{"id":642912,"date":"2026-08-18T03:55:24","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T03:55:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/642912\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T03:55:24","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T03:55:24","slug":"ive-witnessed-all-his-medals-rtes-greg-allen-on-commentating-mark-englishs-gold-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/642912\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I’ve witnessed all his medals’: RT\u00c9’s Greg Allen on commentating Mark English’s gold win"},"content":{"rendered":"

IT WAS ANOTHER brilliant year for Irish athletes at the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham this year, with Mark English bringing home his first gold medal in the 800m, and Kate O\u2019Connor winning gold in the heptathlon.<\/p>\n

Rhasidat Adeleke took silver in the 200m and Andrew Coscoran bronze in the 1500m.<\/p>\n

Commentating on the live races on RT\u00c9 was seasoned sports reporter Greg Allen, accompanied by colleagues David Matthews, Sean Blackwell, and David Gillick for post-race interviews.<\/p>\n

Sonia O\u2019Sullivan, Rob Heffernan and Derval O\u2019Rourke gave analysis on the panel.<\/p>\n

While all Irish achievements were duly noted and celebrated, Mark English\u2019s long journey to achieve his first gold at the age of 33 inspired a great deal of joy \u2013 especially in Greg Allen, who passionately narrated the qualified doctor\u2019s race to the finish line.<\/p>\n

\u201cEnglish is ready to pounce,\u201d he said into his headset from the press box of Alexander Stadium. \u201cHe\u2019s got four bronze medals at European level. He has a silver medal as well. He wants to convert to gold.<\/p>\n

\u201cA medal is surely on\u2026 does Mark English have another gear to go past [Croatian Marino] Bloudek? [Spain’s Mohamed] Attaoui is attacking and Mark English hits the front!<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s in the gold medal position for Ireland. It\u2019s in front of him \u2013 it\u2019s gold finally for Mark English!\u201d Allen roared, rising from his seat to shake his fists in triumph. \u201cHe\u2019s done it!\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Incredible simultaneous video of commentary and race of #MarkEnglish<\/a> Gold Medal win. @gregallen<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/ltor5Hi0gZ<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Terry Rickard (@terryrickard) August 14, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The passion of Allen\u2019s commentary, not confined to English\u2019s race, has earned him helpings of praise online.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Has he been paying attention to this praise?<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re actually out here doing it \u2013 and I\u2019m not just saying this \u2013 I do try to just stay in the commentary preparation and commentary delivery mode,\u201d he told The Journal from Birmingham Airport, where he is waiting to board a flight back to Dublin.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur sessions out here were about two and a half hours. We do the full morning session, and that starts at about 10 o\u2019clock, and then the evening session starts at 7pm and goes on until 10pm. In between is pure preparation, like cramming for an exam.\u201d<\/p>\n

From 10pm to 12am there\u2019s another two hours of preparation, and then it\u2019s up in the morning at 6am for another two hours.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I didn\u2019t really have that much time,\u201d he said. \u201cI was aware of it [the reaction], gut I also didn\u2019t want it to take away from my concentration.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s lovely that there was a great reaction to the commentary on Mark English, but that was partly because of RT\u00c9 Sport multimedia reporter Katie Kirk, who just happened to do that [film the commentators’ reaction].<\/p>\n

\u201cHad that not happened, I don\u2019t know if anything would have happened regarding the commentary going as viral as it did.\u201d<\/p>\n

The preparation for commentating on these types of major sporting events is akin to cramming for your Leaving Cert or college exams, he said. \u201cMostly you\u2019re just either cramming or commentating and trying to get through the week and hope to have the moments like the ones I had with Mark and Rhasidat, Andrew, and Kate, because that keeps you going.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are real surges that keep you going and keep the energy levels up, and at the end of it all, you\u2019re ready to just crash.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watching Mark English win his first gold medal was a particularly big moment for Allen, however, who first met the runner when the latter was 20. In 2014,when English was 21, he watched English take home his first bronze medal.<\/p>\n

\"mark-english-of-ireland-celebrates-with-the-gold-medal-after-winning-the-mens-800m-final-on-day-four-of-the-2026-european-athletics-championship-at-perry-barrs-alexander-stadium-birmingham-picture\"
\n Mark English of Ireland celebrates with the gold medal after winning the Men’s 800m Final on day four of the 2026 European Athletics Championship. Alamy Stock Photo<\/p>\n

Alamy Stock Photo\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was terrific and very, very gratifyingly enjoyable to see Mark take the gold medal after five medals, which are bronze and one silver, over the last 12 years,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Mark\u2019s case, I\u2019ve witnessed all of his medals. I\u2019ve been there for all of his medals either as reporter or as a television commentator, so I was certainly revved up for it. I had a feeling he had a better than 50-50 chance of taking the gold medal.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for the actual 800m race, Allen described the conditions and lead-up that both heaped pressure upon English but gave him the opening he needed to storm ahead and clinch the gold.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201c800m races, they\u2019re like a mixture between middle-distance races and a sprint,\u201d he explained, \u201cand the chances of a really difficult argy-bargy which can really upset your race.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe thing about the 800m is that it\u2019s like a sprint race but it\u2019s not raced in lanes, and it brings with it a huge amount of an attritional element.\u201d<\/p>\n

Croatian athlete Marino Bloudek, who led out front before he was overtaken by the ultimate champion, led the grouping into a more streamlined line of runners at the start of the second lap \u2013 \u201ca blessing for Mark\u201d, Allen said, as it gave English the bit of track needed to pounce.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd he did, because he was the best in the field. I think he was always going to win because he was the best athlete in the field.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a great two minutes for Mark. For me, I was just emotionally involved to some degree because literally I\u2019ve known him since he was 20 years of age, and the talent line that he has always been there. That\u2019s the thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no surprise that he is a gold medallist at European level because when he finished fifth in the World Junior Championships back in 2012 \u2013 that converts to someone who should be challenging at some stage in their career for a gold medal at the European Championships. It took 14 years. So he certainly took a while getting there.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut when he got there, it was a spectacular race and also the fact that he set a championship record in the semifinal the day before, a championship record which had stood for 48 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thirty-three is by no means old, but English was the oldest athlete in his heat by six years.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s now running the best he\u2019s ever run because he\u2019s got his training right,\u201d Allen said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an exciting time for English, but he has a medical career on hold as he competes in European and world championships, Allen noted.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI presume he will step back into becoming a medical doctor full-time at some point. At what point do you step off and do that, and you decide that the retirement moment comes?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the moment he\u2019s running better than ever,\u201d he continued, mentioning various upcoming championships English has a real shot at winning. \u201cIt would seem odd to quit when you\u2019re at your peak.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it is complicated. He has his medical career on hold for seven years, and when you think that he has topped the podium with doing that, it\u2019s quite an amazing commitment that he\u2019s made, and he has finally got the reward for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for Allen, who chose to report on athletics and golf in the late 1980s, he\u2019s looking forward to the Ryder Cup in Adare next year.<\/p>\n

Both sports have had a massive upsurge in Irish successes in the last 20 to 30 years. \u201cSo, who\u2019s the luckiest guy of all? Because when I chose two sports then, one or either might not have been big enough to be a correspondent in, but combine the two of them, and I\u2019ve had a fantastic run.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very, very lucky, and very grateful to the athletes and the golfers who\u2019ve given me these stories because I absolutely love telling them.\u201d<\/p>\n