Jack Leahy
Sports Writer
Women’s boxing already had a superstar, but it was only yesterday that she was afforded a stage on which to reveal herself to the world.
If the sport was meant to be inaugurated on Monday afternoon, then its support base way beyond boxing’s traditional heartland made a mockery of its Olympic infancy. Ireland stood still, took late lunch breaks, and watched with intent admiration for the arrival of their world-beater.
By the fight’s scheduled 2:30pm start, boxing’s typically hyperbolic introductions were pre-empted into irrelevance by the Irish diaspora who, in a bout of historical irony, colonised a small corner of London’s ExCel 2 Arena. They cheered to the point of fervent demand the arrival of the country’s greatest medal hope since Sonia O’Sullivan in Sydney 2000 – home hope Natasha Jonas must have been wondering what all this ‘Team GB home support’ was all about.
There was no question as to which bout on the day’s card was most anticipated. The Irish bellows of “Ole! Ole! Ole! Ole!” had begun long before Taylor was due in the ring, and all commentary was lost beneath The Fields of Athenry in the second round. It felt like one of those days in Irish sport: when the whole country summons its support and watches in awe at the anticipated unfolding of plucky sporting prowess. They’re necessarily rare – think Lansdowne Road in September 2001, Paris in November 2009, and Cardiff in March 2009 – but they are always beautiful and nearly always glorious.
The sport itself is somewhat of an unknown quantity, this being its debut at the Games. So too, in a sense, was Taylor, whose exploits are well-celebrated domestically despite the fact that many who watched and cheered yesterday afternoon were as new to watching the sport as the sport was to competing at the Olympic Games.
Despite this, Taylor’s deserved reputation as a omnipotent world-beater meant she approached the games as the primary porter of national expectation in addition to the more ceremonial and the less onerous tricolour at the opening ceremony.
She didn’t disappoint. Her victory – powerful, agile, and dominant – was more than a marker laid: it was a statement of intent embedded deeply in the material of the ring and the fabric of the London Games itself. Jonas proved – in spurts otherwise controlled by Taylor’s impenetrable defence – that she is herself a strong fighter, but this was Taylor’s day and it would not be taken away from her. One might venture as far as saying that these are Taylor’s games.
It was fitting that the Bray native was among the first women to win an Olympic boxing match, and its manner – endearing and terror-inducing in equal measure – resonated throughout the rest of the day’s encounters. She is by far the most high-profile figure in the sport, her pre-eminance long since confirmed but only in the last day advertised on a stage worthy of her unique talent. Her fame and her awe-inspiring talent provide an infant sport with a ready-made superstar set to thrust it into international headlines.
There is a magical quality to the whole experience: the national euphoria, the anticipation, the ups-and-downs of the action itself: watching Katie Taylor in her Olympic quest bears all the trademarks of an experience that will never be forgotten.
