Olympic boxer claims discrimination

IRISH Olympic hopeful John Joe Nevin has said his celebration party will go ahead despite venues in his own county refusing to host him because he is a Traveller.

On Thursday, bantom weight boxer Mr Nevin, who is 18-years-old, hit out after his family’s attempt to throw a surprise party in either his native Westmeath or nearby Cavan was thwarted.

“They tried for places from at least an hour and a half away from Mullingar in all directions. And they all said were they were booked out right up to next year,” he said.

However, yesterday another hotel came forward shortly after midday and offered its facilities to the Nevin family.

Mr Nevin said he will not name the hotel or reveal where it is, but confirmed his party will go ahead within the next week.

“It is not in Mullingar and that is a shame, it is not even in my own county. But we will have something in the next week or so,” he said.

Mr Nevin’s family had planned to throw him a surprise party after he became the first boxer to qualify for this year’s Olympics in China.

They first looked at venues in Cavan, where he trains four times a week, and also explored options in Westmeath. When these failed they searched as far afield as Roscommon and Longford.

The 18-year-old said no function room would accept his family and he blamed an anti-Traveller agenda.

“Everyone can have an argument but they do not put everybody down to be the same, ” he said. “But when a Traveller does it, we are all treated as if we had the argument,” he said.

He said the party would include his cousins and some people who had coached him.

Mr Nevin told RTÉ Radio’s News at One it was hypocritical of Irish campaigners to be so vocal in recent times about the Beijing’s treatment of people in Tibet when discrimination was still widespread here.

“I think I should be treated the same as everybody else. At the end of the day I am still a human being and I should be treated the same as everybody else.

“They are talking about people getting discriminated against in China and when it happens to their own people they do nothing about it,” he said.

Mr Nevin said the incident had distracted him from his training ahead of the Olympics, where he is confident he can do well.

“It is hard because I am supposed to be focusing on the boxing and now this has come up.

“I reckon I have a very good chance (in Beijing), I beat some of the best boxers in the world and anybody who gets into a ring has a chance.

“It is all about performing on the day,” he said.