EVERY four years the Olympic Games showcases the wealth of sporting talent in our communities and this year's Covid-delayed event in Tokyo is no different.
Behind every performance of course is a story of many years of dedication to a chosen discipline.
The reward is to be part of the greatest festival of human endeavour on the planet and, with a bit of luck, the opportunity to secure a place in the history books.
This week already Ireland has celebrated its first female rowing medals after Emily Hegarty, Fiona Murtagh, Eimear Lambe and Aifric Keogh claimed bronze in a Women's Four event.
There was more success in the water when Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy won the country's first ever rowing gold - and only the 10th in any Olympic sport.
Not to be outdone, Ireland's boxers joined the party when Belfast's Aidan Walsh guaranteed himself at least a bronze medal by reaching the semi-final of the welterweight division.
His older sister, Michaela, has also been boxing in Tokyo and will be his loudest supporter when he returns to the ring early tomorrow.
It will be part of a 'Super Sunday' for Irish sport which could see Lisburn fighter Kurt Walker also ensure a medal by winning his featherweight quarter-final, as Holywood's Rory McIlroy bids for glory on the golf course and Rhys McClenaghan of Newtownards takes to the pommel horse, with hopes the former European champion can climb the podium when he becomes the first Irish gymnast to compete in an Olympic final.
Nothing unites communities more than sport and people across the island will be setting their alarms in the hope of seeing history being made.
It is all the more frustrating, therefore, that some viewers will turn on to blank screens as they once again find themselves victims of 'geo-blocking'.
RTÉ has told northern viewers it cannot show them Olympic coverage on subscription platforms because organisers deem the rights to belong to UK broadcasters - despite being less likely to have an interest in Irish performances.
The issue is unfortunately not new, and SDLP MLA Justin McNulty was right yesterday to ask how loudly the national broadcaster has protested against this refusal to recognise the unique position of its many northern viewers.
As Ireland's finest sports men and women give their all in Japan, it is a pity that the same level of enterprise cannot be applied to ensure this long-standing problem is resolved.
