Olympic Spillage

It's a Katie Taylor special this morning, featuring an emotional commentary from Seán Bán Breathnach, a tribute from Samuel L Jackson and the one Olympian that might be tougher than our Katie.

For Seán Bán Breathnach, it got a bit emotional

The majority of you watching Katie’s crowning moment yesterday probably did so on RTE, although those who had to watch it online reportedly experienced further difficulties following on from the farcical breakdown during Taylor’s semi-final.

Anyway, Jimmy Magee was once again on commentary duty and although we’re loathe to criticise the man because we quite like him, his stating of the obvious commentary became a little tedious at times.

After the bronze medals had been handed out during the medal ceremony, for example, Jimmy announced rather grandly as if nobody else knew better: “And now there are only TWO medals left to be presented”. Eh, thanks for that Jimmy.

If you had to turn off Jimmy, you could have done a lot worse than listen to Seán Bán Breathnach’s version of events over on Radio na Gaeltachta. It’s all in the video below so we won’t ruin it for you, but suffice it to say that Seán Bán got a little bit emotional and managed to fit Katie’s name in alongside some of our most famous female historical figures.

If Katie’s achievement didn’t bring a tear to your eye yesterday, this is bound to send you over the edge.

The coolest Katie tribute of all

It was simply amazing the amount of famous people and icons of the sporting world queuing up to pay tribute to Katie on Twitter in the aftermath of yesterday’s Olympic final.

Off the top of our heads, Barry McGuigan, Oscar de la Hoya, Evander Holyfield and Fabrice Muamba were all quick to hail the Bray heroine, but few would have expected a personal tribute from perhaps the coolest man in the entertainment business and the man who single-handedly made Kangol Spitfire Caps a must-have fashion accessory.

Yes, Samuel L Jackson was well impressed with what Katie had to offer in London yesterday and although he couldn’t resist indulging himself with a hackneyed Irish stereotype, his acknowledgment of Katie’s achievements is a reflection of just how much of a motherfu**ing impact her gold medal made around the world.

The only Olympian harder than Katie Taylor

Normally we wouldn’t entertain any argument suggesting that there is an Olympian harder than our Katie, but US track runner Manteo Mitchell goes pretty darn close.

During the 4x400 metre relay yesterday, Mitchell broke his leg after 200 metres of his 400 metre run, but amazingly still managed to finish his lap.

"I got out pretty slow, but I picked it up and when I got to the 100m mark it felt weird,” Mitchell said afterwards.

“I was thinking I just didn't feel right. As soon as I took the first step past the 200m mark, I felt it break."

"I heard it (the leg break),” he added.

“I even put out a little war cry, but the crowd was so loud you couldn't hear it. I wanted to just lie down. It felt like somebody literally just snapped my leg in half.

"I knew if I finished strong we could still get it (the baton) around. I saw Josh Mance motioning me in for me to hand it off to him, which lifted me. I didn't want to let those three guys down, or the team down, so I just ran on it.

"It hurt so bad. I'm pretty amazed that I still split 45 seconds on a broken leg."

That’s right, Mitchell managed to run 400 metres in 45 seconds despite having a broken leg for 200 metres. And what’s more, the US team finished second in the heat to the Bahamas on an identical time of 2:58:57, the fastest ever time recorded in the first round of the 4x400 relay at the Olympics.

Can you imagine what they would have done if his leg was intact?