Ireland's "Warrior Princess" arrives on global stage

Having spent her career dominating a discipline inexplicably isolated by the Olympics, Katie Taylor has guaranteed herself a prize from the pantheon of sport.

The colour of her medal will not be known until she finishes out her competition. But already the Bray boxer has alerted the world to the intensity of her talent and the quality of her sport.

The woman Bray is already calling their "warrior princess" is idolised by her peers. Without her battle to win over doubters, women’s boxing would not have featured in London 2012.

Yet despite years of carrying the flag for her sport, and more recently her country, she still had to win when it mattered.

In four two-minute rounds she secured a bronze medal and a place in the semi-final tomorrow.

Taylor won because she moved with the speed of lightening. Her opponent, Natasha Jonas, was admirable but admitted she could only have turned over the four-time world champion if she had driven a bus into the ring.

"When you see women’s boxing at the highest level and that kind of performance, how can you argue that women aren’t just as good as men?" asked Jonas as she declared her wish that Taylor win the competition outright.

Sunday was the first day women’s boxing had featured on an Olympic programme. Taylor and Jonas made sure everybody realised what they had been missing.

Many Olympic events failed to keep spectators on their seats, with signature sports such as swimming playing out to near empty arenas.

Taylor and Jonas, in just a quarter-final, not only had fans screaming but broke the record for noise at London’s indoor events. They hit 113.7 decibels, topping the velodrome where the British cyclists swept the floor.

The embrace of the boxers after the fight revealed how much it meant to be competing in such a setting. And the impassioned roar from the ordinarily reserved Taylor belied the energy she drew from the raucous support.

Unfortunately the noise and celebrations were a world away from the sombre scene on the strand in Weymouth.

Annalise Murphy, who lives just seven stops up the Dart from Taylor, was denied a medal by a succession of setbacks.

The 22-year-old was the surprise sensation of the Lasar Radial sailing event all week but needed to finish ahead of her rivals.

She fought tears as she was kept off the podium by the narrowest of margins, but her exploits have already chalked her down as one of the great medal hopes for Ireland at the next Olympiad in Brazil.