He'll be 39 by the time next summer's World Athletics Championships roll around but that will not deter Rob Heffernan from continuing his career.
He has good reason for not hanging up his runners just yet. On Friday, the Corkman looked in great condition as he finished sixth in the 50K Walk in Rio. Heffernan was in contention for a medal for most of the race. In the end, he would be cut adrift by the pace and finish just over three minutes behind gold medal winner Matej Toth of Slovakia.
The 2017 World Championships take place in London at the same venue where Heffernan finished fourth in the 2012 Olympics. In March of this year, he was upgraded to the bronze medal position after Russian Sergey Kirdyapkin - who had finished first - was disqualified for doping violations.
Apart from still being competitive, Heffernan's political leanings offer further motivation for him to continue. In a post on his Facebook page today, Heffernan said that, as a republican, he'd love to hear Amhrán na bhFiann 'blared throughout Buckingham Palace where the walks will take place'.
What to say the morning after your 5th Olympics...first of all I want to thank each and everyone of you for your support which is so important and needed by me. I am always so overwhelmed by the kindness and generosity of the Irish people. We have the best people and best sports fans on earth and it is a complete privilege to represent you.
I gave it my absolute all yesterday to get a medal and I am so sorry I came up just short. Sport is a brutal results business but given this is my 3rd Olympics in a row in the top 8 which is very satisfying I would dearly loved to have been on the medal podium more often.
The fear of mentioning names like this is that, in my tired state, I might leave someone out but I do want to thank everyone who played even a small role in my preparation- this is absolutely a team effort and I have a great team.
As my wife Marian reminds me the best decision I ever made was to marry her which I of course agree with, but given how close I am to the medal podium I am not going to make any big decisions just yet as there is quite a big event on soon in the city I won my Olympic medal in and as a republican there's nothing I'd love more than to hear our national anthem blared throughout Buckingham Palace where the walks will take place in next years World Championships...
As Steve Jobs said stay hungry stay foolish and I'm still very much both! Thank you all once again and hope to meet many of you soon.
Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
