Patrick Tiernan (left) in the men’s 10,000 on Friday night.Credit:Getty Images
The morning afterone of the gutsiest performances by an Australian witnessed on the track at the Olympics,Tiernan was frustrated and slightly embarrassed.
It was not how he wanted people to remember his race.
“It’s the Olympics,we have been waiting for this for five years now and I got close. I think it was about 180[to go] when I collapsed for the first time and you don’t stop when you have only got 180 metres to go and at the time I didn’t think that I was completely done.
“I just thought I will get back up and then it happened again and I knew I was in trouble but at that point you are so close you have to will yourself across the line.
“Frustration. It’s a long way to come to fall,literally,fall short of your goal. In my head I was just like,really? But at that point you have to get up and try and keep going.
“This isn’t the first time something like this has happened so it was frustrating in that regard but you get across the line then deal with this stuff again later.