‘I’M NOT FINISHED YET’
Despair for Katie as Olympic dream dies but Bray star shows champion qualities at lowest point
KATIE TAYLOR’S dream of retaining her Olympic gold was ended in devastating fashion as she was sensationally beaten by 35-year-old Mira Potkonen of Finland in the women’s lightweight quarter-final on Monday.
The Bray women, despite enduring a difficult year where she lost at the European Olympic qualifiers in April and at the AIBA World Championships a month later, was still heavily fancied to qualify for the last four, which would have guaranteed her at least a bronze medal.
However, Taylor agonisingly lost out on a split decision, with one judge giving the victory to the Wicklow woman, a second judge awarding the fight to Potkonen and the third calling it as a draw. The third judge then had to make a decision and handed Taylor only her tenth loss in 178 fights.
So soon after a crushing defeat, Taylor was understandably emotional during her post-fight interview, and found it difficult to put her raw heartache into words.
‘It’s very disappointing. It’s been a very, very tough year. A lot of losses this year and it’s very hard to take. I just have to thank everyone for their support,’ a clearly shattered Taylor told RTE television.
‘The Olympics is a dream for me, and I came in here, I prepared well, I gave it my best shot but it just doesn’t happen sometimes,’ she said.
‘The plans you have in your heart aren’t always God’s plans. I’d like to thank everyone for all their support and prayers. I’m so humbled by that. It’s such a privilege and an honour to be here and I just want to thank everyone for their support.’
While admitting that she was far from her usual skilful self during the bout, she still felt that a tight decision could have gone her way and she could have shaded it.
‘I thought she probably won the second round but I thought the other three rounds went my way. I should be beating those girls. I don’t know what to say about it really,’ she said.
However, coach Zaur Antia, who has had to endure what has been a disastrous games for the Irish boxing team, was more forthright in his views when it came to the decision, and was visibly angry as he slammed the judges.
‘She won, she had good skills, sidesteps, clean punches, what else she can do now? Katie hit more, two times more than she got, what else she can do?,’ he said.
‘Nobody can convince me that Katie lost this fight. Then I have no experience and I don’t know boxing. You see her corner there. They were not happy, they were not sure, they had no confidence. When they raised her hand, did you see how they jumped?,’ he said.
Taylor’s shock reverse has heaped further misery on what has already been an extremely disappointing Olympic Games for the Irish boxers, with all eight fighters that travelled to Rio now out of the competition.
Four of the eight fighters didn’t get past their respective first rounds, while Michael O’Reilly was sent home for a
doping violation.
It’s a stark contrast to four years ago in London, when Katie Taylor won gold for Ireland, John Joe Nevin won silver and Belfast duo Michael Conlan and Paddy Barnes both added bronze medals to the impressive collection.
The defeat to Potkonen was Katie Taylor’s third loss of the year, after the Bray boxer had remarkably gone the previous five years unbeaten. She lost in April to Yana Alekseevna of Azerbaijan at an Olympic qualifying tournament in Turkey and then relinquished her AIBA World Championship in May to Estelle Mossely of France in the semi-final. Mossely went on to win the championship and is in the Olympic semi-final.
Last November it was announced that Katie Taylor’s father Pete was taking a break from being in her corner having coached her since she started and it certainly appears to have affected her performances.
The 2012 Olympic champion will now face questions about her future but those will be left for another day. It’s a testament to her continued success that almost everybody expected her to win a medal and double Ireland’s medal haul.
While she didn’t manage to do that, her place in sporting history as the first ever women’s lightweight Olympic champion remains, adding to her impressive list of triumphs.
She is a six-time European champion and a five-time world champion and is widely credited for forcing the IOC to include women’s boxing in the Olympic Games.
It may be not be at the forefront of her mind and seem as any consolation to her right now, but it’s important to remember the amazing feats Katie Taylor has accomplished, and whatever path the 30-year-old takes next she has already forged a lasting legacy.