The morning session at the athletics and the Stade de France was practically full.
As one looked out from the press box, many Irish flags were visible. Indeed they were in evidence in the long queue ahead of the security/ticket check, just before you enter the stadium itself. Thankfully, things moved at a pace.
The session itself was dominated by repechage races, newly introduced from the 200m up to 1500m events. If you fail to qualify from your heat, you get a second chance to run, with the repechage taking place the following day.
Ireland's Cathal Doyle was a beneficiary of the new system by progressing to the semi-finals of the 1500m, after winning his backdoor race on Saturday.
Having attended more than a few events so far, Gala's 'Freed From Desire' is stuck in my head; that Eurodance hit is blasted out through the sound system at most of the venues. To be different, the Stade de France went through their back catalogue and pressed play on Abba's 'Dancing Queen'. Strange to think that that No 1 is nearly 50 years old. Its place in the musical order at the Saint-Denis venue came just after Rhasidat Adeleke convincingly won her 400m heat.
Maybe, in some way, it was a tribute to Adeleke's commanding performance, easing down with 30 metres to go, taking time to have a look around, and clocking 50.09 in victory. The current 'queen' of Irish athletics looked imperious. If it were a dance, the judge may be moved to say 'Fab-U-Lous'.
Judged by RTÉ television co-commentator, David Matthews, a change in how she carried herself was observed. "I saw a difference in her top half, much more relaxed from the waist up," said the former Olympian.
"Rhasidat had a tendency to roll when fatigued – now I'm not saying she fatigued or under any sort of pressure in that race – but in her natural running style, she used to have a slight hunch in the shoulders and a rolling effort (something that was evident in last year's World Championship final) and that was exasperated when she tired, which is only natural at the end of a 400m.
"Her top half is much more smooth, much more linear, the arms are moving linear rather than across the body."
But we're only at the semi-final stage. Adeleke main rivals for that gold medal also progressed with comparative ease. Poland's Natalia Kaczmarek, who edged out the Tallaght competitor to take European gold in June, clocked 49.98 to win her heat.
World champion Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic, Nickisha Pryce of Jamaica and Great Britain's Amber Anning also impressed, as did Lieke Klaver of the Netherlands in coming second to the latter. Assuming they all get through Wednesday, we could have some final on Friday evening.
As for Adeleke, it's simply a case of job done. The morning heat did see a false start, causing a slight jitter for the Tallaght competitor.
"I was just like 'I hope that wasn't me'," she said, when speaking to the congested scrum media afterwards.
Rhasidat Adeleke's post-race reaction to RTÉ Sport
With two races to come in three days, Adeleke, who turns 22 at the end of the month, targeted that moment when she could put the race to bed.
"I just wanted to see where I could relax, shut down," she added. "That's what my coach told me to do, 'as soon as you can shut down, shut down'.
"I feel like my first 200m was pretty calm. I didn't go too aggressive. I went out at the right pace. I just kind of shut down the last 100m. I didn’t want to use too much energy, just wanted to do what I needed to qualify, so I don’t know exactly what percentage but it didn’t feel like a really hard run."
"We have two more rounds, so, well hopefully we’ll be looking forward to that. The track felt really good. Even when I was doing my pre-meet the last couple of days, I felt really good.
"I was really excited because the track is purple and my favourite colour is purple. I was just like, 'yeah, let’s go out there, it’s something new, my first Olympics'. So it's all a new experience and I’m taking it every step of the way."
Team Ireland have so far won seven medals at these Games, with Adeleke relishing the opportunity that she can add to that haul.
"The Irish champions have been absolutely amazing. From the gold medals to the bronze medals, everyone who's been literally turning us all up. I'm so excited to hopefully be able to add to that.
"It's been an amazing environment seeing so many inspirational athletes from different sports. It's my first time meeting a lot of them, getting to talk to some of them and yeah, I'm really excited to see what the rest of the team can do.
"The way I am, I'm not happy to participate, I want to achieve my goals. My goal wasn’t just to come to the Olympics, my goal was to do something special. And that’s what my goal will remain."
The 9th of August, we hope, will be a good Friday for Adeleke on that purple track. The 400m final looks like being one of the races of these Olympics.
As for tiny margins, well Sharlene Mawdsley knows all about it. She ran a lifetime best (50.71) in her 400m heat but was edged out qualifying by .04 of a second, as Austria's Susanne Gogl-Walli claimed third spot.
Mawdsley faded in those final few metres and will now run in Tuesday's repechage, as will Sophie Becker, who finished sixth in her heat.
A chance then for both to win a race at an Olympic Games, with Mawdsley telling RTÉ Sport: "I just have to go and win that. Hopefully I'll go out and try and do exactly what I did today and hopefully that will be enough for a semi-final spot."
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