Thomas Barr experienced mixed emotions after his 400m hurdle final this afternoon, where he finished agonizingly short of a medal position.
Barr set a new national record of 47.97 seconds to secure fourth, just 0.05 seconds from a medal position.
Speaking after the race, he was asked what was going through his head after such a spectacular run fell just short.
"Fourth is probably the worst and the best place to come, outside of medals and especially when I was so close in the home straight and I was in contention," he said.
"I didn't execute the absolutely perfect race but I left everything on the track and I come home with a personal best. I'm absolutely thrilled with that. 47 [seconds, finishing time] has really put me on the map now.
"I was so so close, 0.05 of a second off the man over there, [Yasmani] Copello. I thought even maybe I could have sneaked it on the line. I wasn't sure of it but you never know what can happen in the dip.
"Fourth place in an Olympic Games. I was coming into this with really haphazard preparation, it's an absolutely astonishing feat."
However, he did recognize just how remarkable the run was and took a moment to thank is team who helped him reach such wonderful heights.
"I have to thank first off my coaches Hayley and Drew [Harrison] back home. Hayley wrote the programme for me and in the last six weeks got me ready for not one good race, but three good races back-to-back. She's a genius!
"She's been a genius when it came to writing the programme to get me through and it's a real pity she can't be out here with us. I also want to thank my physio Emma Galvin."
When told by a reporter that the time would have earned him silver in the London 2012 Olympics and was the fifth highest fourth place finish in any Olympic Games he replied:
"Typical isn't it? The one time I'm on the ball and in a final. I knew it would take a 47 to get into the medals. Last year it was a 47 in the World Champs that took gold.
"To be honest I didn't even feel like it was a 47. It felt good, it felt easy, like I had messed up one or two little bits on the top end. There was probably even more there. Pity it didn't come out because it could have in a completely different scenario."
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
