More history was made by Ireland at the European Championships last night in Rome as Ciara Mageean doubled Ireland's gold medal tally with victory in the 1500m final.
The Portaferry, County Down native was able to breakthrough in the final stretch to win her first ever gold medal at the European Championships at the age of 32, having won silver and bronze in previous editions.
She became the third person/team to win a gold medal for Ireland at the European Championships after the great Sonia O'Sullivan and the mixed 4x400m relay team which won their gold medal on Friday night.
It was a victory which had the whole country celebrating, including the panel in the RTÉ studio. 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Rob Heffernan posted a video of the RTÉ studio during the final stages of the race and the tension in the room could be cut with a knife. However, as Mageean broke away the room erupted with Heffernan calling to "cancel the Sunday Game lads!" so they could celebrate even more.
Léigh an scéal seo trí Ghaeilge ar Liathróidí.ie brúigh anseo.
🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪 pic.twitter.com/cBcblNqr9Y
— Rob Heffernan OLY (@RM_Heffernan) June 9, 2024
The cameras in the studio were also able to capture the others panelist's reaction with Derval O'Rourke doing a great impression of a kangaroo as she couldn't contain her excitement at Mageean's win.
There's nothing like a gold medal to get the RTÉ Sport panel on their feet 🥇
Incredible stuff from @ciaramageean 👏@dervalorourke @rm_heffernan @soniaagrith #Roma2024 pic.twitter.com/wEg3QJlFib
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) June 9, 2024
This is an unprecedented time in Irish athletics as Ireland for the first time in a long time are in contention for multiple medals in multiple categories. There's still even more prospects for medals to come with Rhasidat Adeleke and Sharlene Mawdsley in the 400m final and the womens' 4x400m relay.
Hopefully they can keep the momentum from this and carry over to the Olympics in Paris in July.
