Ireland have their first gold medal since 2012 after Paul O'Donovan and Fintan McCarthy powered to victory in the lightweight double sculls in the early hours of Thursday morning.
The pair's victory came just a day after Aifric Keogh, Eimear Lambe, Fiona Murtagh and Emily Hegarty won bronze at the Sea Forest Waterway in Tokyo.
Here's a round-up of the Irish in action on Thursday:
Paul O'Donovan and Fintan McCarthy win gold
Fintan McCarthy and Paul O’Donovan ended Ireland’s Olympic gold drought after a thrilling lightweight double sculls victory.
The pair won the men’s final to earn their country’s first gold medal since Katie Taylor’s boxing victory in 2012.
They also became the first male Irish gold medallists since boxer Michael Carruth in 1992 after beating Germany by just 0.86 seconds at the Sea Forest Waterway on Thursday.
It was O’Donovan’s second Olympic medal after he won silver in the double sculls with brother Gary in Rio. He becomes the first Irish athlete to win Olympic gold and silver medals.
He said: “I didn’t think about too much how I felt at the time, so it’s difficult to compare it from five years after.
“Winning today and silver medal last time, I’ll be a bit happier about that. The silver medal is nice but Fintan did the right job and we went straight to the top at his first Games.
“The two boys (Germany) have been looking strong all week and made us really work hard. Italy were quick off the start and didn’t let us have it easy.”
The duo had set a new Olympic best in the semi-final of six minutes 05.33 seconds but had to fight for gold.
Germans Jonathan Rommelmann and Jason Osborne were 10 lengths clear after 500m but Ireland slowly closed the gap and managed to edge ahead and were a length in front before the finish line.
Annalise Murphy moves into 14th place with win and second place
Annalise Murphy has moved within striking distance of the top 10 and Sunday's medal race by claiming a first and second in today's Laser Radial fleet races.
Murphy, 31, has been moving through the field in recent days, and started the day in 20th place, up from 32nd.
Her superb performances in Enoshima today put the Dubliner into 14th spot.
Disappointment for Sanita Puspure
There was disappointment for Sanita Puspure as she finished fifth in her single sculls semi-final.
The 39-year-old had hoped to win an Olympic medal, but she never challenged the top three in the semi-final and had to settle for a place in Thursday's B final as a result.
Sean Waddilove and Robert Dickson demoted
Ireland's Olympic sailors were left reeling after the 49er class crew of Sean Waddilove and Robert Dickson were demoted from seventh to 13th in their bid to make the crucial medal race.
The Dubliners had progressed into seventh place after six fleet races and were nicely positioned.
However after Thursday's races, their fifth and sixth this week, it was ruled by the sport's technical committee that the trapeze harness used by the helm of Ireland weighted 2.09kg and thus over the 2kg limit.
The crew appealed the ruling but it has now been learned that was unsuccessful.
Waddilove and Dickson had finished in sixth and seventh position in Thursday's races but the ruling meant they were moved to last place in both.
That saw their overall position drop out of the top 10, but they remain in contention for the medal race.
Shane Ryan breaks Irish swim record
Shane Ryan says he had to put his relay team-mates first in deciding to pull out of his best event, the 100m backstroke.
The 27-year-old would have hoped to have competed well in the event but, after breaking the Irish 100m butterfly record in the heats in Tokyo tonight, he revealed that injury issues with both of his shoulders had forced him into a corner.
“Yeah, leading up to the Olympics, I’ve been really struggling," he admitted. "It's actually both shoulders, really, really struggling.
"We couldn’t put in any work on fast tempo stuff, freestyle or backstroke - but backstroke, mainly, because it’s orbital above head and the force you put down is really excruciating pain.
"So it was a really hard decision to make but we had a chance to make history in the relay and we did with the first men’s relay ever and first relay ever since 1979 or something crazy (it was 1972).
"I had to put those guys first. If I did hurt myself in 100m back that could jeopardise those other swimmers so I had to put the team first and I would do it all over again.
“With my shoulder injuries, I got the Olympic A standard backstroke with those injuries so I know how fast I am plus my time would have made semi-finals so that put me a little bit at ease about how fast I am and once I am free of these injuries imagine how fast I can be."
In fact, Ryan broke the 100m butterfly record held by one of his relay team-mates, Brendan Hyland, reducing the mark by six hundredths of a second to 52.52.
He finished fourth in his heat and won't be qualifying in the last 16 for the semi-finals.
But the 27-year-old said: "It was really good. I haven’t swam that event since December.
"I haven’t trained butterfly at all. It was just an event where I had the time and the opportunity so I might as well do it on the biggest stage and enjoy it.
"This was a stress-free swim. I knew I could do something pretty fast in it. I just executed the race really well and I’m really happy with the time. I was quite surprised by it. It’s just great, I’m happy."
The swimmers have broken national records and recorded PBs throughout the week and the icing on the cake was Mona McSharry making the final of the 100m breaststroke, the first time in 25 years that an Irish swimmer has reached that level of performance.
“The atmosphere is just great, everyone’s just bouncing off each other," Ryan said.
"There’s not negativity whatsoever, even if someone does have a bad swim, that just goes out the window and they’re just so supportive no matter what they’re there.
"They’re here, I could hear the guys supporting me and I was always giving them a little look because I’m not just swimming for myself but for them as well and everyone back at home as well.”
Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry make conservative starts
Rory McIlroy believes the Olympics will be on a par with the majors in terms of standing in the golf world in 30 years.
McIlroy and Shane Lowry both made conservative starts to their bid for medal glory at the Kasumigaseki Country Club course that, Lowry said, had accessible pins and "pure" greens.
McIlroy's 69 for a two-under par first round total was one shot less than Lowry's effort, and afterwards the Holywood man said: "It feels quite good.
"When golf first got into the Olympics I had an idea of what it meant for the game but you get a different feeling and perspective once you’re here.
"It’s cool, our sport is so new that you sort of have to put yourself in a position 20 or 30 years down the line and think about what it means then, and I think it is going to be massive.
"I think in 30 years’ time it will be on a par with the four Majors that we play, so pretty cool to play my first round in it and I certainly hope it won’t be my last one because I have got a taste for it now.”
Lowry, meanwhile, pledges to come out firing to make up ground.
The leader from Austria, Sepp Straka, is on eight under par and McIlroy is tied for 20th place, Lowry tied for 31st.
"I hit a couple of shots today and went up to the green and I'm like, 'Wow, why wasn't I going at that flag', so it was one of those days where I probably didn't play aggressive enough in my approach play," said the Clara man.
"And that's just the way you play golf on the PGA Tour, and when you play in those majors.
"I thought the pins were easy enough today, that's why the scores were so good.
"They're obviously soft, the greens, and pure, and that's why the scoring was so good. They're as good as you'd see anywhere.
"I think maybe a bit more aggressive, aim at a few flags tomorrow and hopefully make a few more birdies.
"I know people can be panicking because there's only three medals here, but you just need to play your own game, stay patient and hopefully come Sunday you'll have a chance on the back nine.
Ben Fletcher loses to Mukhammadkarim Khurramovto
In Judo, Ben Fletcher lost to Mukhammadkarim Khurramov of Uzbekistan in his round of 32 100kg fight.
Fletcher lost to a second minute Waza-ari in what was his first bout since breaking his leg in February.
Speaking after the bout, he told RTE: "It's a brutal sport, he started really strong and I conceded that point. There are fine margins in this game, I was able to put a bit of pressure on towards the end, but such is life."
Derek Burnett fails to make Trap shoot final
Derek Burnett missed out on the Trap shoot final after finishing in 26th position in qualification.
He shot a total score of 118, which was just one shot down on the score that saw his finish ninth in Athens in 2004.
Burnett, competing at his fifth Olympics, told RTE: "The first one was the one that did all the damage, I missed three targets and really, you’re out of the running after missing three targets."
He added: "I shot four 24s after, and they were all good, but with the level that’s here at this Olympics – it’s just unbelievable."
