The European Athletics Championships got underway in Amsterdam yesterday with plenty of Irish interest to keep us occupied. One of the most momentous Irish stories from yesterday had absolutely nothing to do with this year's Championships. Olive Loughnane finally received her World Championship gold medal from the 20km Walk in Berlin 2009 at a special ceremony inside the stadium last night.
Elsewhere there was disappointment for Fionnuala McCormack as she narrowly missed out on a 10000m metre medal finishing in fourth and attracting quite a few headlines as well given her thoughts on the eventual winner, Turkey's Yasemin Can.
Away from the Irish and there was something else that surely must have caught a few eyes. The qualifiers for the women's javelin took place yesterday evening and it wasn't exactly ideal for Latvia's Līna Mūze. She was forced to withdraw from the competition after a nasty looking fall put paid to her hopes of progression. So why are we mentioning it?
Well Cliona Foley was tuning into the coverage and spotted a rather unusual method of stretcher carrying to take Mūze off the track.
Half body bag/half Ikea shopping bag that was left in your car from that time you decided you need some cheap plates. Even the commentator was a bit perplexed. It looks ludicrous but if it does the job...
Ah lads?! WATCH: you WON'T believe the stretcher used @Euro_Champs @irishathletics @IrishHurdlers #shoptildrop pic.twitter.com/msDyVPxFqE
— cliona foley (@ponyyelof) July 7, 2016
