OLYMPIC GAMES – BOXING:THE IRISH boxing team lined up shoulder to shoulder on the stage at the National Stadium for the final curtain call before moving to Assisi, Italy, for their last training camp. The only missing face was the star turn herself. Mindful of responsibilities, Katie Taylor provided a statement apologising for the no show.
With Beijing bronze medallist Paddy Barnes in the line-up and team mentor Kenny Egan in the wings, the gathering had no shortage of scene-stealers. Irish boxing has become used to Taylor’s furtive nature but her absence left the Stadium a little emptier for the Dance Hall flavoured media day.
“My sincere apologies,” said the statement. “Every session is crucial . . . Each day between now and my first contest in the Olympic Games has been planned to the last detail . . . I am aware of the expectation that is on me . . . For me a medal in London will be another gift from God in a life so full of blessings.”
A medal at the Olympics may mark both the high point and the end for Ireland’s modest boxing star if her father and coach Pete has his way – Pete hopes his daughter will retire after London.
The boxing grind and a social life with barely a pulse, Taylor’s silverware has come at a cost. The lightweight champion turned 26 last week and will be 30 when Rio 2016 comes around. If a medal falls her way next month, there is nothing she won’t have won. That includes something previously believed to be unattainable for a female boxer – the hearts and minds of the public.
“After the Olympic Games we don’t know what she’s doing. I’d like her to retire,” said Pete. “She’s been sparring with the lads every week and she has no kind of life outside boxing. That’s what I would like to see but what Katie wants to do could be different. Whatever she decides she’ll have the family backing 100 per cent.
“I don’t know if she is going to carry on boxing or if she is going to retire. We are going to have to sit down and talk about that after the Olympics.”
In a life less ordinary Pete’s words could come across as well meaning concern from father to daughter. They are more than that. He has walked in her shoes from the beginning and has touched the milestones of her career with her. He has thrown and taken every punch.
“It’s a privileged life she has,” he said. “She loves boxing. She loves to spar. She loves training. She’s getting paid for it . . . but it’s physical as well. It is difficult what she’s doing. You go out and you don’t “play” boxing. You play football. You play tennis. It’s a lot of punishment over the years.”
Katie’s other buddy along the way has been God. From an athlete who commands respect, she imparts it in equal measure to the one thing she believes has shown her the path to that “privileged life” her father sees.
Taylor and her Evangelical faith have always soldiered together. There were no blinding lights, no epiphanies. God was always there, always beside her with a guiding hand. Not just yesterday’s statement but her views on boxing are peppered with references to faith.
“It’s everything for Katie,” says Pete. “If God wasn’t in her life I don’t think she’d be where she is today.
“She credits everything to God. Always been like that. Always been a born again Christian.
“She calls God a psychologist. She reads the Bible verses and the Book of Promises. If it is God’s will for her to win the Olympic Games, she will win. It helps her as well with the pressure. It’s a comfort. She knows life is planned out for her.
“That’s why she’s very focused, very laid back with everything.”
There will not be a recognised boxer in London Katie hasn’t beaten before. There will be wild cards she has never seen but by definition they should not be her standard. If she wins her lightweight division and retires one winner may be soccer, where she has already been capped.
“She’d love to play soccer again,” adds her father. “That’s one of the sacrifices she made. She’s not played soccer for three or four years. Once the Olympic Games was announced there was too much chance of injury. But yeah . . .”
