four rowing team trailed home in last place in Sunday's final.  Richard Archibald, Eugene Coakley, Niall O'Toole and Paul Griffin were placed second aftfer the first 500 metres but fell away to finish sixth.

The Irish ended up nearly nine seconds behind gold medal winners Denmark.  The Danes led from start to finish but were pursued by Australia and Italy, who edged out Holland for bronze in a photo finish.

Ireland had been just 0.87 seconds down at the first timecheck but recorded the slowest splits of all the crews in each of the next three segments of the race to slide out of contention.

Thursday 19th August

Irish fours in final

Coleraine rowers had mixed fortunes at the Schinias Olympic    Rowing centre on Thursday morning. Richard Archibald was a member of the Ireland lightweight fours team that came through their semi-final heat.  Archibald, along with Eugene Coakley, Niall O'Toole, and stroke Paul Griffin, will contest the final on Sunday morning.

They came third in their heat but were sixth slowest in a time of 5:58.89.

However, Alan Campbell and his GB crew, bowed out after coming sixth in their semi-final heat.

Wednesday 18th August

Brown now 12th

Portaferry man Fraser Brown and his partner Tom Fitzpatrick have moved up to 12th position in the 49er class at the Olympic Games. After being 10th overnight, the Irish pair finished 16th and 10th in Wednesday's opening races but then took a fine fourth place in the next race.

Meanwhile, Ireland finished a disappointing eighth place in the team competition at the three-day event. 

Richhill's Sasha Harrison finished 49th in the individual event.  Harrison had two fences down in the final showjumping round on Wednesday.

Tuesday 17th August

Williamson fails to qualify

Michael Williamson failed to qualify for the semi-finals of the 200m breaststroke on Tuesday and ended Ireland's interest at the Olympic pool.  The Lisburn swimmer was fifth in his heat in a time of two minutes 15.75 seconds finishing 22nd from 48 starters. Williamson failed to achieve his best form or get near his Irish record of 2:14.18.

Meanwhile, Sasha Harrison had a disappointing run in the cross-country phase of the three-day event on Tuesday morning.

The Richhill girl picked up 41.6 penalty points which included 20 for time faults which leaves her 56th overall.

Meanwhile, sailors Fraser Brown and Tom Fitzpatrick hope to get out on the water after they had a frustrating day on Monday when all three races in the 49er class were postponed due to weather conditions.

Campbell and Archibald makes semis

Alan Campbell has become the second Coleraine man to qualify for a rowing semi-final at the Athens Olympics.

Irish team member Richard Archibald had already made Thursday's semi-finals of the lightweight four event.

Sunday 15th August 2004

Harrison sitting pretty

Richhill's Sasha Harrison helped the Ireland three-day event team to third place after the initial dressage stage at the Markopoulo Olympic Centre.  Riding All Love du Fenaud, Harrison was the best of the Irish riders with a penalty score of 52.80 and 12th overall in the individual dressage phase.

Harrison, though, was disappointed with her own performance and that of her mount All love du Fenaud.  "He was a little bit electric," she said.  "It's so hard when horses are fit.  He was an angel in the warm-up, but he was a bit above himself in the area.

"I'm gutted.  He's usually a show-off but he just wasn't concentrating."

Impressive

The men's lightweight four team of Coleraine's Richard Archibald, Eugene Coakley, Niall O'Toole and Paul Griffin produced an impressive display to finish second in their heat, behind the Australians.

Meanwhile Coleraine rower Alan Campbell, rowing with the GB coxless quadruple sculls qualified for the next round after coming fourth in their heat behind the winners from the Czech Republic.

Disappointment

There was disappointment for Coleraine's Emma Robinson who crashed out of the 100m breaststroke.  She failed to qualify from first round clocking a disappointing one minute and 11.40 seconds. "I tried to stay relaxed, but in the second 50 my arms were shaking.  I've never felt like that before," said Robinson.