The National Yacht Club sailor, Annalise Murphy from Dun Laoghaire, who overcame heartbreak in London 2012 to take a silver medal in Rio on Tuesday has been thanking suporters via her Facebook page. In a typical warm but modest fashion the Olympic silver medallist says: 'Wow I don't really know what to say! This is a dream come true, not only for me but for everyone who has helped me get to this point over the last 8 years! Thank you everyone for all the amazing support, it means the world to me! Still in shock but so proud to be Irish! X Annalise'.

She is pictured on the podium with her coaches Rory Fitzpatrick and Sara Winthers who she credits with so much of her success. 

Annalise Murphy's journey has been charted in a unique photo review by the Irish Times this morning here

Her road to silver success was profiled in the newspaper yesterday by correspondent David O'Brien here. 

#Rio2016 - Government ministers have joined in the applause for Annalise Murphy's stunning silver medal win in the Laser Radial at Rio 2016 yesterday (Tuesday 16 August).

Soaking after the race, Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Shane Ross said: “I am delighted for Annalise, we all know how determined she was to bring home a medal, after coming so close four years ago this is a fantastic achievement for her.

"Bouncing back from the disappointment of finishing fourth in London 2012 to become European Champion in 2013 to now achieving a silver medal at the Olympics is a wonderful endorsement for what can be achieved through hard work and talent. She has been so determined and she is a fantastic role model for all young athletes.”

Minister of State for Tourism and Sport Patrick O’Donovan added: “Annalise has worked so hard not just for the last week but for the last four years, to overcome the frustration of 2012 and win an Olympic silver medal at Rio is no more than she deserves.

"To become the first Irish female to win an Olympic medal in sailing and Ireland’s first medal in sailing since 1980 is magnificent for Annalise, Team Ireland and the country.

"It was great to hear her brother was able to be there to support her during this achievement. Her family and the sailing club in Dun Laoghaire I’m sure are immensely proud to see her on that podium.

"It has been a great few days on the water for Team Ireland and hopefully there will be many more successes to come.”

#Rio2016 - Annalise Murphy made Irish sailing history this afternoon as she sailed to Olympic silver in Rio de Janerio in the Laser Radial medal race.

Murphy's first Olympic medal, coming after narrowly missing out on bronze at London 2012, is also Irish sailing's first medal triumph at the Olympic Games since 1980.

It all came down to the final push, with Murphy scorching past Denmark's Anne-Marie Rindom into second place behind gold medallist Marit Bouwmeester of the Netherlands.

Expect jubilant scenes in Dun Laoghaire Harbour where her home club the National YC showed the race live on a big screen at the clubhouse platform. Well done Annalise!

Marit Bouwmeester (NED) won the gold medal (centre) that eluded her four years ago. Silver went to Annalise Murphy (IRL) (left), a sweet reward after finishing an agonising fourth place at London 2012. Anne-Marie Rindom (DEN) took bronze. Photo: Richard Langdon

Marit Bouwmeester (NED) won the gold medal that eluded her four years ago. Silver went to Annalise Murphy (IRL), a sweet reward after finishing an agonising fourth place at London 2012. Anne-Marie Rindom (DEN) took bronze.

It was a tense Medal Race in light and fluky airs on the Pão de Açucar course in the shadow of Sugarloaf Mountain. Bouwmeester looked to be in a good position during the early stages, but a big split developed in the fleet after the top of the final lap, and the Dutch and Danish contenders were dropped to the back. They could only watch as Murphy and the other front runners sailed away and across the finish line more than a hundred metres ahead.

Annalise's mum Cathy MacAleavey holding tricolour and her brother Finn (wearing Shamrock tie) celebrate Ireland's historic win

It was so close between the front five boats on the final run, there was a chance the Irish sailor could steal gold from the Netherlands. But Murphy crossed the line in fifth, yielding the Olympic title to Bouwmeester. With Rindom back in eighth, Murphy had done enough to take silver.

All three sailors celebrated and every one of them looked delighted to have emerged with a medal from perhaps the toughest sailing venue ever seen at an Olympic Games. Bouwmeester now has the gold to go with the silver she took in London 2012.

#Rio2016 - After yesterday's postponement of Annalise Murphy's Laser Radial medal race, this evening all Irish eyes will focus once again on the near-shore Pao de Azucar course – literal translation 'bread of sugar', better known as Sugarloaf, and so called because of its proximity to the iconic mountain that overlooks the natural harbour of Rio De Janeiro.

Using a two-round windward/leeward course with a leeward gate and final reach, race officers will target a 25-minute duration, half the scheduled time of races in the preliminary round.

Today’s forecast on this course is for light to moderate winds at the scheduled start time:

Laser

Finn Lynch’s Olympics finished with the final race in the preliminary series last Saturday, 32nd overall of the 46 competitors.

Rio was always going to be a dress rehearsal for the National Yacht Club sailor, whose real target is Tokyo in four years' time.

It’s not going to be an easy ride, however, as there is an emerging force of young Irish Laser sailors, inspired by Ireland’s recent performances, who will push hard for 2020 selection.

49er

The final three races of the qualification series are scheduled for today, and Irish duo Ryan Seaton and Matt McGovern will be looking to consolidate and hopefully advance towards medal positions prior to Thursday’s medal race.

Currently in fifth place, 12 points behind the Australians in the bronze medal position, the Ballyholme pair will need three good races to catch up.

The gold medal looks to be beyond the rest of the fleet as the ever-dominant New Zealanders Burling and Tuke look set to justify their pre-regatta favourites tag by securing the top honours before the medal race.

49erFx

Ireland's Andrea Brewster and Saskia Tidey will likely need three single-digit results today if they are to feature in Thursday’s medal race.

Lying 12th, but 21 points behind 10th place, the Royal Irish team have shown potential with a third and a couple of sixths in previous races.

The top of the fleet here is very close: only five point separate the top three, with hometown favourites Martina Grael and Kahena Kunze in the bronze position.

After a frustrating wait for wind on the Sugarloaf course in Rio today, Annalise Murphy and the other nine medal race competitors went afloat only to have racing scrubbed when strong winds swept over the course. The racing was postponed and will resume tomorrow. 

Annalise Murphy makes her medal bid in Rio this afternoon at 5pm and it will be broadcast live on RTE Television. The Dubliner has been here before when she famously finished fourth overall in London 2012. There is no guarantee of a medal this evening either but Annalise is currently in Bronze medal position. Five of the worlds best sailors will be pushing each other all the way to see who can emerge with an Olympic medal for their country. It is going to be nail biting, exhilarating and comes with a Health Warning! 

There is probably no better place to watch the race than at Annalise's club in Dun Laoghaire. The National Yacht Club will be showing the race on a big screen on the clubhouse platform!

After an epic ten race series, Ireland's Annalise Murphy goes into Monday's medal race with no guarantee of a medal but the confidence in knowing she has sailed the most consistent series of her career. Where many have fallen, including the London 2012 Gold medallist Lilja Xu of China who finished in 18th position, on–form Murphy has put in a most impressive performance against everything Rio and the world's toughest female fleet had to throw at her. Now she has the chance to win Ireland's first sailing medal in 36–years (Read more about 1980's Silver medal in Tallinn).

The top five positions going in to Monday's crucial medal race are:

So what are the best and worst results for Annalise to medal?

Well, no matter what, a fifth place finish will earn her at least bronze and could even win the gold if the Dutch girl finishes in 10th place and the Danish girl is not better than 6th.

If Annalise finishes 6th or worse, then she cannot afford to be more than 4 places behind the Belgian sailor.

If she finishes 7th or worse and is within 5 places of the Belgian sailor, then she cannot be more than 5 places behind Finland.

With a first place she takes at least a silver medal, and, if the Dutch competitor is more than 5 places behind, that silver become gold.

Between 1st and 5th and ahead of the Dane guarantees at least a silver.

MEDAL RACE SCENARIOS FOR ANNALISE MURPHY (IRL)

In the final race of the Laser Radial qualification series, prior to Monday's medal race, Annalise Murphy finished seventh to complete the preliminaries in the bronze medal position. It is an excellent performance in difficult conditions by the National Yacht Club sailor with a string of very consistent results of 1, 13, 4, 7, 5, 2, (17), 12, 6, 7 in the 37–boat fleet. 

But even with such a scoresheet a medal is not yet guaranteed. All Murphy's main rivals finished ahead of her in race ten and regatta leader Marit Bouwmeester (NED), who finished the race in second place, now has an 8 point gap over second placed Annemarie Rindom (DEN) going into the medal race.

Rindom's third place in this race, allowed her to leapfrog Murphy by two points, while another big gain was made by Belgium's Evi Van Acker who narrowed the gap to Murphy to 9 points.

Starting at the pin end of race ten, Murphy was third around the first weather mark and, like Bouwmeester favoured the right hand side of the run to round the bottom mark in fourth place. However, her chosen left side was not the place to be on the next upwind leg and, despite the full hiking conditions, she fell back in to the pack, rounding the 2nd weather mark in eighth place. Up ahead the Dutch girl maintained second behind Alison Young (GBR) thus widening the gap between herself and Murphy in overall points. The downwind saw the Irish girl lose a further four places, but a hike out to the right on the last upwind prompted a small recovery to 10th, consolidated on the final run, with a further three places gained by the finish line.

Read also: Annalise's Medal Race Possibilities

Bouwmeester has moved back to the top of the leaderboard and holds a useful eight-point buffer on second placed Rindom for the Medal Race. The London 2012 silver medallist is assured of another medal and is strongly positioned to win the gold that was so nearly hers four years ago.

The Laser Radials contested one race on the Pão de Açucar (Sugarloaf Mountain) course and one on Niterói, and Bouwmeester proved very adaptable to the different conditions, scoring 5,2. Murphy also sailed superbly to score a sixth and seventh which puts her just two points behind Rindom. However best performer of the day was Evi Van Acker (BEL) whose first and fifth has brought her back into medal contention after a shaky start to the regatta, compounded by the effects of an intestinal infection. She and fifth-placed Tuula Tenkanen (FIN) will have to sail a very good Medal Race to have a chance at silver or bronze, but it's possible.

For Bouwmeester the Olympic Medal Race is familiar territory, after taking silver in the tightest of contests four years ago in London. "I think this time the difference is I have a few points on second and I'm certain of a medal, but the similarity is I still have to do a good Medal Race on Monday. We like the Medal Race course, it's challenging, but I'm quite confident there even though you never quite know what's going to happen on that course."

Evi van Acker was looking forward to another period of rest before Monday's showdown. "I still need to rest, after today. I'm pretty tired. I had my best day so far, and I'm so happy with the way I recovered after the bad three days at the beginning. For me the 36 hours of treatment and rest in the middle of the week was very important to have more energy and keep fighting. I made sure I had a lot of rest, a lot of food and a lot of smiling."

The bronze medallist from 2012 will have to fight hard and sail well to be assured of another medal in Rio. "It feels like London all over again, pretty much the same people and same situation except this this time I'm a bit behind. So I'll have to sail well in the Medal Race. But I'll be ready to go."

Meanwhile, China’s Lijia Xu was disqualified from races seven and eight for ‘right of way’ incidents. The pre-event favourite had already discarded a disqualification earlier in the series meaning she had to count two maximum scores for Friday’s races. She ends the series in 18th overall and will not be in the medal race on Monday.

It's a sensational Saturday for Irish sailing after a stunning sixth scored in race nine, Annalise Murphy moves back up to second in the overall rankings in the Laser Radial Fleet. Annalise recovered well from the teens in a 12–knot race that featured a poor result for the former series leader Anne-Marie Rindom of Denmark who is now third, two points behind Annalise on 52 points. The overall leader is now Holland's Marit Boumeester on 45 points. Race ten, the final qualifying race before Monday's medal race, follows shortly.

In another massive result for the Irish sailing team today, the 49er mens skiff pair, Ryan Seaton and Matt McGovern, of Ballyholme Yacht Club, have won the fourth race of the series and move into second overall. 

An extremely well–sailed qualifying series by Annalise Murphy will conclude this evening ahead of Monday's Medal Race climax.

The Laser Radials are scheduled for one race on the Pão de Açucar (Sugarloaf Mountain) course and one on Niterói, so it will take all–round skills to make the best of this critical day.

Today's courses will again have strong tides and high mountains disrupting the winds so it is a very strategic and tactical venue. Annalise has spent over 100 days on site learning the different courses that she can possibly race on. Her focus there has been on the strategically best way to sail the race track and the fastest technique to sail the boat given the sea states on the different race courses, so she is well prepared for the notoriously difficult venue.

Anne-Marie Rindom (DEN) hasn't revealed any weaknesses yet, the Dane putting in a very consistent series to hold a ten-point lead. But she is currently discarding a disqualification from race three so she can't afford any slip-ups. Marit Bouwmeester (NED) sits four points in front of Annalise with Tuula Tenkanen (FIN) not far behind.

Meanwhile, Finn Lynch concludes his first Olympics today in the mens Laser class and Ireland's two skiff teams Ryan Seaton and Matt McGovern and Andrea Brewster and Saskia Tidey in the 49erfx have their second day, both currently in fifth place overall.