The Irish have scooped up another Olympic medal as the grand total comes to five, our most successful Games in 54 years.
Boxer John Joe Nevin clinched silver last night, the bantamweight just coming up short in his bid to join Ireland’s Katie Taylor as a 2012 boxing champion.
The Mullingar man said he would have taken a silver medal before the games but his mentality changed as he drew closer to the final.
“I’d have taken silver a month ago but having gotten this far, I really, really wanted to go all the way, I’m heart-broken.”
Nevin was edged out in the end by Hull boxer Luke Campbell, with a score of 14-11.
Meanwhile, the people of Bray are organising the biggest party the seafront town will ever have seen for Olympic champion Katie Taylor’s return.
The shy superstar will put aside her modesty tomorrow to show her gold medal off to her hometown.
The homecoming party was in doubt as Katie and her family are quite humble and private. However, Bray Town Council arranged tomorrow’s fest after speaking with her father and coach, Pete Taylor.
Katie will be driven through the streets of Bray on an open-topped bus at 4pm tomorrow and taken to the seafront where there will be live music, fireworks and a presentation ceremony.
Gold medallist boxer Katie Taylor will go down in Irish history.
Another party is planned in Katie’s Oldcourt Drive housing estate where flags, posters and photos of the fighter are plastered all over the houses and road.
However, Katie said yesterday that when the festivities and partying are over she will return to her normal life.
“My life will only change if I allow it to change,” she said.
“It is going to be hectic when I get back for the first couple of weeks but I want to go back to my own quiet life that I lived and to being my normal self. I live on a council estate and it’s so accessible it will be crazy for the first few weeks. But after that we’ll just put a stop to it and I’ll go back to living my normal life. But I know I have to enjoy this moment, this is what I’ve always dreamed of and I have to be able to enjoy it.”
Silver medallist John Joe Nevin is to expect a similiar homecoming in Mullingar tomorrow as Paddy Barnes and Michael Conlon are also expected to touch down in Belfast on Monday. Showjumping medallist Cian O’Connor is already preparing for the Dublin Horse Show at the RDS on Wednesday.
The celebrations is Bray, Mullingar and Belfast are said to be the only sizeable celebrations across the country tomorrow as the Olympic Council of Ireland ruled out a formal homecoming for the athletes.
