It was yet another exhilarating day for the green-liveried hordes in the ExCel yesterday
THE DRAMA continues.
For a nation accustomed to subsisting on sporting scraps, London 2012 is spoiling us.
Twenty-four Karat Katie set the gold standard. John Joe Nevin produced a sterling performance to secure at least silver yesterday, while Paddy Barnes and Michael Conlon went out in a blaze of glory and heroic bronze.
And not forgetting show jumper Cian O’Connor, the last minute substitute who grabbed his chance and started off our bronze collection.
It was another exhilarating day in the boxing arena yesterday.
One thing you have to say about us Irish: When we’re out: we’re out.
Yet again, the green-liveried fans turned up in their good-humoured droves, far outnumbering the supporters who came to cheer the other fighters.
But the bouts could never expect to replicate the incredible scenes of the previous day, when thousands of utterly delirious Irish fans created colourful commotion in the ExCel Arena – there’s been nothing like it in the entire Olympic Games.
That’s not to say yesterday’s intake didn’t raise an unmerciful din, because they did. But even the male fighters know that Katie Taylor has captured the imagination of the Irish public in a manner that they simply won’t.
For so many reasons – mostly unconnected to the art of boxing – she has unleashed an outpouring of national emotion that has been astonishing in its intensity.
Battling Paddy Barnes fought first, the Tricolours trembling when he lost the opening round by three points to the reigning Olympic champion.
China’s Zou Shiming then decided he had enough of a cushion and danced away from danger for the rest of the bout.
Barnes was having none of it. He threw the kitchen sink at Zou, followed by the dishwasher, the bathroom suite and jacuzzi . . .
Was it enough? Sonia O’Sullivan clasped her hands to her mouth.
Shiming wasn’t shimmying now.
In the end, it was a draw. But the Chinese fighter won on a countback – a complicated number-crunching process.
Paddy went out gracefully. In the stands, his family was devastated – father, Paddy snr, too upset to talk at first.
He comforted son Thomas (14), who was curled up in his fringed, tricolour poncho, crying his eyes out.
Mum Ellen said she was proud of her boy, but felt his opponent should have been penalised for running during the fight. “It’s a disgrace,” she said.
“That man was in the wrong sport. He should have been in the 100m final with Usain Bolt,” said Paddy snr.
But they cheered up when John Joe Nevin upset the experts by demolishing the stylish and fancied Cuban Lázaro Álvarez Estrada. John Joe was so confident as the final bell approached that he showboated a little, doing the Ali Shuffle across the canvas.
Although they’re now calling it the Mullingar Shuffle.
There’s no show like a John Joe show. Now, the impish Nevin says he wants to win gold because Paddy Barnes will call him “Hi Ho Silver” if he doesn’t.
Meanwhile, it was the early hours of yesterday morning before Katie Taylor finally got to her bed in the Olympic Village.
In the seven hectic hours since she won gold, when she might have expected some time to rest, the freshly minted champ hadn’t a minute to call her own.
The only bit she got to eat in all that time was an apple and a banana.
It was close to midnight before she managed to see and talk to her mother Bridget. And that was only for a few hugs and some snatched words.
At past two in the morning, Katie had a quick meal before finally turning in.
She must have been exhausted, but when all your dreams have just come true, what need is there for sleep?
Ireland’s golden girl was up and about early yesterday. She called her dad, Pete, and the two of them went for a walk at a quarter to eight. “She’s in great form, absolutely buzzing,” he said.
After breakfast, Pete went to join the boxing backroom team to prepare yesterday’s three fighters for their semi-final bouts.
“I handed Katie over to her mother,” he declared, sounding ever so slightly relieved and looking more than a little shell-shocked.
At long last, the world-beating boxer was able to spend quality time with her family – her mam, brother and sister, in-laws and children.
Last night she attended a Proctor and Gamble reception in London to honour Olympic parents. Several members of her family were present, including her 12-week-old niece Madeline.
There was no expectation in advance that she would speak, but to the delight of the crowd she took the microphone to thank all her family.
“My mam is my rock”, she said in tribute to her mother, Bridget.
On Thursday night, Katie was operating on adrenaline, floating on air – her night a heady blur of interviews and more interviews, people pulling her this way and that.
Then she had two hours of drug tests followed by a trip out to RTÉ’s studio near Stratford for a live television link-up.
God love her, she hadn’t even met her mother yet.
People kept telling her about the amazing scenes back in Ireland, but Taylor had no idea of the scale of the Katie-mania raging at home, having studiously avoided distraction from the outside world during her Olympic campaign.
Nevertheless, the near hysteria in the ExCel Arena during her fights must have given her some inkling.
With so much pressure on her time, it was close to midnight when the Olympic champion arrived at The Irish House near King’s Cross, a temporarily shamrock-themed pub that has been a focal point for visiting fans during the games.
It’s a privately run entertainment venue – with a cover charge on the door – but the pub has the blessing of the Olympic organisation. This means it can call itself Ireland’s official hospitality house and display the Olympic rings symbol with the blessing of the brand police.
Stephen Hickey, the son of Pat Hickey, long-time president of the Olympic Council of Ireland, is behind the venture.
The place was heaving. A lot of people had been there a long time. It was noisy. And messy.
The champion arrived to a huge ovation and a crush of people. An overexcited Minister for Sport, Michael Ring, quite beside himself, bellowed out a speech in which he congratulated Katie, her family, and Pat Hickey for getting a big job on the executive board of the International Olympic Committee.
Onlookers say the whole episode was surreal.
Katie briefly addressed the crowd and thanked them for all their support.
“Many came over without tickets to support her, we had to acknowledge them,” said her father.
She didn’t stay long, and because of the overheated crowd, there wasn’t much time to talk to her mother and siblings.
The athletes village, something to eat, rest and time to herself to reflect on her magnificent achievement, was finally her’s.
But there won’t be much rest for Katie Taylor anymore.
Already, there is talk of professional contracts on the table. Top English promoter Eddie Hearn, son of Barry Hearn, is said to have a contract ready to go involving a small number of big stadium fights.
It’s her decision to make.
Once the small matter of the homecoming is out of the way.
For once in her life, untouchable Katie won’t know what hit her.
