Thank God for the slightly cooler conditions today out at the rowing.
After heavy overnight rain, the clouds then did their best to keep the sun partially hidden. The battle, so far, has been won by the former.
The volunteers enquired as to our wellbeing, well those of us with a fairer complexion, almost apologising that the sun shone with such scorching effect.
"We don't normally get this hot in Paris," said one female volunteer, while her male colleague reassured us that it will get cooler over the next few days and the temperature will drop to 27 degrees! He kept a straight face while saying it!
Such reassurance came after the morning action concluded on the water, a session where three Irish boats qualified for A finals, bringing to four the number of Team Ireland boats chasing glory in the medal races.
Heady times indeed for a sport that has served us well since the O'Donovan brothers brought home silverware in Rio.
Amongst the finalists are Ross Corrigan and Nathan Timoney, who will compete in the men's pair final on Friday.
They hail from Enniskillen and secured their spot at the Paris Games after reaching the World Championship final, and then winning bronze, in Belgrade last September.
After Mona McSharry and Daniel Wiffen got Ireland on the medal board, ensuring a first piece of silverware for Sligo and Armagh respectively, could Fermanagh now be due a notable first?
"Well, we'll not be winning an All-Ireland medal anytime soon, so we have a better chance of getting that Olympic medal," said Nathan when I spoke to him shortly after the semi-final. But then Ross interjected: "Fermanagh for Sam!"
"The whole team was watching Wiffen last night and he really got us fired up for today. He was on the phone to us; he dialled us in! It's just savage, to win medals this early on. He [Daniel] rang us to say, job not done, go for gold."
Two athletes in good spirits, but one's gaze was taken by the medals that Corrigan was wearing.
He explained: "Three different ones: St Christopher, St Valentine, St Mary. My mother got them for me and it's going to carry us down the course on Friday. I've had these for eight years."
The wearing of such devotional objects is a less and less a feature of modern day existence, but Corrigan, who is a cousin of the Maguire golfing sisters, feels it gives him something extra, something to have when he aims for gold on Friday.
"We're obviously buzzing and excited but the job’s not done," he added.
"Two more days and we’re into that final. We’re going to give it all. We’re really going to go for that medal. Gold medal. So it’s all or nothing for us on Friday."
Timoney is also focused on getting that spot on the podium
"I think the medal was on our mind from day one - from the World Championship final, we set out at the start of the season for a gold medal," he said.
"Where we are now we are in a good position to learn from our heat and learn from today, push on and put a good race-plan together."
So how do this duo work as a pair? Who, in the main, calls the shots?
How they edged out New Zealand to claim third spot and with it a ticket to the final gives us some insight, with Timoney saying: "When you’re in the middle of it it’s hard to know sometimes where you are. The way I race I try to be as internal as possible.
"Sometimes Ross, he would make the call and he would let me know where we are because the face is straight. I like to be internal but certainly in the last 250 you realise you’re in for a dog fight. That’s when the body wakes up. OK, lets make a move."
Ross continued: "We brought an A2 page or an A3 page into the room and we wrote up the plan last night. We had a plan up until 1500 metres and then we were just leaving it in God’s hands.
"We knew that we’d move when we needed to move. I called it a bit earlier than usual and in the last 300 the Kiwis were coming back.
"We knew in the heat we had enough to come back at them so when we were sitting in a position of strength we knew that we could keep pushing on. The last 150 we were just trying not to slow the boat down and more than anything make no mistakes."
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