Egan leads team to brink of Olympic triumph

Neilstown boxer, Kenneth Egan, is among five Irish fighters who have qualified for the Olympics this summer.

Joining Egan on the flight to China is middleweight, Darren Sutherland, and light welterweight, John Joe Joyce. While, light-flyweight, Paddy Barnes, and bantamweight, John Joe Nevin booked their place at the Games back in March.

Egan, Sutherland and Joyce also won gold at the qualifying tournament in Greece, topping a great month for Irish boxing.

Team captain Egan secured his place, at the Beijing games, earlier this month in Athens, when he won his semi-final bout at the final round of qualifiers. Speaking following his victory over Gottlieb Weiss, his German opponent, Egan said; "It will take a while for all this to sink in yet and I am absolutely thrilled with this win."

Qualification for the Olympics is yet another milestone in the Clondalkin boxer’s already successful career. In 2007, Egan was named European Boxer of the Year by the Amateur Boxing Association. While the 26-year old has won a gold medal at the EU Championship, a bronze at the 2006 European Amateur Championships and four national titles. But, if the Dubliner was to capture a medal in Beijing, it would surely surpass all the other achievements he’s already gained in his career.

John Joe Joyce also clinched his place at the Games with victory in the Athens qualifiers. The light-welterweight, from Athy, Co. Kildare, is the current Irish champion in his weight class. Darren Sutherland secured his qualification with a victory over Moldovan Victor Cotiujanschii. The middleweight, who trains in St. Saviour’s club in Santry North Dublin, impressively dispatched his rival after just three rounds.

The first boxer to qualify for this summer’s Games was Paddy Barnes. The Belfast light flyweight guaranteed his place in Beijing as he reached the quarter-finals of the World Championships last year in Chicago. Meanwhile Cavan bantamweight, John Joe Nevin, earned his place at the Games when he defeated his Ukrainian opponent, Maksym Tretyak, in Italy back in March.

The five man team is the strongest boxing team Ireland has sent to the Olympics since the Barcelona Games in 1992. Ireland won two medals back then; the first when Wayne McCullough earned a silver medal in the bantamweight division. The Belfast fighter would go on to have a successful professional career, winning the WBC World Title, along with 27 fights at various different weight classes. While Michael Carruth remains the only Irishman to win a gold medal in a boxing event.

The Dublin welterweight defeated Cuban Juan Hernandez Sierra at the Barcelona Games to claim an historic victory. Ireland hasn’t won a medal in a boxing event at the Games since Carruth and McCullough victories back in 1992. And almost every Olympic medal Ireland has won since, with the exception of Sonia O’Sullivan’s silver medal in Sydney 2000, has been blighted by controversy. Michelle de Bruin’s three gold medals and one bronze at Atlanta 1996 are officially still credited as an Irish victory, but allegations of doping have followed the swimmer ever since.

While four years ago, in Athens, Cian O’Connor’s gold medal, in the show jumping event, looked to have earned Ireland their only medal at the Games. However, O’Connor was later stripped of the medal as his horse, Waterford Crystal, tested positive for a banned substance.

Hopefully Ireland’s Olympics won’t again be tarnished by controversy, as it seems the five boxers have a real chance of success this summer.

- Robert Redmond